wpf bind usercontrol property to datacontext of mainwondow

Question

I have a usercontrol (a label and a textbox. I would like to bind the Text of the user control to the property Name from an DTO class Employee ( Employee.Name) where binding is set in the mainwindow, outside of the usercontrol. This is my UserControl ( look at the controls label and text)

<UserControl x:Class="TestCompany.controls.textEdit"
         xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
         xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
         xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006" 
         xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008" 
         xmlns:local="clr-namespace:TestCompany.controls"
         mc:Ignorable="d" 
         d:DesignHeight="300" d:DesignWidth="300">

<Grid >
    <Grid.RowDefinitions>
        <RowDefinition Height="60" />
        <RowDefinition MinHeight="50" />
    </Grid.RowDefinitions>
    <Label Name="label" Content="{Binding Caption}" Grid.Row="0" FontSize="35" FontWeight="Light"/>
    <TextBox Name="textbox" Text="{Binding Text}" Grid.Row="1" FontSize="33" Background="White"  />
</Grid>

Caption is the title of the control and Text displays the value

And here is the code behind

public string Caption
    {
        get
        {
            return (string)GetValue(CaptionProperty);
        }

        set
        {
            SetValue(CaptionProperty, value);                
        }
    }

    public static DependencyProperty CaptionProperty =
        DependencyProperty.Register("Caption", typeof(string), typeof(textEdit), null);


    public string Text
    {
        get
        {
            return (string)GetValue(TextProperty);                
        }

        set
        {
            SetValue(TextProperty, value);                
        }
    }

    public static DependencyProperty TextProperty = DependencyProperty.Register("Text", typeof(string), typeof(textEdit), null);

Now in the main window, this is how I use my custom control

<controls:textEdit Caption="Name" Text="{Binding Name}" Grid.Column="0" HorizontalAlignment="Stretch" Margin="0,0,20,0" />

Then in the mainwindow, from the list of Employees, I take the selected one and I assign it to the context

this.DataContext = EmployeeObject; // Name = "Joe"

But the Text property of the usercontrol does not display "Joe". Even the setter of the property is never called. The weird this is that if within the constructor of my usercontrol I don't assign UserControl.Datacontext to this

DataContext = this; // within the constructor of UserControl

then even the Label control is empty (the label control is linked to the Caption dependency property). I have looked at countless similar issues on stackOverflow and else where. ( RelativeSource Self etc...). Nothing works...The Text property of my user control does not display value from the Datacontext set in the mainwindow...

Any help would be greatly appreciated

Possible duplicate of Binding to UserControl DependencyProperty; read also comments about DataContext under accepted answer — ASh
– ASh, Commented Jun 3, 2016 at 9:31
Thanks for the suggestion. I applied the solution provided there. The text correctly display the value. But the label is now empty — TheSoul
– TheSoul, Commented Jun 3, 2016 at 9:37
Can you include the code when you created the EmployeeObject? — tgpdyk
– tgpdyk, Commented Jun 3, 2016 at 9:38
It is a very simple code: var EmployeeObject = DAL.fetch("empID"); fecth is a call to backend and it returns a Emp object with specified empID. classic stuff. — TheSoul
– TheSoul, Commented Jun 3, 2016 at 9:39
I just want to make sure that the object has its property set before it was assigned and implementing INPC. Is it? — tgpdyk
– tgpdyk, Commented Jun 3, 2016 at 9:41

PScr · Accepted Answer · 2016-06-03 09:44:19Z

1

You need to set the DataContext of the UserControl to that of your main window, and the DataContextof the Grid to the UserControl. That means that when the UserControlis looking for its data, it looks in the DataContext it inherits from MainWindow, but when your Grid looks for its data, it looks inside the UserControl. You do it like this:

<UserControl ... 
     d:DesignHeight="300" d:DesignWidth="300"
     x:Name="ThisControl">

<Grid DataContext="{Binding ElementName=ThisControl}">
...

See http://blog.scottlogic.com/2012/02/06/a-simple-pattern-for-creating-re-useable-usercontrols-in-wpf-silverlight.html.

answered Jun 3, 2016 at 9:44

PScr

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2 Comments

TheSoul Over a year ago

Thanks. I have done what you said. I defined a DataContextin the Grid, within the UserControl. Still the Text correctly binds. But the label is still empty.

PScr Over a year ago

Great. That article was what really gave me a way in to understanding DataContext.

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