How would I databind a Paragraph to a TextBlock?

Question

How would I take a Paragraph object and databind them to the TextBlock for use in a DataTemplate? A plain bind does nothing, just a ToString() of the Paragraph object.

The InLines property would let me add a list of TextRun's that make up the Paragraph manually, but that can't be bound to and I could really do with a binding based solution.

Edited question to focus on what I really need to do.

I edited my answer - does that solve your issue? – Andy Feb 01 '09 at 17:04 — Andy, Feb 01 '09 at 17:04

Robert Macnee · Accepted Answer · 2009-02-02T23:17:53.643

Here's an example using a nested ItemsControl. Unfortunately, it will make one TextBlock per Inline instead of putting the whole Paragraph into one TextBlock:

<Grid xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
      xmlns:sys="clr-namespace:System;assembly=mscorlib"
      xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml">
    <Grid.Resources>
        <FlowDocument x:Key="document">
            <Paragraph><Run xml:space="preserve">This is the first paragraph.  </Run><Run>The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.</Run></Paragraph>
            <Paragraph><Run xml:space="preserve">This is the second paragraph.  </Run><Run>Two driven jocks help fax my big quiz.</Run></Paragraph>
            <Paragraph><Run xml:space="preserve">This is the third paragraph.  </Run><Run>Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow!</Run></Paragraph>
        </FlowDocument>
        <DataTemplate DataType="{x:Type Paragraph}">
            <ItemsControl ItemsSource="{Binding Inlines}" IsHitTestVisible="False">
                <ItemsControl.ItemsPanel>
                    <ItemsPanelTemplate>
                        <WrapPanel/>
                    </ItemsPanelTemplate>
                </ItemsControl.ItemsPanel>
            </ItemsControl>
        </DataTemplate>
    </Grid.Resources>
    <ListBox ItemsSource="{Binding Blocks, Source={StaticResource document}}"/>
</Grid>

If you want one Paragraph per element you should probably do as suggested and use a read-only RichTextBox, or do what this person did and derive from TextBlock so that the Inlines property can be bound.

I went with the derive from TextBlock method as suggested in that forum post as that seems to of worked the best. +1 to Andy and joshperry for similar answers that would of worked if I didn't need multiple Inlines. :) — Nidonocu, Mar 13 '09 at 06:07

score 3 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 11 '09 at 23:13

I had a similar need and solved it along the lines of Andy's answer... I created a BindableTextBlock:

class BindableTextBlock : TextBlock
{
    public Inline BoundInline
    {
        get { return (Inline)GetValue(BoundInlineProperty); }
        set { SetValue(BoundInlineProperty, value); }
    }

    public static readonly DependencyProperty BoundInlineProperty =
        DependencyProperty.Register("BoundInline", typeof(Inline), typeof(BindableTextBlock),
            new UIPropertyMetadata((PropertyChangedCallback)((d, e) => { ((BindableTextBlock)d).Inlines.Clear(); ((BindableTextBlock)d).Inlines.Add(e.NewValue as Inline); })));
}

Then in my XAML I can bind to the BoundInline dependency property:

    <DataTemplate x:Key="TempTemplate">
        <t:BindableTextBlock TextWrapping="Wrap" BoundInline="{Binding Path=TextInlines}" Grid.Column="1" Grid.Row="1" Grid.ColumnSpan="2" />
    </DataTemplate>

The one drawback to this is that you can only bind a single root Inline to the textblock, which worked fine for my situation as my content is all wrapped in a top-level Span.

Andy · Answer 3 · 2009-02-01T17:03:13.400

1

I'm not sure if you can bind a Paragraph directly to a TextBlock's inlines. However, I was able to find the class BindableRun that lets you bind to the Run's Text property. Would that work for you instead?

EDIT: Modified my answer to reflect the edited question.

edited Feb 01 '09 at 17:03

answered Jan 29 '09 at 20:06

Andy

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But how would I display that Paragraph? – Nidonocu Feb 01 '09 at 11:45

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Jan 28 '09 at 01:07

0

You could try to create your own DataTemplate for Paragraph objects that wraps each one in its own FlowDocument, which is then presented via a RichTextBox (readonly, of course)

answered Jan 28 '09 at 01:07

Christian Klauser

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All of those objects come with large amounts of built in functionality which make them rather large. I'd like to keep things small. – Nidonocu Feb 01 '09 at 11:46
With a VirtualizingStackPanel, only the few visible blocks are actually present in memory, if I understood the concept of virtualizing panels correctly. – Christian Klauser Feb 01 '09 at 13:24

score 0 · Answer 5 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:19

0

I had almost the same problem and answered it in a similar way to joshperry, sub-classing TextBlock to make the inlines Bindable. In addition I wrote a convertor between a String of xaml markup and an InlineCollection.

How to bind a TextBlock to a resource containing formatted text?

edited May 23 '17 at 12:19

Community

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answered Apr 08 '11 at 09:06

Jodrell

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How would I databind a Paragraph to a TextBlock?

5 Answers5

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