WPF : Binding a combo-box to an enum property of a class object?

Question

In the namespace X, I've got a public enum definition :

namespace X
{
    public enum MyEnum
    { val0=0, val1, val2, val3, val4 }
}

In the namespace Y I've got a class which has a property of the X.MyEnum type

using namespace X;
namespace Y
{
    class Container
    {
        public MyEnum MYEnum
        { get { return m_myenum; } set { m_myenum = value; } }

        private MyEnum m_myenum;
    }
}

I've created an user control which contains a ComboBox. I'd very much like to databind it (TwoWay) to the MYEnum field of the "Container". The usercontrol resides in the window.

How do I achieve that? I've seen some examples with ObjectDataProvider, however I'm lost.

see the accepted answer here: stackoverflow.com/questions/1220196/… — Alastair Pitts
– Alastair Pitts, Commented Dec 16, 2009 at 12:41

Thomas Levesque · Accepted Answer · 2009-12-16 13:53:31Z

6

You can define the ItemsSource of the ComboBox by using a custom markup extension that returns all values of the enum (this achieves the same result as using an ObjectDataProvider, but it is simpler to use) :

[MarkupExtensionReturnType(typeof(Array))]
public class EnumValuesExtension : MarkupExtension
{
    public EnumValuesExtension()
    {
    }

    public EnumValuesExtension(Type enumType)
    {
        this.EnumType = enumType;
    }

    [ConstructorArgument("enumType")]
    public Type EnumType { get; set; }

    public override object ProvideValue(IServiceProvider serviceProvider)
    {
        return Enum.GetValues(EnumType);
    }
}

And bind the SelectedItem to your MYEnum property :

<ComboBox ItemsSource="{local:EnumValues local:MyEnum}" SelectedItem="{Binding MYEnum, Mode=TwoWay}" />

(the local XML namespace must be mapped to your C# namespace)

answered Dec 16, 2009 at 13:53

Thomas Levesque

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2 Comments

newman Over a year ago

I like this idea very much, but for some reasons I get a compiler error "Inconsistent accessibility: parameter type 'IServiceProvider' is less accessible than method 'UtilityLib.EnumValuesExtension.ProvideValue(IServiceProvider)'". You copied your code exactly as it is. Any idea?

Thomas Levesque Over a year ago

@miliu, you probably have another IServiceProvider type in scope; try to specify the full name: System.IServiceProvider

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