UWP Binding in Style Setter not working

Question

I have problem with creating xaml control. I'm writing new project in VS 2015 in universal app. I want create grid. In this grid I want to have a button. In model I specifi the column (Level) and Row. this is my code:

<ItemsControl Grid.Row="1" ItemsSource="{Binding Path=TechnologyList}">
    <ItemsControl.ItemsPanel>
        <ItemsPanelTemplate>
            <Grid>
                <Grid.RowDefinitions>
                    <RowDefinition Height="10*"/>
                    <RowDefinition Height="10*"/>
                    <RowDefinition Height="10*"/>
                    <RowDefinition Height="10*"/>
                    <RowDefinition Height="10*"/>
                    <RowDefinition Height="10*"/>
                    <RowDefinition Height="10*"/>
                    <RowDefinition Height="10*"/>
                    <RowDefinition Height="10*"/>
                    <RowDefinition Height="10*"/>
                </Grid.RowDefinitions>
                <Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
                    <ColumnDefinition Width="14*"/>
                    <ColumnDefinition Width="14*"/>
                    <ColumnDefinition Width="14*"/>
                    <ColumnDefinition Width="14*"/>
                    <ColumnDefinition Width="14*"/>
                    <ColumnDefinition Width="14*"/>
                    <ColumnDefinition Width="14*"/>
                </Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
            </Grid>
        </ItemsPanelTemplate>
    </ItemsControl.ItemsPanel>
    <ItemsControl.ItemContainerStyle>
        <Style TargetType="Control">
            <Setter Property="Grid.Column" Value="{Binding Level}" />
            <Setter Property="Grid.Row" Value="{Binding Row}" />
        </Style>
    </ItemsControl.ItemContainerStyle>
    <ItemsControl.ItemTemplate>
        <DataTemplate>
            <Button Content="{Binding Name}"/>
        </DataTemplate>
    </ItemsControl.ItemTemplate>
</ItemsControl>

I get a error in line <Setter Property="Grid.Column" Value="{Binding Level}" /> The error: Exception from HRESULT: 0x8000FFFF (E_UNEXPECTED) was in edytor not in running code. What is wrong? In "old" WPF everything was OK but in Universal App for Windows 10 I have a error. Can anyone help me ?

Answer 1

As noted in the section Migration notes on the Setter.Value property page on MSDN, UWP/Windows Runtime does not support bindings in Style Setters.

Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) and Microsoft Silverlight supported the ability to use a Binding expression to supply the Value for a Setter in a Style. The Windows Runtime doesn't support a Binding usage for Setter.Value (the Binding won't evaluate and the Setter has no effect, you won't get errors, but you won't get the desired result either). When you convert XAML styles from WPF or Silverlight XAML, replace any Binding expression usages with strings or objects that set values, or refactor the values as shared {StaticResource} markup extension values rather than Binding-obtained values.

A workaround could be a helper class with attached properties for the source paths of the bindings. It creates the bindings in code behind in a PropertyChangedCallback of the helper property:

public class BindingHelper
{
    public static readonly DependencyProperty GridColumnBindingPathProperty =
        DependencyProperty.RegisterAttached(
            "GridColumnBindingPath", typeof(string), typeof(BindingHelper),
            new PropertyMetadata(null, GridBindingPathPropertyChanged));

    public static readonly DependencyProperty GridRowBindingPathProperty =
        DependencyProperty.RegisterAttached(
            "GridRowBindingPath", typeof(string), typeof(BindingHelper),
            new PropertyMetadata(null, GridBindingPathPropertyChanged));

    public static string GetGridColumnBindingPath(DependencyObject obj)
    {
        return (string)obj.GetValue(GridColumnBindingPathProperty);
    }

    public static void SetGridColumnBindingPath(DependencyObject obj, string value)
    {
        obj.SetValue(GridColumnBindingPathProperty, value);
    }

    public static string GetGridRowBindingPath(DependencyObject obj)
    {
        return (string)obj.GetValue(GridRowBindingPathProperty);
    }

    public static void SetGridRowBindingPath(DependencyObject obj, string value)
    {
        obj.SetValue(GridRowBindingPathProperty, value);
    }

    private static void GridBindingPathPropertyChanged(
        DependencyObject obj, DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs e)
    {
        var propertyPath = e.NewValue as string;

        if (propertyPath != null)
        {
            var gridProperty =
                e.Property == GridColumnBindingPathProperty
                ? Grid.ColumnProperty
                : Grid.RowProperty;

            BindingOperations.SetBinding(
                obj,
                gridProperty,
                new Binding { Path = new PropertyPath(propertyPath) });
        }
    }
}

You would use them in XAML like this:

<ItemsControl.ItemContainerStyle>
    <Style TargetType="ContentPresenter">
        <Setter Property="local:BindingHelper.GridColumnBindingPath" Value="Level"/>
        <Setter Property="local:BindingHelper.GridRowBindingPath" Value="Row"/>
    </Style>
</ItemsControl.ItemContainerStyle>

---

For a simple workaround for absolute positioning (i.e. binding the Canvas.Left and canvas.Top properties), see this answer.

Answer 2

Wanted to add my experience of this BindingHelper idea from @clemens. It's a neat solution but I found that when targetting a ListViewItem the binding wouldn't access the underlying view model. After debugging it, I found that I needed to make sure the binding was relative to the ListViewItem itself and the associated .Content property to enable it to correctly link to the item's view model.

My particular use case was to set the IsTabStop property of the ListViewItem based on a view model value:

private static void BindingPathPropertyChanged(DependencyObject obj,
    DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs e)
{
    if (e.NewValue is string propertyPath)
    {
        var binding = new Binding
        {  
            Path = new PropertyPath($"Content.{propertyPath}"),
            Mode = BindingMode.OneWay,
            RelativeSource = new RelativeSource
            {
                Mode = RelativeSourceMode.Self
            }
        };
        BindingOperations.SetBinding(obj, Control.IsTabStopProperty, binding);
    }
}

Hope this helps if anyone else has the problem.