Hi Bob,

I thought only you would be the one attempting to answer this :-)

I have seen that article and numerous others like these.

http://blogs.msdn.com/henryh/archive/2005/06/23/431846.aspx
http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdnmag/issues/07/12/DataPoints/

I have now managed to databind the ListBox.  It is displaying fields vertically, i.e

Row1
  field 1
  field 2
  field 3
Row 2
  field 1
  field 2
  field 3

And I have no styling.  Having used to doing the styling via property pages and also creating templates via GUI, I am now wondering why we have to code GUI in XAML which is simple looking language but certainly not easy.

What I was attempting to do was load a list of users from DB and show them in List control (ListBox, ListView etc) then user types a few characters on textbox I use for filtering then I would run some LINQ to get users whose names start with the characters entered.  all works apart from styling (and when LINQ is applied to filter users I get the right number of users back but the ListBox although it contains the correct number of users does not display them - there must some tweaking I am missing).  All in all it is weird way of doing things

I am just looking at the web for a WPF book.  It is said that every Windows Forms developer must learn WPF so better start now!

Hassan

Yeah I agree about XAML!  I guess it is a matter of getting used to it.  I prefer object based priogramming as opposed to declarative.

Do you mean Expression Blend?  I haven't used it.  Does it come with VS 2008 (I am using VS 2008 Beta 2)?

Styling wise I am after 2 types of styling, basic which I should be able to achieve at some point and fancy which may not be possible

Basic
 - display header row with column header text
 - display fields as columns horizontally like a datagrid would

Fancy (as above plus)
 - header bgcolour - gradient
 - borders and gradient colour on selected rows

That'd do for now :-)

I see.  We only received Beta 2 and we are waiting for the RTM stuff.  I will install Expression Blend then and hope it helps.

My whole XAML below

<Window x:Class="WpfApp1.Users"
    xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
    xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
    Title="Users" Height="402" Width="495">
    <Grid>
        <Button Height="25" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Margin="18,0,0,24" Name="btnUsers" VerticalAlignment="Bottom" Width="109" Click="btnUsers_Click">Get Users</Button>
        <TextBox Height="25" Margin="140,0,94,25" Name="txtUser" VerticalAlignment="Bottom" />
        <ListBox Margin="10,10,12,66" Name="listBox1" ItemsSource="{Binding}">
            <ListBox.ItemTemplate>
                <DataTemplate>
                    <StackPanel>
                        <TextBlock Text="{Binding Path=firstName}" />
                        <TextBlock Text="{Binding Path=lastName}"/>
                        <TextBlock Text="{Binding Path=email}"/>
                    </StackPanel>
                </DataTemplate>
            </ListBox.ItemTemplate>
        </ListBox>
        <TextBlock Height="20" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Margin="26,0,0,3" Name="textBlock1" VerticalAlignment="Bottom" Width="104" />
        <TextBox Height="20" Margin="140,0,188,2" Name="textBox1" VerticalAlignment="Bottom" />
    </Grid>

</Window>


And my whole code behind minus using directives

    public partial class Users : Window
    {
        DataTable dt = new DataTable();

        public Users()
        {
            InitializeComponent();
           
            this.Loaded += new RoutedEventHandler(Users_Loaded);
        }

        void Users_Loaded(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
        {
            SqlDataAdapter adaptor = new SqlDataAdapter("cms_getUsers", "server=dbserver;database=bayer_bioscience;user id=webBayer;password=password;");
            adaptor.Fill(dt);
            DataContext = dt;

            //this.listView1.DataContext = ds.Tables[0];
            //Binding bind = new Binding();
            //bind.Source = ds.Tables[0];
            //this.listView1.SetBinding(ListView.ItemsSourceProperty, bind);
           
        }

        private void btnUsers_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
        {
            var query = from r in dt.AsEnumerable()
                        where r.Field<string>("lastName").StartsWith(this.txtUser.Text)
                        select r;

            //DataContext = query;
            //listBox1.DataContext = DataContext;
        }
    }

Bob,

Are you any good at Mobile dev? Windows Mobile 5 and CF 2.0?

I have this issue that I couldn't fix for 5 months now !!!!

I had a question open but it is now closed - I'll explain.

Basically this issue doesn't stop program from running.  Just that when an exception occurs I get a generic error explained here
http://forums.microsoft.com/MSDN/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=2460541&SiteID=1

I can open a question if you could look into it or find others whop are good at this topic.  I only know of one Mikal613 but he/she could not fix this one.

by the way, tyhe gradient colour you showed me is brilliant! thanks

Bob,

Here
http://www.experts-exchange.com/OS/Microsoft_Operating_Systems/Windows/Windows_Mobile-_PocketPC-_WinCE/Q_23005473.html

Sorry Bob.  left this open too long.  I have abandoned my WPF  research for now.  I bought a book and want to read it first then get back to it.  Thanks for helping as always

H