Question

I’m developing a WP7 application, and I’m generating a listbox with a few items. I was wondering if there is a way to preview how the layout would look. So far, since the elements don’t exist, I can’t “preview” them.
Is there some way to feed some dummy data or other methods that would help in previewing xaml layouts ?

Answer 1

You should provide a designer data.

There are several ways to do it.

One of the simplest, is to provide a DataContext in your XAML declaration for designer to use when rendering your page display.

In Xaml page declaration:

xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008"
d:DataContext="{d:DesignInstance local:DesignerSampleData, IsDesignTimeCreatable=True}"

The sample data class should have the data that your visual elements bind to:

public class DesignerSampleData: INotifyPropertyChanged
    {
        public DesignerSampleData()
        {
            _sampleData = "My test string that will display in VS designer for preview";
        }

        private String _sampleData;
        public String SampleData
        {
            get { return _sampleData; }
            set
            {
                if (value != _sampleData)
                {
                    _sampleData = value;
                    NotifyPropertyChanged("SampleData");
                }
            }
        }

In xaml bind to SampleData:

<TextBlock Text="{Binding SampleData}" />