CollectionViewSource Class

CollectionViewSource is a proxy for a class that implements ICollectionView. CollectionViewSource enables XAML code to set the commonly used ICollectionView properties, passing these settings to the underlying view. CollectionViewSource has a View property that holds the actual view and a Source property that holds the source collection. The view is generated automatically unless the source collection implements ICollectionViewFactory, in which case the view is retrieved through the CreateView method.

You can think of a collection view as the layer on top of the binding source collection that allows you to navigate and display the collection based on sort, filter, and grouping queries, all without having to manipulate the underlying source collection itself. If the source collection implements the INotifyCollectionChanged interface, the changes raised by the CollectionChanged event are propagated to the views.

Because views do not change the underlying source collections, each source collection can have multiple views associated with it. For example, you may have a collection of Task objects. With the use of views, you can display that same data in different ways. For example, on the left side of your page you may want to show tasks sorted by priority, and on the right side, grouped by area.

Version Notes

The following code example demonstrates the use of this class in XAML to apply sorting to a data source. The data is also defined in XAML to enable you to see the effects of the CollectionViewSource in the Silverlight Designer in Visual Studio 2010.

This example uses the Customer and CustomerCollection classes defined in Walkthrough: Using Sample Data in the Silverlight Designer. The walkthrough also describes how to use design-time attributes to display sample data in the Silverlight Designer.

<UserControl x:Class="CollectionViewSourceExample.MainPage"
  xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
  xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
  xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008"
  xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006"
  xmlns:local="clr-namespace:DesignDataDemo"
  xmlns:compMod="clr-namespace:System.ComponentModel;assembly=System.Windows"
  xmlns:sdk="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation/sdk"
  mc:Ignorable="d" d:DesignHeight="300" d:DesignWidth="400" >

  <UserControl.Resources>

    <local:CustomerCollection x:Key="customerSampleData" >
      <local:Customer FirstName="Syed" LastName="Abbas" Age="23" 
        CustomerID="E7181DC6-3F9E-45A4-A5F7-AC0B119D1FD8" />
      <local:Customer FirstName="Brenda" LastName="Diaz" Age="55" 
        CustomerID="BB638D72-8B72-495A-B0F9-79F37964BBAE" />
      <local:Customer FirstName="Lori" LastName="Kane" Age="17" 
        CustomerID="B168D811-5548-4D28-8171-318F9A4D7219" />
    </local:CustomerCollection>

    <CollectionViewSource x:Name="dataSource" 
      Source="{StaticResource customerSampleData}">
      <CollectionViewSource.SortDescriptions>
        <compMod:SortDescription PropertyName="Age" Direction="Ascending"/>
      </CollectionViewSource.SortDescriptions>
    </CollectionViewSource>
  </UserControl.Resources>

  <Grid x:Name="LayoutRoot" Background="White">
    <sdk:DataGrid ItemsSource="{Binding Source={StaticResource dataSource}}" />
  </Grid>

</UserControl>

Silverlight

Silverlight for Windows Phone

For a list of the operating systems and browsers that are supported by Silverlight, see Supported Operating Systems and Browsers.

Reference

Other Resources