Question

I’m trying to insert some design data in a control by temporarily setting datacontext in xml. The contents are defined by the following class:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using Microsoft.Practices.Prism.ViewModel;
using AITReportEditor.Infrastructure.Models;
using System.Collections.ObjectModel;

namespace AITReportEditor.Infrastructure.Models
{
    public class ComponentItem : NotificationObject
    {

        //Constructor for expression Blend sample data
        public ComponentItem() { }

        public ComponentItem(AITReportEditor.Infrastructure.Models.Component copyItem)
        {
            this.PartData = new PartDataItem(copyItem.PartData);
            this.ObjectId = copyItem.ObjectId;


            Files = new ObservableCollection<FileItem>();
            foreach (File existItm in copyItem.Files)
            {
                FileItem fileItem = new FileItem(existItm);
                Files.Add(fileItem);
            }

            SpareParts = new ObservableCollection<SparepartItem>();
            foreach (Sparepart existItm in copyItem.Spareparts)
            {
                SparepartItem sparepartItem = new SparepartItem(existItm);
                SpareParts.Add(sparepartItem);
            }
        }



        private ObservableCollection<FileItem> _files;
        public ObservableCollection<FileItem> Files
        {
            get { return _files; }
            set
            {
                _files = value;
            }

        }

        private ObservableCollection<SparepartItem> spareparts;
        public ObservableCollection<SparepartItem> SpareParts
        {
            get { return spareparts; }
            set
            {
                spareparts = value;
            }

        }



        private string _objectid;
        public string ObjectId
        {
            get { return _objectid; }
            set
            {
                if (!value.Equals(_objectid))
                {
                    _objectid = value;
                    this.RaisePropertyChanged(() => this.ObjectId);
                }

            }
        }

        private PartDataItem _partdata;
        public PartDataItem PartData
        {
            get { return _partdata; }
            set
            {
                if (!value.Equals(_partdata))
                {
                    _partdata = value;
                    this.RaisePropertyChanged(() => this.PartData);
                }

            }
        }
    }
}

and

namespace AITReportEditor.Infrastructure.Models
{
    public class PartDataItem : NotificationObject
    {

        public PartDataItem() { }



        public PartDataItem(InspectionObject copyItem)
        {

            this.Name = copyItem.Name;
            this.Note = copyItem.Note;
            this.Status = copyItem.Status;

        }


        private string _name;
        public string Name
        {
            get { return _name; }
            set
            {
                if (!value.Equals(_name))
                {
                    _name = value;
                    this.RaisePropertyChanged(() => this.Name);
                }

            }

        }


        private string _note;
        public string Note
        {
            get { return _note; }
            set
            {
                if (!value.Equals(_note))
                {
                    _note = value;
                    this.RaisePropertyChanged(() => this.Note);
                }

            }

        }

        private int _status;
        public int Status
        {
            get { return _status; }
            set
            {
                if (!value.Equals(_status))
                {
                    _status = value;
                    this.RaisePropertyChanged(() => this.Status);
                }

            }

        }
    }
}

In xaml i define datacontext with

xmlns:inf="clr-namespace:AITReportEditor.Infrastructure.Models;assembly=AITReportEditor.Infrastructure"

<UserControl.DataContext>
        <inf:ComponentItem>
            <inf:ComponentItem.ObjectId>1212</inf:ComponentItem.ObjectId>
            <inf:ComponentItem.PartData>
                <inf:ComponentItem.PartData.Name>klas</inf:ComponentItem.PartData.Name>
            </inf:ComponentItem.PartData>



        </inf:ComponentItem>

    </UserControl.DataContext>

The ObjectId works fine, but I can’t seem to define the partdata. Anyone know what I’m doing wrong?

[UPDATE] Made some changes

Instead of defining sampledata insiede usercontrol datacontext I’m setting design data in the external file and changing xaml to

<Grid Background="Transparent" d:DataContext="{d:DesignDataSource=./../../SampleData/SampleData.xaml}">

in the control and defining sample data in seperate file

<m:ComponentItem xmlns:m="clr-namespace:AITReportEditor.Infrastructure.Models;assembly=AITReportEditor.Infrastructure"
                 ObjectId="12321">
    <m:ComponentItem.PartData Name="Klas" />

</m:ComponentItem>

But I’m still getting “Cannot set property on element…” when I try to add PartData to sample file.

Anyone?

Answer 1

THink i solved it, seems to be all in the syntax for typed classes probaly obscurely hidden away in yet another book i haven’t read. To solve it i made a simpler projet with 3 classes Person, Invoice and ContactInfo

 public class Person
    {
        public Person()
        { }


        public string Name { get; set; }

        public List<Invoice> Invoices{get; set;}

        public ContactInfo ContactInfo { get; set; }

    }

     public class Invoice
        {
            public int Amount { get; set; }
    }

 public class ContactInfo
    {

        public ContactInfo()
        {

        }
        public string Adress { get; set; }
    }

The syntax for the design data that works is then

<m:Person xmlns:m="clr-namespace:WpfApplication2" Name="Klas">
    <m:Person.Invoices>
        <m:Invoice Amount="12" />
        <m:Invoice Amount="12" />
        <m:Invoice Amount="12" />
    </m:Person.Invoices>
    <m:Person.ContactInfo>
        <m:ContactInfo Adress="Lena"></m:ContactInfo>
    </m:Person.ContactInfo>
</m:Person>

Notice that if you want to use the list invoices you have to add

private List<Invoice> _invoices = new List<Invoice>();
        public List<Invoice> Invoices
        {
            get { return _invoices; }
            set { _invoices = value; }
        }

in the class.

Hope this could be of value to someone else.