Question

Duplicate of :

Why are DataContext and ItemsSource not redundant?

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In WPF we can assign list of item to ComboBox in 2 ways

//CODE #1
//WPF
<ComboBox name="cmbItems" ItemSource={Binding} />

//C#
cmbItems.DataContext = someList;

another way, directly assign itemsource

//CODE #2
//WPF
<ComboBox name="cmbItems" ItemSource={Binding} />
//C#
cmbItems. ItemSource = someList;

both serves the purpose, but whats the difference in above snippet? and which is good to use?

Answer 1

DataContext is mostly used on forms, controls etc.

An ItemSource is a relative path to do databinding on that DataContext.

For example when you make a form to edit Person details, then the DataContext would be Person and the different controls on the form will each bind on a seperate property on that object, for example Name, Date of Birth, etc.