CompositeCollection Class (System.Windows.Data)

.NET Framework Class Library

CompositeCollection Class

Enables multiple collections and items to be displayed as a single list.

Namespace: System.Windows.Data
Assembly: PresentationFramework (in PresentationFramework.dll)
XMLNS for XAML: http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation, http://schemas.microsoft.com/netfx/2007/xaml/presentation

Syntax

Visual Basic (Declaration)

<LocalizabilityAttribute(LocalizationCategory.Ignore)> _
Public Class CompositeCollection _
    Implements IList, ICollection, IEnumerable, INotifyCollectionChanged,  _
    ICollectionViewFactory, IWeakEventListener

Visual Basic (Usage)

Dim instance As CompositeCollection

[LocalizabilityAttribute(LocalizationCategory.Ignore)]
public class CompositeCollection : IList, 
    ICollection, IEnumerable, INotifyCollectionChanged, ICollectionViewFactory, IWeakEventListener

Visual C++

[LocalizabilityAttribute(LocalizationCategory::Ignore)]
public ref class CompositeCollection : IList, 
    ICollection, IEnumerable, INotifyCollectionChanged, ICollectionViewFactory, IWeakEventListener

JScript

public class CompositeCollection implements IList, ICollection, IEnumerable, INotifyCollectionChanged, ICollectionViewFactory, IWeakEventListener

XAML Object Element Usage

<CompositeCollection .../>

Remarks

CompositeCollection can contain items such as strings, objects, XML nodes, elements, as well as other collections. An ItemsControl uses the data in the CompositeCollection to generate its content according to its ItemTemplate. For more information about using ItemsControl objects to bind to collections, see the Binding to Collections section of the Data Binding Overview.

Examples

The following example shows how to display multiple collections and items as one list using the CompositeCollection class. In this example, GreekGods is an ObservableCollection<(Of <(T>)>) of GreekGod custom objects. Data templates are defined so that GreekGod objects and GreekHero objects appear with a gold and a cyan foreground color respectively.

XAML

<Window Background="Cornsilk"
  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"
  Title="CompositeCollections"
  SizeToContent="WidthAndHeight"
  >
  <Window.Resources>
    <c:GreekGods x:Key="GreekGodsData"/>

    <XmlDataProvider x:Key="GreekHeroesData" XPath="GreekHeroes/Hero">
      <x:XData>
      <GreekHeroes xmlns="">
        <Hero Name="Jason" />
        <Hero Name="Hercules" />
        <Hero Name="Bellerophon" />
        <Hero Name="Theseus" />
        <Hero Name="Odysseus" />
        <Hero Name="Perseus" />
      </GreekHeroes>
      </x:XData>
    </XmlDataProvider>

    <DataTemplate DataType="{x:Type c:GreekGod}">
      <TextBlock Text="{Binding Path=Name}" Foreground="Gold"/>
    </DataTemplate>
    <DataTemplate DataType="Hero">
      <TextBlock Text="{Binding XPath=@Name}" Foreground="Cyan"/>
    </DataTemplate>
    </Window.Resources>
    
  <StackPanel>
    <TextBlock FontSize="18" FontWeight="Bold" Margin="10"
      HorizontalAlignment="Center">Composite Collections Sample</TextBlock>
    <ListBox Name="myListBox" Height="300" Width="200" Background="White">
      <ListBox.ItemsSource>
        <CompositeCollection>
          <CollectionContainer
            Collection="{Binding Source={StaticResource GreekGodsData}}" />
          <CollectionContainer
            Collection="{Binding Source={StaticResource GreekHeroesData}}" />
          <ListBoxItem Foreground="Red">Other Listbox Item 1</ListBoxItem>
          <ListBoxItem Foreground="Red">Other Listbox Item 2</ListBoxItem>
        </CompositeCollection>
      </ListBox.ItemsSource>
    </ListBox>
  </StackPanel>

</Window>

Inheritance Hierarchy

System..::.Object
System.Windows.Data..::.CompositeCollection

Thread Safety

Any public static (Shared in Visual Basic) members of this type are thread safe. Any instance members are not guaranteed to be thread safe.

Platforms

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.

Version Information

.NET Framework

Supported in: 3.5, 3.0

Reference

CompositeCollection Members

System.Windows.Data Namespace

CollectionContainer

Other Resources

Data Binding Overview