Is it possible to use the ObjectDataProvider method to bind a ListBox to an enum, and style it somehow to display the Description attriibute? If so how would one go about doing this...?
Yes, it is possible. This will do it. Say we have the enum
public enum MyEnum
{
[Description("MyEnum1 Description")]
MyEnum1,
[Description("MyEnum2 Description")]
MyEnum2,
[Description("MyEnum3 Description")]
MyEnum3
}
Then we can use the ObjectDataProvider as
xmlns:MyEnumerations="clr-namespace:MyEnumerations"
<ObjectDataProvider MethodName="GetValues"
ObjectType="{x:Type sys:Enum}"
x:Key="MyEnumValues">
<ObjectDataProvider.MethodParameters>
<x:Type TypeName="MyEnumerations:MyEnum" />
</ObjectDataProvider.MethodParameters>
</ObjectDataProvider>
And for the ListBox we set the ItemsSource to MyEnumValues and apply an ItemTemplate with a Converter.
<ListBox Name="c_myListBox" SelectedIndex="0" Margin="8"
ItemsSource="{Binding Source={StaticResource MyEnumValues}}">
<ListBox.ItemTemplate>
<DataTemplate>
<TextBlock Text="{Binding Converter={StaticResource EnumDescriptionConverter}}"/>
</DataTemplate>
</ListBox.ItemTemplate>
</ListBox>
And in the converter we get the description and return it
public class EnumDescriptionConverter : IValueConverter
{
private string GetEnumDescription(Enum enumObj)
{
FieldInfo fieldInfo = enumObj.GetType().GetField(enumObj.ToString());
object[] attribArray = fieldInfo.GetCustomAttributes(false);
if (attribArray.Length == 0)
{
return enumObj.ToString();
}
else
{
DescriptionAttribute attrib = attribArray[0] as DescriptionAttribute;
return attrib.Description;
}
}
object IValueConverter.Convert(object value, Type targetType, object parameter, CultureInfo culture)
{
Enum myEnum = (Enum)value;
string description = GetEnumDescription(myEnum);
return description;
}
object IValueConverter.ConvertBack(object value, Type targetType, object parameter, CultureInfo culture)
{
return string.Empty;
}
}
The GetEnumDescription method should probably go somewhere else but you get the idea :)