#966 – ListBox Data Binding Basics, part III

Assume that we want to use a ListBox to display a list of actors and that we have an Actor type to store all the information for a single actor.

Our next step is to create a collection of Actor instances that we’ll then be able to bind to.  Below is the code-behind for a simple WPF application that creates a collection of Actor instances and stores them in an ActorList property.  We also set up a SelectedActor property that will use data binding to reflect the actor that the user has currently selected.

    public partial class MainWindow : Window, INotifyPropertyChanged
    {
        public MainWindow()
        {
            this.InitializeComponent();
            this.DataContext = this;

            ActorList = new ObservableCollection<Actor>
            {
                new Actor("Ginger Rogers", 1911, 1995, "Kitty Foyle",
                    new Uri("ActressImages/GingerRogers.jpg", UriKind.Relative)),
                new Actor("Joan Fontaine", 1917, null, "Suspicion",
                    new Uri("ActressImages/JoanFontaine.jpg", UriKind.Relative)),
                new Actor("Greer Garson", 1904, 1996, "Mrs. Miniver",
                    new Uri("ActressImages/GreerGarson.jpg", UriKind.Relative)),
                new Actor("Jennifer Jones", 1919, 2009, "The Song of Bernadette",
                    new Uri("ActressImages/JenniferJones.jpg", UriKind.Relative)),
                new Actor("Ingrid Bergman", 1915, 1982, "Gaslight",
                    new Uri("ActressImages/IngridBergman.jpg", UriKind.Relative)),
                new Actor("Joan Crawford", 1904, 1977, "Mildred Pierce",
                    new Uri("ActressImages/JoanCrawford.jpg", UriKind.Relative)),
                new Actor("Olivia de Havilland", 1916, null, "To Each His Own",
                    new Uri("ActressImages/OliviaDeHavilland.jpg", UriKind.Relative)),
                new Actor("Loretta Young", 1913, 2000, "The Farmer's Daughter",
                    new Uri("ActressImages/LorettaYoung.jpg", UriKind.Relative)),
                new Actor("Jane Wyman", 1917, 2007, "Johnny Belinda",
                    new Uri("ActressImages/JaneWyman.jpg", UriKind.Relative)),
                new Actor("Judy Holliday", 1921, 1965, "Born Yesterday",
                    new Uri("ActressImages/JudyHolliday.jpg", UriKind.Relative))
            };
        }

        private ObservableCollection<Actor> actorList;
        public ObservableCollection<Actor> ActorList
        {
            get { return actorList; }
            set
            {
                if (value != actorList)
                {
                    actorList = value;
                    RaisePropertyChanged("ActorList");
                }
            }
        }

        private Actor selectedActor;
        public Actor SelectedActor
        {
            get { return selectedActor; }
            set
            {
                if (value != selectedActor)
                {
                    selectedActor = value;
                    RaisePropertyChanged("SelectedActor");
                }
            }
        }

        // INotifyPropertyChanged
        public event PropertyChangedEventHandler PropertyChanged = delegate { };

        private void RaisePropertyChanged(string propName)
        {
            PropertyChanged(this, new PropertyChangedEventArgs(propName));
        }
    }