WPF - How to bind a DataGridTemplateColumn

Question

Hi,

I am trying to get the name of the property associated with a particular DataGridColumn, so that I can then do some stuff based on that. This function is called when the user clicks context menu item on the column's header...

This is fine for the out-of-the-box ready-rolled column types like DataGridTextColumn, since they are bound, but the problem is that some of my columns are DataGridTemplateColumns, which are not bound.

private void GroupByField_Click (object sender, RoutedEventArgs e){
        MenuItem mi = (MenuItem)sender;
        ContextMenu cm = (ContextMenu) mi.Parent;
        DataGridColumnHeader dgch = (DataGridColumnHeader) cm.PlacementTarget;  
        DataGridBoundColumn dgbc = (DataGridBoundColumn) dgch.Column;
        Binding binding = (Binding) dgbc.Binding;
        string BoundPropName = binding.Path.Path;

        //Do stuff based on bound property name here...
    }

So, take for example my 'Name' column... it's a DataGridTemplateColumn (since it has an image and some other stuff in there). Therefore, it is not actually bound to the 'Name' property... but I would like to be, so that the above code will work.

My question is two-part, really:

1) Is it possible to make a DataGridTemplateColumn be BOUND, so that the above code would work? Can I bind it somehow to a property? 2) Or do I need to something entirely different, and change the code above?

Thanks in advance!

AT

Answer 1

1) No, because DataGridTemplateColumn doesn't inherit from DataGridBoundColumn, so the cast to DataGridBoundColumn would fail. To make above code work all of your columns must inherit from DataGridBoundColumn abstract class. So making custom derived Column classes instead of DataGridTemplateColumn should work.

2)

You could simply populate a

Dictionary<DataGridColumn, string> BoundPropName;

on initialization and then do

var propName = BoundPropName[dgch.Column]

Answer 2

It's a tricky one. We achieved the binding by traversing to it's grand parent UserControl(we had DataGrid inside an user control) and the user control was bound to a presenter(Model in our case). In the code below, check the property SelectedItem of AutoCompleteBox placed inside the DataGridTemplateColumn.

Hope this helps you

   <wpfToolkit:DataGridTemplateColumn  Header="{x:Static resources:Store.ItemNameC}" Width="0.60*">
<wpfToolkit:DataGridTemplateColumn.CellEditingTemplate>
    <DataTemplate>
        <extended:HOAutoCompleteBox
                            IsTextCompletionEnabled ="True"
                            x:Name="ItemAutoCompleteBox"
                            Populating="ItemAutoCompleteBox_Populating"
                            DefaultType="HealthObject.ObjectModel.pSearchStockItemResult,HealthObject.ObjectModel"
                            Text="{Binding Path= ItemName, Mode=TwoWay}" 
                            <!--- **** HERE IS THE BINDING SAMPLE *****-->
            SelectedItem="{Binding RelativeSource={RelativeSource FindAncestor, AncestorType={x:Type UserControl}},  Path=Model.SelectedStockItem, Mode=TwoWay}"
                            >
        </extended:HOAutoCompleteBox>
    </DataTemplate>
</wpfToolkit:DataGridTemplateColumn.CellEditingTemplate>

</wpfToolkit:DataGridTemplateColumn>