How to bind a table in a dataset to a WPF datagrid in C# and XAML

Question

I have been searching to hours for something very simple: bind a WPF datagrid to a datatable in order to see the columns at design-time. I can’t get any of the examples to work for me.

Here is the C# code to populate the datatable InfoWork inside the dataset info:

info = new Info();
InfoTableAdapters.InfoWorkTableAdapter adapter = new InfoTableAdapters.InfoWorkTableAdapter();
adapter.Fill(info.InfoWork);

The problem is no matter how I declare ‘info’ or ‘infoWork’ Visual Studio/XAML can’t find it. I have tried:

<Window.Resources>
    <ObjectDataProvider x:Key="infoWork" ObjectType="{x:Type local:info}"  />
</Window.Resources>

I have also tried this example from wpf.codeplex, but XAML doesn’t even like the “local:” keyword!

<Window.Resources>
   <local:info x:Key="infoWork"/>
</Window.Resources>

There are really two main questions here: 1) How do I declare the table InfoWork in C# so that XAML can see it? I tried declaring it Public in the window class that XAML exists in with no success. 2) How do I declare the windows resource in XAML, specifcally the datatable inside the dataset?

Out of curiosity, is there a reason that ItemsSource just doesn't show up as a property that be set in the properties design window?

Answer 1

Using the Microsoft DataGrid in the following way works for me:

In XAML I include the DataGrid:

    <WpfToolkit:DataGrid
        Grid.Row="4" Grid.Column="0"
        ItemsSource="{Binding Path=GridData, Mode=OneWay}" >
    </WpfToolkit:DataGrid>

In my view model I expose a DataView:

  public DataView GridData
  {
     get
     {
        DataSet ds = new DataSet("MyDataSet");

        using (SqlConnection conn = new SqlConnection(ConnectionString))
        {
           SqlCommand cmd = conn.CreateCommand();
           cmd.CommandType = CommandType.Text;
           cmd.CommandText = "SELECT * FROM HumanResources.Employee";

           SqlDataAdapter da = new SqlDataAdapter(cmd);
           da.Fill(ds);
        }

        return ds.Tables[0].DefaultView;
     }
  }