Bind the WPF Data Grid to ICollectionView

• Dec 30, 2021
• 2 minutes to read

Run Demo: CollectionView

The GridControl supports ICollectionView binding. To bind the GridControl to the ICollectionView, assign the source collection to the grid’s DataControlBase.ItemsSource property and enable the DataViewBase.IsSynchronizedWithCurrentItem option. The grid automatically synchronizes its grouping, sorting, current item, and can directly change the underlying collection.

XAML

<dxg:GridControl x:Name="grid" ItemsSource="{Binding CollectionView}">
    <dxg:GridControl.View>
        <dxg:TableView IsSynchronizedWithCurrentItem="True">/>
    </dxg:GridControl.View>
</dxg:GridControl>

C#

public class CollectionViewViewModel : BindableBase {
    IList employeesCore = EmployeesWithPhotoData.DataSource;
    public IList Employees { get { return employeesCore; } }
    public ICollectionView CollectionView { get; private set; }

    public CollectionViewViewModel() {
        CollectionView = new CollectionViewSource() { Source = Employees }.View;
        CollectionView.GroupDescriptions.Add(new PropertyGroupDescription("JobTitle"));
        CollectionView.SortDescriptions.Add(new SortDescription("JobTitle", ListSortDirection.Ascending));
        CollectionView.MoveCurrentToFirst();
    }
}

VB.NET

Public Class CollectionViewViewModel
    Inherits BindableBase

    Private employeesCore As IList = EmployeesWithPhotoData.DataSource

    Public ReadOnly Property Employees As IList
        Get
            Return employeesCore
        End Get
    End Property

    Public Property CollectionView As ICollectionView

    Public Sub New()
        CollectionView = New CollectionViewSource() With {
            .Source = Employees
        }.View
        CollectionView.GroupDescriptions.Add(New PropertyGroupDescription("JobTitle"))
        CollectionView.SortDescriptions.Add(New SortDescription("JobTitle", ListSortDirection.Ascending))
        CollectionView.MoveCurrentToFirst()
    End Sub
End Class

Example: Bind the WPF Data Grid to ICollectionView

Limitations

When the GridControl is bound to a collection view, the grid functions in the Server Mode. Refer to the following topic for information on its limitations: Server Mode Limitations.

When working with ICollectionView sources, the GridControl delegates all data management operations (sorting, filtering, grouping) to ICollectionView, which imposes some limitations on the GridControl‘s features. You can overcome all ICollectionView limitations. Set the GridControl.AllowCollectionView property to false to let the GridControl perform all data management operations.