DataBinding - Silverlight with XAML and WCF - fundamentals

Question

I have setup simple scenario to learn about databinding in XAML. After some thinking I concluded that's going to be essential as my project progress, so I wanted to learn some basics and understanrd it.

I have Setup Simple OperationContract with DataContract to push data from server to client:

    [DataContract]
public class TestData : INotifyPropertyChanged
{
    private string _testDataA;
    [DataMember]
    public string TestDataA
    {
        get { return _testDataA; }
        set
        {
            _testDataA = value;
            NotifyPropertyChanged("TestDataA");
        }
    }

    private string _testDataB;
    [DataMember]
    public string TestDataB
    {
        get { return _testDataB; }
        set
        {
            _testDataB = value;
            NotifyPropertyChanged("TestDataA");
        }
    }

    //public IDuplexClient RoomCallbackChannel { get; set; }
    public void NotifyPropertyChanged(string propertyName)
    {
        if (PropertyChanged != null)
        {
            PropertyChanged(this, new PropertyChangedEventArgs(propertyName));
        }
    }

    public event PropertyChangedEventHandler PropertyChanged;
}

        [OperationContract]
    public ObservableCollection<TestData> PushTestDataToClient()
    {
        ObservableCollection<TestData> testData = new ObservableCollection<TestData>();
        testData.Add(new TestData { TestDataA = "testDataA1", TestDataB = "testDataB1" });

.. some irrevalant data adding here..

        return testData;
    }

I have added simple DataGrid to my View.

And while i do in C# code:

dataGrid1.ItemsSource = e.Result

It works perfectly. But that's not the point. I want to bind that data with XAML.

I tried to do:

dataGrid1.DataContext = e.Result

and then:

ItemsSource="{Binding TestDataA}"

and other combinations of my Model class.

It's probably silly and simple question. But I really cloudn't find, any simple example that focus on most basic thing. How to bind data from data source, with XAML? And how it works? How to expose that data to be available in XAML?

Answer 1

This should be a full fledged tutorial to study MVVM databinding http://www.silverlight.net/learn/tutorials/silverlight-4/using-the-mvvm-pattern-in-silverlight-applications/ Hope this helps you.

Answer 2

I'm guessing you're missing column definitions with bindings. Here is a really good tutorial that focuses on the XAML, binding, and columns.