WPF: "Items collection must be empty before using ItemsSource."

Answer 1

The reason this particular exception gets thrown is that the content of the element gets applied to the ListView's Items collection. So the XAML initialises the ListView with a single local:ImageView in its Items collection. But when using an ItemsControl you must use either the Items property or the ItemsSource property, you can't use both at the same time. Hence when the ItemsSource attribute gets processed an exception is thrown.

You can find out which property the content of an element will get applied to by looking for the ContentPropertyAttribute on the class. In this case it's defined higher in the class hierarchy, on the ItemsControl:

[ContentPropertyAttribute("Items")]

The intention here was that the ListView's View be set to a local:ImageView so the fix is to explicitly indicate the property to be set.

Fix the XAML and the exception goes away:

<ListView Name="ListViewImages"
          SelectionMode="Single"
          ItemsSource="{Binding}">
    <ListView.View>
        <local:ImageView />
    </ListView.View>
</ListView>

It was missing that <ListView.View> tag.

Answer 2

I had this same error for a while in a slightly different scenario. I had

<wpftoolkit:DataGrid
    AutoGenerateColumns="False"
    ItemsSource="{Binding Path=Accounts}" >
    <wpftoolkit:DataGridTextColumn 
        Header="Account Name" 
        Binding="{Binding Path=AccountName}" />
</wpftoolkit:DataGrid>

which I fixed to be

<wpftoolkit:DataGrid
    AutoGenerateColumns="False"
    ItemsSource="{Binding Path=Accounts}" >
    <wpftoolkit:DataGrid.Columns>
        <wpftoolkit:DataGridTextColumn 
            Header="Account Name" 
            Binding="{Binding Path=AccountName}" />
    </wpftoolkit:DataGrid.Columns>
</wpftoolkit:DataGrid>

Answer 3

Me too on a different scenario.

<ComboBox Cursor="Hand" DataContext="{Binding}"  
              FontSize="16" Height="27" ItemsSource="{Binding}" 
              Name="cbxDamnCombo" SelectedIndex="0" SelectedValuePath="MemberId">

        <DataTemplate>
            <TextBlock DataContext="{Binding}">
                <TextBlock.Text>
                  <MultiBinding StringFormat="{}{0} / {1}">
                    <Binding Path="MemberName"/>
                    <Binding Path="Phone"/>
                  </MultiBinding>
                </TextBlock.Text>
            </TextBlock>
        </DataTemplate>

</ComboBox>

Now when you complete with the missing tag Control.ItemTemplate, everything gets to normal:

<ComboBox Cursor="Hand" DataContext="{Binding}"  
              FontSize="16" Height="27" ItemsSource="{Binding}" 
              Name="cbxDamnCombo" SelectedIndex="0" SelectedValuePath="MemberId">
    <ComboBox.ItemTemplate>
        <DataTemplate>
            <TextBlock DataContext="{Binding}">
                <TextBlock.Text>
                  <MultiBinding StringFormat="{}{0} / {1}">
                    <Binding Path="MemberName"/>
                    <Binding Path="Phone"/>
                  </MultiBinding>
                </TextBlock.Text>
            </TextBlock>
        </DataTemplate>
    <ComboBox.ItemTemplate>
</ComboBox>

Answer 4

Hi, I have a similar problem. In Window.resource i hv the following code

<DataTemplate x:Key="ComboBoxTemplate">
  <StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal">
    <DockPanel >
      <TextBlock FontWeight="Bold" Text="Name:" DockPanel.Dock="Left" Margin="5,0,10,0"/>
      <TextBlock Text="  " />
      <TextBlock Text="{Binding ContactName}" Foreground="Green" FontWeight="Bold" />
    </DockPanel>
  </StackPanel>
</DataTemplate>

and the combobox code is as follows

<ComboBox Margin="0,3,17,3" Name="ComboBox1"
          ItemsSource="{Binding Tables[0]}"
          ItemTemplate="{StaticResource ComboBoxTemplate}"
          SelectionChanged="ComboBox1_SelectionChanged">
  <ComboBoxItem Content="Select Item" />
</ComboBox>

This is giving me the same error as above. If i remove the comboboxitem it works fine. Any idea as to how to resolve the same?

Thanks

Answer 5

In My case, it was just an extra StackPanel inside the ListView:

<ListView Name="_details" Margin="50,0,50,0">
            <StackPanel Orientation="Vertical">
                <StackPanel Orientation="Vertical">
                    <TextBlock Text="{Binding Location.LicenseName, StringFormat='Location: {0}'}"/>
                    <TextBlock Text="{Binding Ticket.Employee.s_name, StringFormat='Served by: {0}'}"/>
                    <TextBlock Text="{Binding Ticket.dt_create_time, StringFormat='Started at: {0}'}"/>
                    <Line StrokeThickness="2" Stroke="Gray" Stretch="Fill" Margin="0,5,0,5" />
                    <ItemsControl ItemsSource="{Binding Items}"/>
                </StackPanel>
            </StackPanel>
        </ListView>

Becomes:

<ListView Name="_details" Margin="50,0,50,0">
                <StackPanel Orientation="Vertical">
                    <TextBlock Text="{Binding Location.LicenseName, StringFormat='Location: {0}'}"/>
                    <TextBlock Text="{Binding Ticket.Employee.s_name, StringFormat='Served by: {0}'}"/>
                    <TextBlock Text="{Binding Ticket.dt_create_time, StringFormat='Started at: {0}'}"/>
                    <Line StrokeThickness="2" Stroke="Gray" Stretch="Fill" Margin="0,5,0,5" />
                    <ItemsControl ItemsSource="{Binding Items}"/>
                </StackPanel>
        </ListView>

and all is well.