Problems with XamlReader generating DataTemplate

Question

I'm trying to implement the code below in my WPF project in order to generate DataTemplates on the fly for a DataGrid with dynamic columns. I found the code on StackOverflow here

public DataTemplate Create(Type type)
{
  return (DataTemplate)XamlReader.Load(
          @"<DataTemplate
            xmlns=""http://schemas.microsoft.com/client/2007"">
            <" + type.Name + @" Text=""{Binding " + ShowColumn + @"}""/>
            </DataTemplate>"
   );
}

However, on the XamlReader.Load code, I get the error "cannot convert from 'string' to 'System.Xaml.XamlReader'.

I tried to get around this by changing the code to:

return (DataTemplate)XamlReader.Load(XmlReader.Create(

but I get errors about passing invalid characters in the string.

Also, I am unsure how to pass a TextBlock to this code. I imagined I would just create a TextBlock and pass it as the Type argument, but I get the error "cannot convert from 'System.Windows.Controls.TextBlock' to 'System.Type'

Any help appreciated.

Answer 1

public DataTemplate Create(Type type)
{
    StringReader stringReader = new StringReader(
    @"<DataTemplate 
        xmlns=""http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation""> 
            <" + type.Name + @" Text=""{Binding " + ShowColumn + @"}""/> 
        </DataTemplate>");
    XmlReader xmlReader = XmlReader.Create(stringReader);
    return XamlReader.Load(xmlReader) as DataTemplate;
}

Call it like this

TextBlock textBlock = new TextBlock();
Create(textBlock.GetType());