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.NET Framework 3.5
ItemsControl Class
 ItemsSource Property

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This page is specific to
Microsoft Visual Studio 2008/.NET Framework 3.5

Other versions are also available for the following:
.NET Framework Class Library
ItemsControl..::.ItemsSource Property

Gets or sets a collection used to generate the content of the ItemsControl. This is a dependency property.

Namespace:  System.Windows.Controls
Assembly:  PresentationFramework (in PresentationFramework.dll)
XMLNS for XAML: http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/xaml/presentation
Visual Basic (Declaration)
<BindableAttribute(True)> _
Public Property ItemsSource As IEnumerable
Visual Basic (Usage)
Dim instance As ItemsControl
Dim value As IEnumerable

value = instance.ItemsSource

instance.ItemsSource = value
C#
[BindableAttribute(true)]
public IEnumerable ItemsSource { get; set; }
Visual C++
[BindableAttribute(true)]
public:
property IEnumerable^ ItemsSource {
    IEnumerable^ get ();
    void set (IEnumerable^ value);
}
JScript
public function get ItemsSource () : IEnumerable
public function set ItemsSource (value : IEnumerable)
XAML Attribute Usage
<object ItemsSource="bindingDeclaration"/>

XAML Values

bindingDeclaration

A Binding declaration. See Binding Markup Extension for more information.

Property Value

Type: System.Collections..::.IEnumerable
A collection that is used to generate the content of the ItemsControl. The default is nullNothingnullptra null reference (Nothing in Visual Basic).

Identifier field

ItemsSourceProperty

Metadata properties set to true

None

Content Model: This property may be used to add items to an ItemsControl.

A common scenario is to use an ItemsControl such as a ListBox, ListView, or TreeView to display a data collection, or to bind an ItemsControl to a collection object. To bind an ItemsControl to a collection object, use the ItemsSource property. Note that the ItemsSource property supports OneWay binding by default.

When the ItemsSource property is set, the Items collection is made read-only and fixed-size.

When ItemsSource is in use, setting the property to nullNothingnullptra null reference (Nothing in Visual Basic) removes the collection and restores usage to Items, which will be an empty ItemCollection. When ItemsSource is not in use, the value of this property is nullNothingnullptra null reference (Nothing in Visual Basic), and setting it to nullNothingnullptra null reference (Nothing in Visual Basic) has no effect.

NoteNote:

In most cases you do not need to implement your own collections. Instead, consider using ObservableCollection<(Of <(T>)>) or other existing collections. For more information, see the "Collection Objects Used as Binding Source" in Binding Sources Overview.

This example shows how to create and bind to a collection that derives from the ObservableCollection<(Of <(T>)>) class, which is a collection class that provides notifications when items get added or removed.

The following example shows the implementation of a NameList collection:

Visual Basic
Public Class NameList
    Inherits ObservableCollection(Of PersonName)

    ' Methods
    Public Sub New()
        MyBase.Add(New PersonName("Willa", "Cather"))
        MyBase.Add(New PersonName("Isak", "Dinesen"))
        MyBase.Add(New PersonName("Victor", "Hugo"))
        MyBase.Add(New PersonName("Jules", "Verne"))
    End Sub

End Class

Public Class PersonName
    ' Methods
    Public Sub New(ByVal first As String, ByVal last As String)
        Me._firstName = first
        Me._lastName = last
    End Sub


    ' Properties
    Public Property FirstName() As String
        Get
            Return Me._firstName
        End Get
        Set(ByVal value As String)
            Me._firstName = value
        End Set
    End Property

    Public Property LastName() As String
        Get
            Return Me._lastName
        End Get
        Set(ByVal value As String)
            Me._lastName = value
        End Set
    End Property


    ' Fields
    Private _firstName As String
    Private _lastName As String
End Class

C#
public class NameList : ObservableCollection<PersonName>
{
    public NameList() : base()
    {
        Add(new PersonName("Willa", "Cather"));
        Add(new PersonName("Isak", "Dinesen"));
        Add(new PersonName("Victor", "Hugo"));
        Add(new PersonName("Jules", "Verne"));
    }
  }

  public class PersonName
  {
      private string firstName;
      private string lastName;

      public PersonName(string first, string last)
      {
          this.firstName = first;
          this.lastName = last;
      }

      public string FirstName
      {
          get { return firstName; }
          set { firstName = value; }
      }

      public string LastName
      {
          get { return lastName; }
          set { lastName = value; }
      }
  }

You can make the collection available for binding the same way you would with other common language runtime (CLR) objects, as described in How to: Make Data Available for Binding in XAML. For example, you can instantiate the collection in XAML and specify the collection as a resource, as shown here:

<Window
  xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
  xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
  xmlns:c="clr-namespace:SDKSample"
  x:Class="SDKSample.Window1"
  Width="400"
  Height="280"
  Title="MultiBinding Sample">
    
  <Window.Resources>
    <c:NameList x:Key="NameListData"/>


...


</Window.Resources>

You can then bind to the collection:

<ListBox Width="200"
         ItemsSource="{Binding Source={StaticResource NameListData}}"
         ItemTemplate="{StaticResource NameItemTemplate}"
         IsSynchronizedWithCurrentItem="True"/>

The definition of NameItemTemplate is not shown here. For the complete sample, see Implementing Parameterized MultiBinding Sample.

NoteNote:

The objects in your collection must satisfy the requirements described in the Binding Sources Overview. In particular, if you are using OneWay or TwoWay (for example, you want your UI to update when the source properties change dynamically), you must implement a suitable property changed notification mechanism such as the INotifyPropertyChanged interface.

For more information, see the Binding to Collections section in the Data Binding Overview.

More Code

How to: Bind to a Collection and Display Information Based on Selection In a simple master-detail scenario, you have a data-bound ItemsControl such as a ListBox. Based on user selection, you display more information about the selected item. This example shows how to implement this scenario.

Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP SP2, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2003

The .NET Framework and .NET Compact Framework do not support all versions of every platform. For a list of the supported versions, see .NET Framework System Requirements.

.NET Framework

Supported in: 3.5, 3.0
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