I'm playing with PropertyDescriptor and ICustomTypeDescriptor (still) trying to bind a WPF DataGrid to an object, for which the data is stored in a Dictionary.
Since if you pass WPF DataGrid a list of Dictionary objects it will auto generate columns based on the public properties of a dictionary (Comparer, Count, Keys and Values) my Person subclasses Dictionary and implements ICustomTypeDescriptor.
ICustomTypeDescriptor defines a GetProperties method which returns a PropertyDescriptorCollection.
PropertyDescriptor is abstract so you have to subclass it, I figured I'd have a constructor that took Func and an Action parameters that delegate the getting and setting of the values in the dictionary.
I then create a PersonPropertyDescriptor for each Key in the dictionary like this:
foreach (string s in this.Keys)
{
var descriptor = new PersonPropertyDescriptor(
s,
new Func<object>(() => { return this[s]; }),
new Action<object>(o => { this[s] = o; }));
propList.Add(descriptor);
}
The problem is that each property get's its own Func and Action but they all share the outer variable s so although the DataGrid autogenerates columns for "ID","FirstName","LastName", "Age", "Gender" they all get and set against "Gender" which is the final resting
value of s in the foreach loop.
How can I ensure that each delegate uses the desired dictionary Key, i.e. the
value of s at the time the Func/Action is instantiated?
Much obliged.
Here's the rest of my idea, I'm just experimenting here these are not 'real' classes...
// DataGrid binds to a People instance
public class People : List<Person>
{
public People()
{
this.Add(new Person());
}
}
public class Person : Dictionary<string, object>, ICustomTypeDescriptor
{
private static PropertyDescriptorCollection descriptors;
public Person()
{
this["ID"] = "201203";
this["FirstName"] = "Bud";
this["LastName"] = "Tree";
this["Age"] = 99;
this["Gender"] = "M";
}
//... other ICustomTypeDescriptor members...
public PropertyDescriptorCollection GetProperties()
{
if (descriptors == null)
{
var propList = new List<PropertyDescriptor>();
foreach (string s in this.Keys)
{
var descriptor = new PersonPropertyDescriptor(
s,
new Func<object>(() => { return this[s]; }),
new Action<object>(o => { this[s] = o; }));
propList.Add(descriptor);
}
descriptors = new PropertyDescriptorCollection(propList.ToArray());
}
return descriptors;
}
//... other other ICustomTypeDescriptor members...
}
public class PersonPropertyDescriptor : PropertyDescriptor
{
private Func<object> getFunc;
private Action<object> setAction;
public PersonPropertyDescriptor(string name, Func<object> getFunc, Action<object> setAction)
: base(name, null)
{
this.getFunc = getFunc;
this.setAction = setAction;
}
// other ... PropertyDescriptor members...
public override object GetValue(object component)
{
return getFunc();
}
public override void SetValue(object component, object value)
{
setAction(value);
}
}
