Hide a property from an observablecollection

Question

So I have a WPF DataGrid bound to an ObservableCollection, which contains a single instance of a class - for example:

Public Class parent
    Public Property title As String [...]
    Public Property someCommonThing as Integer [...]

Public Class Child Inherits Parent
    Public Property name As String [...]
    Public Property address As String [...]

Public Class Window1
    Dim oc As ObservableCollection(Of Object) = New ObservableCollection(Of Object)
    oc.Add(New Child())
    dataGrid.ItemsSource = oc

there are many child classes with different properties, hence why I can't easily define the datagrid columns directly.

I want to be able to hide certain parent properties from the datagrid (for example, never show the title property in the datagrid), while still being able to use it for databinding elsewhere (e.g. a label).

Is this possible? I can't think how to do it without manually specifying every column for every possible class instead of using the databinding.

yes, I am - so I don't have to tell it which columns to use for each of the different classes — simonalexander2005, Sep 02 '14 at 09:33

Bas · Accepted Answer · 2014-09-02T10:19:03.700

1

When automatically generating columns you can change the per-property behavior using Data Annotations, in this case specifically the BrowsableAttribute class:

<Browsable(False)>

Annotating your property with this will prevent a column from being generated when using the following event handler on the AutoGeneratingColumn event of the DataGrid.

Private Sub OnAutoGeneratingColumn(sender As Object, e As DataGridAutoGeneratingColumnEventArgs)
    If Not DirectCast(e.PropertyDescriptor, PropertyDescriptor).IsBrowsable Then
        e.Cancel = True
    End If
End Sub

Remember to add the DataAnnotations assembly to your project.

edited Sep 02 '14 at 10:19

answered Sep 02 '14 at 09:13

Bas

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Thanks. Which namespace is this in? Intellisense can't seem to find it – simonalexander2005 Sep 02 '14 at 09:33
@simonalexander2005 click the link in my answer, it's in the `System.ComponentModel.DataAnnotations` namespace in the assembly with the same name. – Bas Sep 02 '14 at 09:33
ah, that's a link!! Sorry, got it. Thanks :) – simonalexander2005 Sep 02 '14 at 09:40
hmm the "AutoGenerateField = False" gives the error "AutoGenerateField is not declared. It may be inaccessible due to its protection level" – simonalexander2005 Sep 02 '14 at 09:51
I think I fixed it - should be "AutoGenerateField:=False", right? – simonalexander2005 Sep 02 '14 at 09:53
This field exists since .NET 4.0. Are you using an old version of .NET? – Bas Sep 02 '14 at 09:53
Sorry, I'm not very familiar with VB syntax :) – Bas Sep 02 '14 at 09:53
hmm ok so I got this running, but the field is still showing in the datagrid... is there something I need to do to tell the DataGrid to look for these annotations? I also tried setting Name, ShortName, etc., and it's ignoring those too – simonalexander2005 Sep 02 '14 at 09:55
Apologies! I got confused with another framework. Try the `` attribute instead. For descriptions use the `` attribute. – Bas Sep 02 '14 at 10:06
Nope, neither of those options is working either... - using " Public Property test as String", using .Net 4.5 – simonalexander2005 Sep 02 '14 at 10:10
Well, that's just ridiculous of them not to implement it! I added a workaround to my answer – Bas Sep 02 '14 at 10:19
yeah, I just found that same solution http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2816929/wpf-toolkit-datagrid-show-fields-even-with-browsable-attribute-set-to-false here. Thanks for all your time and help! – simonalexander2005 Sep 02 '14 at 10:20

Hide a property from an observablecollection

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