Question

in my Silverlight 4 app, I try to create a simple UserControl, which will be consumed by my Application. To keep things simple, it shall have a “header” and a placeholder, where I want to place any kind of control.

<User Control ...>
  <Grid x:Name="LayoutRoot">
    <TextBlock x:Name="TextBlockHeader" Text="{Binding Title}" />
    <ContentPresenter x:Name="ContentPresenterObject" />
  </Grid>
</UserControl>

In the code behind, I have created a property for the text of the TextBlock

public string Title
{
  get { return (string)GetValue(TitleProperty); }
  set { SetValue(TitleProperty, value); }
}

public static readonly DependencyProperty TitleProperty = DependencyProperty.Register("Title", typeof(string), typeof(MyAccordion), null);

This way, I can set the Title property, when I use the Control in my application.

<local:MyAccordion Title="Test"/>

But it seems, that the binding at the textblock Text=”{Binding Title}” doesn’t make the text “Test” to be displayed as the textblocks text.

My question is: How can I make the Property Title to be displayed as the textboxes text and how do I do this for the – any type of user control containable – contencontrol?

Thanks in advance,
Frank

Answer 1

The answer is ElementPropertyBinding. I need to reference the User Control in the Binding or add the binding in the constructor.

Create the binding in XAML:

<User Control ... x:Name="userControl">
  ...
  <TextBlock x:Name="TextBlockHeader" Text="{Binding Title, ElementName=userControl}" />
</UserControl>

Create the binding in the constructor (Code behind)

public MyUserControl()
{
  // Required to initialize variables
  InitializeComponent();

  TextBlockHeader.SetBinding(TextBlock.TextProperty, new System.Windows.Data.Binding() { Source = this, Path = new PropertyPath("Title") });
}

I still need to find out how to add a child control, but that’s another question.