WPF ListView Programmatically Select Item

Question

Oh, man. I'm feeling the WPF pain this week. So for my next trick, I'm now unable to figure out how to select an item programmatically in a ListView.

I'm attempting to use the listview's ItemContainerGenerator, but it just doesn't seem to work. For example, obj is null after the following operation:

//VariableList is derived from BindingList
m_VariableList = getVariableList();
lstVariable_Selected.ItemsSource = m_VariableList;
var obj = 
    lstVariable_Selected.ItemContainerGenerator.ContainerFromItem(m_VariableList[0]);

I've tried (based on suggestions seen here and other places) to use the ItemContainerGenerator's StatusChanged event, but to no avail. The event never fires. For example:

m_VariableList = getVariableList();
lstVariable_Selected.ItemContainerGenerator.StatusChanged += new EventHandler(ItemContainerGenerator_StatusChanged);
lstVariable_Selected.ItemsSource = m_VariableList;

...

void ItemContainerGenerator_StatusChanged(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    //This code never gets called
    var obj = lstVariable_Selected.ItemContainerGenerator.ContainerFromItem(m_VariableList[0]);
}

The crux of this whole thing is that I simply want to pre-select a few of the items in my ListView.

In the interest of not leaving anything out, the ListView uses some templating and Drag/Drop functionality, so I'm including the XAML here. Essentially, this template makes each item a textbox with some text - and when any item is selected, the checkbox is checked. And each item also gets a little glyph underneath it to insert new items (and this all works fine):

<DataTemplate x:Key="ItemDataTemplate_Variable">
<StackPanel>
    <CheckBox x:Name="checkbox"
        Content="{Binding Path=ListBoxDisplayName}"
        IsChecked="{Binding RelativeSource={RelativeSource FindAncestor, AncestorType={x:Type ListViewItem}}, Path=IsSelected}" />
    <Image ToolTip="Insert Custom Variable" Source="..\..\Resources\Arrow_Right.gif" 
        HorizontalAlignment="Left" 
        MouseLeftButtonDown="OnInsertCustomVariable"
        Cursor="Hand" Margin="1, 0, 0, 2" Uid="{Binding Path=CmiOrder}" />
</StackPanel>
</DataTemplate>

...

<ListView Name="lstVariable_All" MinWidth="300" Margin="5"
   SelectionMode="Multiple"
   ItemTemplate="{StaticResource ItemDataTemplate_Variable}"
   SelectionChanged="lstVariable_All_SelectionChanged"
   wpfui:DragDropHelper.IsDropTarget="True" 
   wpfui:DragDropHelper.IsDragSource="True"
   wpfui:DragDropHelper.DragDropTemplate="{StaticResource ItemDataTemplate_Variable}"
       wpfui:DragDropHelper.ItemDropped="OnItemDropped"/>

So what am I missing? How do I programmatically select one or more of the items in the ListView?

Many thanks for your time.

Answer 1

Here would be my best guess, which would be a much simpler method for selection. Since I'm not sure what you're selecting on, here's a generic example:

var indices = new List<int>();

for(int i = 0; i < lstVariable_All.Items.Count; i++)
{
  // If this item meets our selection criteria 
  if( lstVariable_All.Items[i].Text.Contains("foo") )
    indices.Add(i);
}

// Reset the selection and add the new items.
lstVariable_All.SelectedIndices.Clear();

foreach(int index in indices)
{
  lstVariable_All.SelectedIndices.Add(index);
}

What I'm used to seeing is a settable SelectedItem, but I see you can't set or add to this, but hopefully this method works as a replacement.

Answer 2

Bind the IsSelected property of the ListViewItem to a property on your model. Then, you need only work with your model rather than worrying about the intricacies of the UI, which includes potential hazards around container virtualization.

For example:

<ListView>
    <ListView.ItemContainerStyle>
        <Style TargetType="ListViewItem">
            <Setter Property="IsSelected" Value="{Binding IsGroovy}"/>
        </Style>
    </ListView.ItemContainerStyle>
</ListView>

Now, just work with your model's IsGroovy property to select/deselect items in the ListView.

HTH, Kent