1

could someone please explain to me what is the difference if I use DataTemplate inside the ListView in XAML?

I have used ListView to display the content from my ObservableCollection without using DataTemplate and with DataTemplate it seems to look exactly the same?

Why then would I want to use Data Template? I would like to see a simple explanation/example.

Improve this question
4
  • Can you show a code how you use DataTemplate in XAML? How you imagine to put image with text as list item? Commented Mar 5, 2015 at 19:37
  • So, the difference is that in Data Template I can put not just text but any content and from my Properties and decide what it looks like? Commented Mar 5, 2015 at 19:44
  • Right. Data templates allow you to do anything, not just a simple text block Commented Mar 5, 2015 at 19:49
  • Please take a look at examples in the internet, blogs, tutorials, MSDN. You can for example put a panel (let's say Grid for example) and add many things as children to this panel. Commented Mar 5, 2015 at 19:49

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
4

DataTemplate is used to show data in ways beyond a simple text block. Sure doing this:

<ListView.ItemTemplate> <DataTemplate> <TextBlock Text="{Binding Name}"/> </DataTemplate> </ListView.ItemTemplate>

Doesn't buy you much. But it allows you to do stuff like this:

<ListView.ItemTemplate> <DataTemplate> <StackPanel> <Image Source="{Binding ImagePath}"/> <TextBlock Text="{Caption}"/> </StackPanel> </DataTemplate> </ListView.ItemTemplate>

Which is pretty cool! You can put anything inside the template, so it makes ItemsControl (and its derivatives) some of the most powerful classes in WPF.

Improve this answer
Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

Comments

-1

Please take a look at #HighCore's answer here WPF MVVM Why use ContentControl + DataTemplate Views rather than straight XAML Window Views?.

 <Window x:Class="MyViews.MainWindow" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation" xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml xmlns:viewmodel="clr-namespace:Project.ViewModel" DataContext="{Binding Main, Source={StaticResource Locator}}" Title="{Binding Title, Mode=TwoWay}" Height="{Binding Height, Mode=TwoWay}" Width="{Binding Width, Mode=TwoWay}" Left="{Binding Left, Mode=TwoWay}" Top="{Binding Top, Mode=TwoWay}" WindowStartupLocation="CenterScreen"> <Window.Resources> <HierarchicalDataTemplate DataType="{x:Type viewmodel:OtherViewModel1}"> <ContentPresenter Content="{Binding Path=Text}" /> </HierarchicalDataTemplate> <DataTemplate DataType="{x:Type viewmodel:OtherViewModel2}"> <view:ConnectivityLED /> </DataTemplate> </Window.Resources>

So you can see Mainwindow is talking to more than 1 viewmodel, Main is its own view model which is its datacontext and it also has reference to otherviewmodel1 and otherviewmodel2. Hope this helps, Cheers!

Improve this answer

1 Comment

This doesn't answer the question. The OP wants to know about data templates in collection controls.