WPF User Control Data Binding Not Working

Question

I'm creating a simple User Control combining a popup with a text view, nothing crazy. When I set it up in a window at first to style it all out, it worked perfectly, but when I moved it into a User Control to actually finish it up, it won't work correctly any more.

I pass a min and max value into the control and then it automatically creates a list of numbers to pick from in that range. In the User Control, the list of numbers doesn't get bound correctly, who knows why. Maybe someone can take a look at my code.

I've read a bunch of other questions about this, but don't really know what's happening. I'm not getting any errors in my output window, so no clues there. Anyway, here's the code -

UserControl.xaml

<UserControl x:Class="UserControl1"
         xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
         xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
         x:Name="Me"
         DataContext="{Binding RelativeSource={RelativeSource Self}}">

<StackPanel>
    <TextBox Name="myTextbox"
             Height="30"
             Margin="0"
             FontSize="14"
             IsReadOnly="True"
             Padding="5,2"
             Text="{Binding Value}" />
    <Popup x:Name="myPopup"
           PlacementTarget="{Binding ElementName=myTextbox}"
           StaysOpen="True">
        <Popup.Style>
            <Style TargetType="{x:Type Popup}">
                <Style.Triggers>
                    <DataTrigger Binding="{Binding ElementName=myTextbox, Path=IsFocused}" Value="True">
                        <Setter Property="IsOpen" Value="True" />
                    </DataTrigger>
                </Style.Triggers>
            </Style>
        </Popup.Style>

        <StackPanel>
            <ListView Name="myListView"
                      Height="100"
                      MaxHeight="300"
                      ItemsSource="{Binding List,
                                            UpdateSourceTrigger=PropertyChanged}"
                      SelectionChanged="ListView_SelectionChanged">
                <ListView.ItemTemplate>
                    <DataTemplate>
                        <Label Width="100"
                               Height="30"
                               Margin="0"
                               Content="{Binding}"
                               FontFamily="Segoe UI"
                               FontSize="14"
                               Padding="5,2" />
                    </DataTemplate>
                </ListView.ItemTemplate>
            </ListView>
            <Button Width="200" Height="30" />
        </StackPanel>
    </Popup>

</StackPanel>

UserControl.xaml.vb

Imports System.ComponentModel
Imports System.Linq.Expressions
Imports System.Collections.ObjectModel

Class UserControl1

' Dependency Properties
Public Shared ReadOnly ListProperty As DependencyProperty = DependencyProperty.Register("List", GetType(ObservableCollection(Of Integer)), GetType(MainWindow))
Public Shared ReadOnly ValueProperty As DependencyProperty = DependencyProperty.Register("Value", GetType(Integer), GetType(MainWindow))
Public Shared ReadOnly MaxValueProperty As DependencyProperty = DependencyProperty.Register("MaxValue", GetType(Integer), GetType(MainWindow))
Public Shared ReadOnly MinValueProperty As DependencyProperty = DependencyProperty.Register("MinValue", GetType(Integer), GetType(MainWindow))

' Properties
Public Property List As ObservableCollection(Of Integer)
    Get
        Return DirectCast(GetValue(ListProperty), ObservableCollection(Of Integer))
    End Get
    Set(value As ObservableCollection(Of Integer))
        SetValue(ListProperty, value)
    End Set
End Property

Public Property Value As Integer
    Get
        Return DirectCast(GetValue(ValueProperty), Integer)
    End Get
    Set(value As Integer)
        SetValue(ValueProperty, value)

    End Set
End Property

Public Property MaxValue As Integer
    Get
        Return DirectCast(GetValue(MaxValueProperty), Integer)
    End Get
    Set(value As Integer)
        SetValue(MaxValueProperty, value)
    End Set
End Property

Public Property MinValue As Integer
    Get
        Return DirectCast(GetValue(MinValueProperty), Integer)
    End Get
    Set(value As Integer)
        SetValue(MinValueProperty, value)
    End Set
End Property

Private Sub ListView_SelectionChanged(sender As System.Object, e As System.Windows.Controls.SelectionChangedEventArgs)
    Value = List(myListView.SelectedIndex)
End Sub

Private Sub UserControl1_Loaded(sender As Object, e As System.Windows.RoutedEventArgs) Handles Me.Loaded
    List = New ObservableCollection(Of Integer)

    ' Add all available numbers into the list
    For iCounter As Integer = MinValue To MaxValue
        List.Add(iCounter)
    Next

    ' Set the selected index on the list for the value
    myListView.SelectedIndex = Value - MinValue
End Sub
End Class

Just for reference, when I tested this out, I set the Min and Max values myself in both the window and usercontrol setup.

Answer 1

I think that you have made the same mistake that I used to when I first started learning WPF. I can't guarantee that this is the cause of your problem, but as it's the only one that I can see, I'll address it. Unfortunately, there are so many poor tutorials and quick examples that show the connecting of a UserControl.DataContext to itself:

DataContext="{Binding RelativeSource={RelativeSource Self}}"

Or:

DataContext = this;

Now this is perfectly acceptable if you don't want to Bind to the UserControl externally because it's a quick and easy way to connect with properties defined in the code behind. However, when you want to Bind to the properties from outside the control, you'll find problems. In these instances (if not on all occasions), you should use a RelativeSource Binding to Bind to your code behind properties:

<TextBox Name="myTextbox" Height="30" Margin="0" FontSize="14" IsReadOnly="True"
    Padding="5,2" Text="{Binding Value, RelativeSource={RelativeSource AncestorType={
    x:Type UserControl1}}}" />

In this Binding, UserControl1 is the name of the UserControl that declared the properties. This should be done on all of the internal Bindings. This way, the DataContext is not set to the UserControl, but the Bindings still find the properties.

You can find out more about RelativeSource from the RelativeSource MarkupExtension page on MSDN.