Determine DataContext of a WPF control at design time

Question

How to determine the DataContext of a specific control at design time in a WPF application?

DataContext might be specifically set in XAML, inherited or set somewhere in code and sometimes it is hard to figure out at design time which class the bindings are referring to.

What I usually try to do to find the DataContext class is to search the binding name in VS. For example I see the binding is something like

ItemSource = {Binding Items}

...I will search the text "Items" in order to get to the class but VS sometimes fails to find the searched text (I have several projects in the solution).

Answer 1

I would like to add an approach to StepUp´s listing:

The design instance:

Just like you can define a run time data context, you can add a data context that is specifically for the design time via:

    <Usercontrol    x:Class="MyUserControl"  
                    xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
                    xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
                    xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008"
                    xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006"
                    xmlns:viewModels="clr-namespace:MyProject.ViewModels"
                    d:DataContext="{d:DesignInstance viewModels:MyViewModel}"
                    d:DesignHeight="300"
                    d:DesignWidth="600"
                    mc:Ignorable="d">
    </UserControl>

In Visual Studio you can then use IntelliSense for bindable properties and if your view model has an uncomplicated or even parameterfree constructor, it will be created in the Designer and you can test trigger or converters without having to start your application.