How to bind multiple values to a single WPF TextBlock?

Question

I'm currently using the TextBlock below to bind the value of a property named Name:

<TextBlock Text="{Binding Name}" />

Now, I want to bind another property named ID to the same TextBlock.

Is it possible to bind two or more values to the same TextBlock? Can it be done with simple concatenation, like Name + ID and, if not, how else could this be approached?

Answer 1

You can use a MultiBinding combined with the StringFormat property. Usage would resemble the following:

<TextBlock>
    <TextBlock.Text>    
        <MultiBinding StringFormat="{}{0} + {1}">
            <Binding Path="Name" />
            <Binding Path="ID" />
        </MultiBinding>
    </TextBlock.Text>
</TextBlock>

Giving Name a value of Foo and ID a value of 1, your output in the TextBlock would then be Foo + 1.

Note: that this is only supported in .NET 3.5 SP1 and 3.0 SP2 or later.

Answer 2

I know this is a way late, but I thought I'd add yet another way of doing this.

You can take advantage of the fact that the Text property can be set using "Runs", so you can set up multiple bindings using a Run for each one. This is useful if you don't have access to MultiBinding (which I didn't find when developing for Windows Phone)

<TextBlock>
  <Run Text="Name = "/>
  <Run Text="{Binding Name}"/>
  <Run Text=", Id ="/>
  <Run Text="{Binding Id}"/>
</TextBlock>

Answer 3

If these are just going to be textblocks (and thus one way binding), and you just want to concatenate values, just bind two textblocks and put them in a horizontal stackpanel.

    <StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal">
        <TextBlock Text="{Binding Name}"/>
        <TextBlock Text="{Binding ID}"/>
    </StackPanel>

That will display the text (which is all Textblocks do) without having to do any more coding. You might put a small margin on them to make them look right though.

Answer 4

Use a ValueConverter

[ValueConversion(typeof(string), typeof(String))]
public class MyConverter: IValueConverter
{
    public object Convert(object value, Type targetType, object parameter, CultureInfo culture)
    {
        return string.Format("{0}:{1}", (string) value, (string) parameter);
    }

    public object ConvertBack(object value, Type targetType, object parameter, CultureInfo culture)
    {

        return DependencyProperty.UnsetValue;
    }
}

and in the markup

<src:MyConverter x:Key="MyConverter"/>

. . .

<TextBlock Text="{Binding Name, Converter={StaticResource MyConverter Parameter=ID}}" />