Binding XML Data

We can also bind the XML data with UI elements. Lets take a first step to define the XML data in WPF program. We can define the XML data using XmlDataProvider class. This class is inherited by abstract class named DataSourceProvider. DataSourceProvide is a wrapper on data model and has a property Dispatcher. It means this class can work with WPF threading model. There are two classes inherited by this class named ObjectDataProvider and XmlDataProvider. Here is a class diagram of these classes.

This class can also be used in XAML. Here is a code to use this class in XAML.

  1: <XmlDataProvider x:Key="StatesInformation" XPath="States">

  2:     <x:XData>

  3:         <States xmlns="">

  4:             <State Name="Maryland" Capital="Annapolis"/>

  5:             <State Name="California" Capital="Sacramento"/>

  6:             <State Name="Taxes" Capital="Austin"/>

  7:             <State Name="Washington" Capital="Olympia"/>

  8:         </States>

  9:     </x:XData>

 10: </XmlDataProvider>        

 11: 
We define this in windows Resource section and use XPath property of data binding class to perform binding. Here is a complete XAML code to demonstrate this.
  1: <Window x:Class="xmlDataBinding.Window1"

  2:     xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"

  3:     xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"

  4:     Title="XML Data Binding" Height="300" Width="400">

  5:     <Window.Resources>

  6:         <XmlDataProvider x:Key="StatesInformation" XPath="States">

  7:             <x:XData>

  8:                 <States xmlns="">

  9:                     <State Name="Maryland" Capital="Annapolis"/>

 10:                     <State Name="California" Capital="Sacramento"/>

 11:                     <State Name="Taxes" Capital="Austin"/>

 12:                     <State Name="Washington" Capital="Olympia"/>

 13:                 </States>

 14:             </x:XData>

 15:         </XmlDataProvider>        

 16:     </Window.Resources>

 17: 

 18:     <ListBox Margin="5" HorizontalContentAlignment="Stretch"

 19:         ItemsSource="{Binding Source={StaticResource StatesInformation}, 

 20:         XPath=State}">

 21:         <ListBox.ItemTemplate>

 22:             <DataTemplate>

 23:                 <Border Margin="5" BorderThickness="3" BorderBrush="Navy" CornerRadius="5" Background="Beige">

 24:                     <StackPanel Margin="5">

 25:                         <TextBlock FontWeight="Bold" Text="{Binding XPath=@Name}"/>

 26:                         <TextBlock Text="{Binding XPath=@Capital}"/>

 27:                     </StackPanel>

 28:                 </Border>

 29:             </DataTemplate>

 30:         </ListBox.ItemTemplate>

 31:     </ListBox>

 32: </Window>

 33: 
Here is the output of this program.