WPF: Set Binding-property for ListBox-binding

Question

I have a listbox where I bind the ItemsSource to a collection stored in the set DataContext object. This makes the list displayed using the ToString() function.

<ListBox ItemsSource="{Binding SomeCollection}"></ListBox>                    

Now I want to display a property for the objects in the collection instead. So I want to define a template etc to do this on all the objects in the bound list. I tried a variety of different approaches without success. I'd like to do something like this:

<ListBox ItemsSource="{Binding SomeCollection}">
    <ListBox.Template>
        <ControlTemplate>                                
            <ListViewItem Content="{Binding ThePropertyOnElm}"></ListViewItem>
        </ControlTemplate>
    </ListBox.Template>
</ListBox>

Can anyone help me make this right?

Answer 1

you don't need to specify a template, you can just use the DisplayMemberPath property, like so:

<ListBox ItemsSource="{Binding SomeCollection}" DisplayMemberPath="ThePropertyOnElm" />

hope this helps!

Answer 2

I think this is what youre wanting to do:

<ListBox ItemsSource="{Binding SomeCollection}">
    <ListBox.ItemTemplate>
        <DataTemplate DataType="{x:Type local:YourDataType}">                                
            <TextBlock Text="{Binding ThePropertyOnElm}" />
        </ControlTemplate>
    </ListBox.ItemTemplate>
</ListBox>

The Template for the ListBox is going to modify how the actual listbox looks, and itemtemplate is going to control how the individual items in the listbox will look. I changed the controltemplate into a DataTemplate and assigned it to the type of YourDataType. Also, I used a textblock within the data template instead of listboxitem since the datatemplate is being assigned to the listboxitem (which should contain some type of content instead of another listboxitem).

i havent tried compiling this so it might not be exactly correct. if it doesnt let me know and ill take the extra steps!