How do I invert BooleanToVisibilityConverter?

Question

Hi, I'm using a BooleanToVisibilityConverter in WPF to bind the Visibility property of a control to a boolean. This works fine, but I'd like one of the controls to hide if the boolean is true, and show if it's false.

Is this possible?

Thanks, Andy

Answer 1

Just implement your own implementation of IValueConverter. A sample implementation is at

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.windows.data.ivalueconverter.aspx

In your Convert method, just have it return the values you'd like instead of the defaults.

Answer 2

Write your own convert.

public class ReverseBooleanToVisibilityConverter : IValueConverter
{
    public object Convert(object value, Type targetType, object parameter, CultureInfo culture)
   {
       // your converter code here
   }
}

Answer 3

There's also the WPF Converters project on Codeplex. In their documentation they say you can use their MapConverter to convert from Visibility enumeration to bool

<Label>
    <Label.Visible>
        <Binding Path="IsVisible">
            <Binding.Converter>
                <con:MapConverter>
                    <con:Mapping From="True" To="{x:Static Visibility.Visible}"/>
                    <con:Mapping From="False" To="{x:Static Visibility.Hidden}"/>
                </con:MapConverter>
            </Binding.Converter>
        </Binding>
    </Label.Visible>
</Label>

Answer 4

public sealed class BooleanToVisibilityConverter : IValueConverter
{
    public object Convert(object value, Type targetType, object parameter, CultureInfo culture)
    {
        var flag = false;
        if (value is bool)
        {
            flag = (bool)value;
        }
        else if (value is bool?)
        {
            var nullable = (bool?)value;
            flag = nullable.GetValueOrDefault();
        }
        if (parameter != null)
        {
            if (bool.Parse((string)parameter))
            {
                flag = !flag;
            }
        }
        if (flag)
        {
            return Visibility.Visible;
        }
        else
        {
            return Visibility.Collapsed;
        }
    }

    public object ConvertBack(object value, Type targetType, object parameter, CultureInfo culture)
    {
        var back = ((value is Visibility) && (((Visibility)value) == Visibility.Visible));
        if (parameter != null)
        {
            if ((bool)parameter)
            {
                back = !back;
            }
        }
        return back;
    }
}

and then pass a true or false as the ConverterParameter

       <Grid.Visibility>
                <Binding Path="IsYesNoButtonSetVisible" Converter="{StaticResource booleanToVisibilityConverter}" ConverterParameter="true"/>
        </Grid.Visibility>

Answer 5

Write your own is the best solution for now. Here is an example of a Converter that can do both way Normal and Inverted. If you have any problems with this just ask.

[ValueConversion(typeof(bool), typeof(Visibility))]
public class InvertableBooleanToVisibilityConverter : IValueConverter
{
    enum Parameters
    {
        Normal, Inverted
    }

    public object Convert(object value, Type targetType,
        object parameter, CultureInfo culture)
    {
        var str = (string)value;
        var direction = (Parameters)Enum.Parse(typeof(Parameters), (string)parameter);

        if(direction == Parameters.Inverted)
            return string.IsNullOrEmpty(str) ? Visibility.Visible : Visibility.Collapsed;

        return string.IsNullOrEmpty(str) ? Visibility.Collapsed : Visibility.Visible;
    }

    public object ConvertBack(object value, Type targetType,
        object parameter, CultureInfo culture)
    {
        return null;
    }
}


<UserControl.Resources>
  <Converters:InvertableBooleanToVisibilityConverter x:Key="_Converter"/>
</UserControl.Resources>

<Button Visibility="{Binding IsRunning, Converter={StaticResource _Converter}, ConverterParameter=Inverted}">Start</Button>