TabItem DataTemplate with binding

Question

I have a TabControl in my app. I'd like to have as many TabItems as many entries are in my dictionary.

Here's my dictionary:

public Dictionary<string , ObservableCollection<PerformanceCounter>> Counters
{
    get { return _Counters; }
}
Dictionary<string, ObservableCollection<PerformanceCounter>> _Counters = new Dictionary<string , ObservableCollection<PerformanceCounter>>();

Every entry has a string key and ObservableCollection of PerformanceCounter objects. Important thing is the fact that every PerformanceCounter object has properties: CounterName and InstanceName - I'll need these two to display them.

Now, to my XAML:

<TabItem Header="Memory">
    <Grid Name="RAMGrid">
        <Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
            <ColumnDefinition Width="*"/>
            <ColumnDefinition Width="*"/>
        </Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
        <Grid.RowDefinitions>
            <RowDefinition Height="1*"/>
            <RowDefinition  Height="Auto"/>
        </Grid.RowDefinitions>
        <ListBox Name="RAMListBox" Grid.Column="0" Grid.ColumnSpan="2" Grid.Row="0" ItemsSource="{Binding Memory, Mode=OneWay}" SelectionMode="Multiple" BorderThickness="1" BorderBrush="#FF8B8B8B" SelectionChanged="RAMListBox_SelectionChanged">
            <ListBox.ItemTemplate>
                <DataTemplate>
                    <TextBlock>
                        <Run Text="{Binding CounterName, Mode=OneWay}" />
                        <Run Text="{Binding InstanceName, Mode=OneWay}" />
                    </TextBlock>
                </DataTemplate>
            </ListBox.ItemTemplate>
        </ListBox>                                         
        <Button Name="RAMSelectAllButton" Margin="0,10,0,0" Grid.Column="0" Grid.Row="1" Click="RAMSelectAllButton_Click" >
            <TextBlock Text="SELECT ALL"/>
        </Button>
        <Button Name="RAMUnSelectAllButton" Margin="0,10,0,0" Grid.Column="1" Grid.Row="1" Click="RAMUnSelectAllButton_Click" >
            <TextBlock Text="UNSELECT ALL"/>
        </Button>
    </Grid>
</TabItem>

That's what I did and, as you might already know, it does not work. The above code is only for one entry of my dictionary, where the key is "Memory".

In my code I set DataContext:

this.DataContext = appData.Counters;

appData.Counters is that dictionary I presented at the beginning.

Here's what I'd like to achieve: No matter how many entries there are in my dictionary, my TabControl would display TabItem for each of them. Each TabItem has a ListBox and 2 buttons. I'll need too be able to access those (in order to clear the list and to have click event for each button).

I really don't know how to do it, I hope you can help me out.

Answer 1

Binding TabControl to items in Dictionary:

<Window.Resources>

    <DataTemplate x:Key="templateForTheContent" >
        <StackPanel>
            <ListBox Grid.Column="0" Grid.ColumnSpan="2" Grid.Row="0" 
                     ItemsSource="{Binding Value, Mode=OneWay}"
                     SelectionMode="Multiple"
                         BorderThickness="1" BorderBrush="#FF8B8B8B">
                <ListBox.ItemTemplate>
                    <DataTemplate>
                        <TextBlock>
                                    <Run Text="{Binding CounterName, Mode=OneWay}" />
                                    <Run Text="{Binding InstanceName, Mode=OneWay}" />
                        </TextBlock>
                    </DataTemplate>
                </ListBox.ItemTemplate>
            </ListBox>
        </StackPanel>
    </DataTemplate>

    <DataTemplate x:Key="templateForTheHeader" >
        <TextBlock Text="{Binding Key}"/>
    </DataTemplate>

</Window.Resources>
<Grid>
    <TabControl TabStripPlacement="Left"  VerticalAlignment="Stretch" HorizontalContentAlignment="Stretch"
        ItemsSource="{Binding Counters}"
        ContentTemplate="{StaticResource templateForTheContent}"
        ItemTemplate="{StaticResource templateForTheHeader}">
    </TabControl>
</Grid>

Now, Dictionary is not observable so if items will be added/removed during runtime, you may consider using something like ObservableDictionary instead

Answer 2

Create a ViewModel-class containing:

1. your Dictionary
2. two ICommand-Implementations for your Buttons

then

1. set the ViewModel-class as DataContext of the TabControl
2. set Counters as the ItemSource of the TabControl
3. reuse your XAML-Code defined within the TabItem and use it as the Tabcontrol. ContentTemplate
4. Bind .Command of your Buttons to the ICommands in your ViewModel using RelativeSource

see for samples:

1. ContentTemplate: https://wpf.2000things.com/tag/tabcontrol/
2. ICommand https://stackoverflow.com/a/1468830/4919708
3. RelativeSource: https://stackoverflow.com/a/84317/4919708

Answer 3

As i said in one of the comments above I changed my Dictionary to this:

//list of all counters
        public ObservableCollection<ObservableCollection<PerformanceCounter>> Counters
        {
            get { return _Counters; }
        }
        ObservableCollection<ObservableCollection<PerformanceCounter>> _Counters = new ObservableCollection<ObservableCollection<PerformanceCounter>>();    

i used @Arie's solution to write this XAML:

            <DataTemplate x:Key="templateForTheContent" >
            <Grid>
                <Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
                    <ColumnDefinition Width="*"/>
                    <ColumnDefinition Width="*"/>
                </Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
                <Grid.RowDefinitions>
                    <RowDefinition Height="1*"/>
                    <RowDefinition  Height="Auto"/>
                </Grid.RowDefinitions>
                <ListBox Grid.Column="0" Grid.ColumnSpan="2" Grid.Row="0" 
                         ItemsSource="{Binding}"
                         SelectionMode="Multiple"
                             BorderThickness="1" BorderBrush="#FF8B8B8B">
                    <ListBox.ItemTemplate>
                        <DataTemplate>
                            <TextBlock>
                                        <Run Text="{Binding CounterName, Mode=OneWay}" />
                                        <Run Text="{Binding InstanceName, Mode=OneWay}" />
                            </TextBlock>
                        </DataTemplate>
                    </ListBox.ItemTemplate>
                </ListBox>
                <Button Name="RAMSelectAllButton" Margin="0,10,0,0" Grid.Column="0" Grid.Row="1"  >
                    <TextBlock Text="SELECT ALL"/>
                </Button>
                <Button Name="RAMUnSelectAllButton" Margin="0,10,0,0" Grid.Column="1" Grid.Row="1" >
                    <TextBlock Text="UNSELECT ALL"/>
                </Button>
            </Grid>
        </DataTemplate>

            <DataTemplate x:Key="templateForTheHeader" >
                <TextBlock Text="{Binding CategoryName}"/>
            </DataTemplate>

        </Window.Resources>

It displays correctly as many Tabs as I add entries to my Class ObservableCollection in the code behind.

Now i have a new problem: I don't know how to access each listBox from each Tab. i need to be able to read the list of selected objects.