Binding a DataTable to a DataGrid in MVVM WPF

Question

I'm quite new to the whole C# .net thing, but I searched a lot and I can't find how to make it work.

I have a DataGrid in my view, like this :

<DataGrid Name="SettingGrid" ItemsSource="{Binding Path=PluginSettings, Mode=OneWay, NotifyOnSourceUpdated=True, UpdateSourceTrigger=PropertyChanged}" AutoGenerateColumns="True" Margin="224.4,10,10,10"/>

PluginSettings is a DataTable, dynamically filled with different columns and row depending on what the user is doing. The PluginSettings is always up to date, I have checked that with the debug mode, the columns and row are always how I want them. But the view is never updated. After some Googling, I found that DataTable is not enumerable, so can not be binded to. I changed my binding to {Binding Path=PluginSettings.DefaultView. With that, I get the rows working perfectly, but the columns aren't.

When I add a column to my DataTable, the view never shows it. And if I understood correctly what DefaultView is, it means I can't replicate the change the user do on the Grid to the actual DataTable to save them, and that's actually my goal.

Did I miss something ? Is it just a bad choice to use DataGrid, is there something better for what I am trying to do ?

Hoping I made what I mean clear, English is not my first language. Thanks

Federico Berasategui Federico Berasategui · Accepted Answer · 2013-04-02T22:55:20

I must mention that the use of System.Data within client-side code (WPF) is discouraged.
This includes System.Data.DataSet, System.Data.DataTable, and any other classes inside the System.Data namespace.
You should create proper data models and use that instead.
IMO, System.Data is a server-side concept and should not be carried over to the client.
in WinRT, for example, it doesn't even exist. There's no System.Data, so if you ever plan to migrate your WPF application to WinRT, you'll have a lot of code to rewrite.

Having said that, this example works in both adding new rows and adding new columns:

<Window x:Class="MiscSamples.DataGridAndDataTable"
        xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
        xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
        Title="DataGridAndDataTable" Height="300" Width="300">
    <DockPanel>
        <Button Content="Add Column" DockPanel.Dock="Top" Click="AddColumn"/>
        <Button Content="Add Row" DockPanel.Dock="Top" Click="AddRow"/>
        <DataGrid Name="SettingGrid" 
              ItemsSource="{Binding}" 
              AutoGenerateColumns="True"/>
    </DockPanel>
</Window>

Code Behind:

  public partial class DataGridAndDataTable : Window
    {
        public DataTable PluginSettings { get; set; }

        public DataGridAndDataTable()
        {
            InitializeComponent();

            PluginSettings = new DataTable();

            PluginSettings.Columns.Add("Name", typeof (string));
            PluginSettings.Columns.Add("Date", typeof(DateTime));

            PluginSettings.NewRow();
            PluginSettings.NewRow();

            PluginSettings.Rows.Add("Name01", DateTime.Now);

            DataContext = PluginSettings;
        }

        private void AddColumn(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
        {
            PluginSettings.Columns.Add("Age", typeof (int));
            DataContext = null;
            DataContext = PluginSettings;
        }

        private void AddRow(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
        {
            PluginSettings.Rows.Add("Name01", DateTime.Now);
        }
    }

Binding a DataTable to a DataGrid in MVVM WPF

1 Answers