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Accessing the contents of a databound Control

I am trying to access the contents of some labels that are databound to XML through the XAML declarations. These are readonly fields. Basically I get a date and time into one label from the XML document. I want to be able to read what that date time is on the backend so that when then form is loaded/activated/whatever a combobox will add new items based on the time (basically settings a reminder). When I access the contents they are "".

I am new to C# but doing ok. This is my first time though doing anything with Databinding. I have spent the last few days scouring the web and this is the best implementation that I can arrive at.

Here is the XAML and some code.

XAML

...
    <Grid>
        <Grid.RowDefinitions>
            <RowDefinition/>
        </Grid.RowDefinitions>

        <Grid.DataContext>
            <XmlDataProvider Source="ConfigSettings.xml" XPath="Settings/Setting" />
        </Grid.DataContext>
        <Label x:Name="lblTitleData" Content="{Binding XPath=@Name}" Margin="10,10,10,0" />
        <Label x:Name="lblStartDateTimeData" Content="{Binding XPath=./StartDateTime}" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Margin="110,207,0,0" />
...

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C# Code

...
            DateTime dteDateTime = DateTime.Now;

            // string strCombinedTime="";
            int intHoursTillEvent;

            TimeSpan ts = Convert.ToDateTime(lblStartDateTimeData.Content) - DateTime.Now;
            intHoursTillEvent = (ts.Days * 24) + ts.Hours;

            if (intHoursTillEvent >= 24)
            {
                cboReminderTime.Items.Clear();
                cboReminderTime.Items.Add("15 Minutes");
                cboReminderTime.Items.Add("1 Hour");
                cboReminderTime.Items.Add("3 Hours");
                cboReminderTime.Items.Add("6 Hours");
                cboReminderTime.Items.Add("12 Hours");
                cboReminderTime.Items.Add("24 Hours");
                cboReminderTime.Items.Add("Start Now");
            } // closes >= 24 hours
...

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ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

Bob Learned

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LouisM1979

ASKER

I will do that. By chance do you have a book or link you would reco for that? There is a lot on Google and it gets confusing at times.

Thanks.

Bob Learned

There are a few choices for XML serialization:

XmlSerializer

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dsh84875(v=vs.110).aspx

using System;
using System.IO;
using System.Xml.Serialization;

// This is the class that will be deserialized. 
public class OrderedItem
{
   [XmlElement(Namespace = "http://www.cpandl.com")]
   public string ItemName;
   [XmlElement(Namespace = "http://www.cpandl.com")]
   public string Description;
   [XmlElement(Namespace="http://www.cohowinery.com")]
   public decimal UnitPrice;
   [XmlElement(Namespace = "http://www.cpandl.com")]
   public int Quantity;
   [XmlElement(Namespace="http://www.cohowinery.com")]
   public decimal LineTotal;
   // A custom method used to calculate price per item. 
   public void Calculate()
   {
      LineTotal = UnitPrice * Quantity;
   }
}

public class Test
{
   public static void Main()
   {
      Test t = new Test();
      // Read a purchase order.
      t.DeserializeObject("simple.xml");
   }

   private void DeserializeObject(string filename)
   {   
      Console.WriteLine("Reading with Stream");
      // Create an instance of the XmlSerializer.
      XmlSerializer serializer = 
      new XmlSerializer(typeof(OrderedItem));

      // Declare an object variable of the type to be deserialized.
      OrderedItem i;

      using (Stream reader = new FileStream(filename, FileMode.Open))
      {
          // Call the Deserialize method to restore the object's state.
          i = (OrderedItem)serializer.Deserialize(reader);          
      }

      // Write out the properties of the object.
      Console.Write(
      i.ItemName + "\t" +
      i.Description + "\t" +
      i.UnitPrice + "\t" +
      i.Quantity + "\t" +
      i.LineTotal);
   }
}

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Bob Learned

DataContractSerializer:

Serialization and Deserialization
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/vstudio/ms731073(v=vs.100).aspx