docs-desktop/dotnet-desktop-guide/net/wpf/data/how-to-bind-to-an-enumeration.md

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How to bind to an enumeration	Learn how to use data binding to bind an enumeration to a collection object in XAML and in code for Windows Presentation Foundation.	adegeo	adegeo	04/30/2021	csharp vb	binding data [WPF], enumeration data binding [WPF], enumeration enumeration [WPF]

How to bind to an enumeration (WPF .NET)

This example shows how to bind to an enumeration. Unfortunately there isn't a direct way to use an enumeration as a data binding source. However, the xref:System.Enum.GetValues(System.Type)?displayProperty=nameWithType method returns a collection of values. These values can be wrapped in an xref:System.Windows.Data.ObjectDataProvider and used as a data source.

The xref:System.Windows.Data.ObjectDataProvider type provides a convenient way to create an object in XAML and use it as a data source.

[!INCLUDE desktop guide under construction]

Reference the enumeration

Use the xref:System.Windows.Data.ObjectDataProvider type to wrap an array of enumeration values provided by the enumeration type itself.

1. Create a new ObjectDataProvider as a XAML resource, either in your application XAML or the XAML of the object you're working with. This example uses a window and creates the ObjectDataProvider with a resource key of EnumDataSource.

   :::code language="xaml" source="./snippets/how-to-bind-to-an-enumeration/csharp/BindEnum.xaml" id="Resources":::

   In this example, the ObjectDataProvider uses three properties to retrieve the enumeration:

   Property	Description
   ObjectType	The type of object to be returned by the data provider. In this example, xref:System.Enum?displayProperty=fullName. The sys: XAML namespace is mapped to System.
   MethodName	The name of the method to run on the System.Enum type. In this example, xref:System.Enum.GetValues%2A?displayProperty=nameWithType.
   MethodParameters	A collection of values to provide to the MethodName method. In this example, the method takes the System.Type of the enumeration.

   Effectively, the XAML is breaking down a method call, method name, parameters, and the return type. The ObjectDataProvider configured in the previous example is the equivalent of the following code:

   :::code language="csharp" source="./snippets/how-to-bind-to-an-enumeration/csharp/BindEnum.xaml.cs" id="EnumGetValues"::: :::code language="vb" source="./snippets/how-to-bind-to-an-enumeration/vb/BindEnum.xaml.vb" id="EnumGetValues":::

2. Reference the ObjectDataProvider resource. The following XAML lists the enumeration values in a xref:System.Windows.Controls.ListBox control:

   :::code language="xaml" source="./snippets/how-to-bind-to-an-enumeration/csharp/BindEnum.xaml" id="ListBox":::

Full XAML

The following XAML code represents a simple window that does the following:

1. Wraps the xref:System.Windows.HorizontalAlignment enumeration in a xref:System.Windows.Data.ObjectDataProvider data source as a resource.
2. Provides a xref:System.Windows.Controls.ListBox control to list all enumeration values.
3. Binds a xref:System.Windows.Controls.Button control's xref:System.Windows.FrameworkElement.HorizontalAlignment property to the selected item in the ListBox.

:::code language="xaml" source="./snippets/how-to-bind-to-an-enumeration/csharp/BindEnumFull.xaml":::

See also

• Data binding overview
• Binding sources overview
• StaticResource Markup Extension
• An alternative way to bind to an enumeration