WPF, ObservableCollection and listbox

Question

I have following code

private static ObservableCollection<myColor> myItems = new ObservableCollection<myColor>();
myItems.Add(new myColor("red"));

When object myColor is this class

public class myColor
{
    public string color { get; set; }
    public myColor(string col)
    {
        this.color = col;
    }
}

Trouble is when I try to show item in listbox

<ListBox Margin="12,52,12,12" Name="listBox1" ItemsSource="{Binding}" />

It only shows "myColor" object instead of "color" variable. How can I show variable from this object?

Answer 1

If you only want to display a string property of the item use DisplayMemberPath on the ListBox.

Otherwise use ItemTemplate, which you can set to a DataTemplate that defines how each of your items looks like and can be of any complexity (i.e. can include other controls).

Answer 2

First set the DataContext for the window, as shown below :

        public Window1()
        {
            InitializeComponent();

            myItems.Add(new myColor("red"));
            myItems.Add(new myColor("green"));

            //Set the DataContext for the window
            this.DataContext = myItems;
        }

Now change the XAML to:

<ListBox Margin="12,52,12,12" Name="listBox1" ItemsSource="{Binding}" DisplayMemberPath="color" />

That's all. It should solve your problem.