XmlDataProvider error in XAML

It looks like the parser doesnt fully support this scenario quite yet (the December CTP is a very early release).

There are three things preventing the designer from opening:
- the inline XML data island
- the ItemsSource
- the ItemTemplate

If you push the XML data island to a separate file by specifying the Source property, that fixes the first problem. The second and third problems can be addressed by wiring up the ListBox binding from code.

<!-- Window1.xaml -->
<Window x:Class="WindowsApplication1.Window1"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/avalon/2005"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/xaml/2005"
Title="WindowsApplication1"
Loaded="OnWindowLoaded"
>
<StackPanel
Background="Cornsilk"
Name="stackPanel1"
>

<StackPanel.Resources>
<XmlDataProvider Source="Books.xml" x:Key="BookData" XPath="/Books">
</XmlDataProvider>

<DataTemplate x:Key="BookDataTemplate">
<TextBlock FontSize="12" Foreground="Red" Text="{Binding XPath=Title}"/>
</DataTemplate>
</StackPanel.Resources>

<TextBlock FontSize="18" FontWeight="Bold" Margin="10"
HorizontalAlignment="Center">XML Data Source Sample</TextBlock>
<ListBox Name="listBox1"
Width="400" Height="300" Background="Honeydew"/>

</StackPanel>
</Window>


// Window1.xaml.cs
private void OnWindowLoaded(object sender, EventArgs e)
{

// Find the "StaticResource" called BookData
Binding binding = new Binding();
binding.Source = stackPanel1.FindResource("BookData");
binding.XPath = "Book";

// same as
// ItemsSource="{Binding Source={StaticResource BookData}, XPath=Book}
listBox1.SetBinding(ListBox.ItemsSourceProperty, binding);
// same as
// ItemTemplate="{StaticResource BookDataTemplate}"
listBox1.ItemTemplate = stackPanel1.FindResource("BookDataTemplate") as DataTemplate;

}

<!-- Books.xml -->
<Books xmlns="">
<Book ISBN="0-7356-0562-9" Stock="in">
<Title>XML in Action</Title>
<Summary>XML Web Technology</Summary>
</Book>
<Book ISBN="0-7356-1370-2" Stock="in">
<Title>Programming Microsoft Windows With C#</Title>
<Summary>C# Programming using the .NET Framework</Summary>
</Book>
<Book ISBN="0-7356-1288-9" Stock="out">
<Title>Inside C#</Title>
<Summary>C# Language Programming</Summary>
</Book>
<Book ISBN="0-7356-1377-X" Stock="in">
<Title>Introducing Microsoft .NET</Title>
<Summary>Overview of .NET Technology</Summary>
</Book>
<Book ISBN="0-7356-1448-2" Stock="out">
<Title>Microsoft C# Language Specifications</Title>
<Summary>The C# language definition</Summary>
</Book>
</Books>

Hope that this helps - I've filed a bug for us to work on this scenario. Thanks for trying out the December CTP!

Jessica

Hello!
I have a related problem. I'm not sure this is the right forum but I'll give it a try. I am using Expressive Interactive Designer January 2006 Community Technology Preview.

My problem is that I want to generate TextBlocks from the content of an xml-file. The databind in itself is no problem, I can get the data from the xml-file to a manually created TextBlock, but not to a TextBlock that I generate in the C#-code.

If I create the TextBlocks manually I can create the databind with this code.

Binding binding = new Binding();
binding.Source = Grid.FindResource("tvDS");
binding.XPath = "/tv/programme[1]/title";
TextBlock1.SetBinding(TextBlock.TextProperty, binding);

This gets the title of the first tv-program and displays it in TextBlock1, just as expected.

When I loop over the list generated from the xml-file I can create the TextBlocks that I need, but the databind does not work. This code:

for (i = 0; i < ListBox.Items.Count; i++)
{
Binding binding = new Binding();
binding.Source = Grid.FindResource("tvDS");
binding.XPath = "/tv/programme[" + i + "]/title)";
TextBlock temp = new TextBlock();

temp.SetBinding(TextBlock.TextProperty, binding);

StackPanel1.Children.Add(temp);
}

...creates the TextBlocks, but for some reason the databind does not work, the TextBlocks are empty.

Any ideas? I would be very grateful for some help...

Thanks,
Tomas Hansson

tomha128 at 2007-9-8 >

Hi Fran,
Thanks for your answer, but it is unfortunately not solving my problem. Generating a ListBox with all the programmes is not what I want to do.

I want to be able to redesign and move the textBlocks, not only have them in a fixed ListBox. I want to display them in a horizontally scrollable row, therefore I need to generate a separate TextBlock for each program.

Or at least so I think. Or is it somehow possible to change the properties of the ListBox and the TextBlocks in it so that they are displayed horizontally, with some spacing between, with borders etc... I have tried to do that as well, but without success. Anyone knows how to do this?

A side issue: How do I uncomment code in the XAML-file?

Grateful for all help I can get.

/Tomas

OK, maybe I can be slightly more helpful! It turns out horizontal listboxes are relatively easy.

Change the XAML to this:

<Grid>
<ListBox Background="AliceBlue" Name="tvlist" ItemsSource="{Binding}" Height="50">
<ListBox.ItemsPanel>
<ItemsPanelTemplate>
<StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal"/>
</ItemsPanelTemplate>
</ListBox.ItemsPanel>
<ListBox.ItemTemplate>
<DataTemplate>
<TextBlock Margin="3,3,3,3" Text="{Binding XPath=title}"/>
</DataTemplate>
</ListBox.ItemTemplate>
</ListBox>
</Grid>

and the listbox is horizontal. Now you need to play about with the contents of the data template to display each item how you want it. At the moment, it only has a textblock in it, but I guess there's no reason why you couldn't add more functionality in here - a stackpanel, a grid, whatever.

HTH,

F

And then comes the given follow-up question. How do I change the look of only the selected item in the list?

EDIT: Found it. Solved it by using DataTriggers to update the graphic of the selected row in the list.

/Tomas