This is phenomenal!!!  Seriously.  Great work, Graham.

I wasn't sure I'd get a response, so I began working on my own implementation.  Interestingly, mine is called "ChartBinder" with a Dependency property (Attached) named "ChartSeriesSourceProperty" of type "ChartSeriesCollection."  The ChartSeriesCollection is an ObservableCollection and has a Chart:XamChart property.  I watch the collection and add/remove chart series as necessary.

Your method is much more generic and, well, elegant.  I particularly like the templating part.  I'm going to give it a try.

I was looking at other 3rd party controls for this same functionality.  Only one other major vendor seems to do it, but it is a very awkward implementation.

Thanks!

Glad you like it!

Yeah, there are probably other ways to achieve this too, I was experimenting a little bit with DataTemplates, but the Series isn't a visual control, so you would have to house it in a visual control to do the templating with a DataTemplate, but that was starting to seem less elegant.

So, this is the most elegant approach I've come up with so far. There may be an even cleaner way to do this, and if it comes to me, I'll try to remember to come back and update this.

-Graham

Here's a reposting which will hopefully be less mangled.

<Window x:Class="WpfApplication22.Window1"
    xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
    xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
    Title="Window1" Height="300" Width="300" 
        x:Name="theWindow"
    xmlns:igChart="http://infragistics.com/Chart"
        xmlns:local="clr-namespace:WpfApplication22">
    <Grid>
        <Grid.RowDefinitions>
            <RowDefinition Height="1*"/>
            <RowDefinition Height="Auto"/>
        </Grid.RowDefinitions>
        
        <igChart:XamChart x:Name="theChart">
            <local:SeriesBinder.BindingInfo>
                <local:SeriesBindingInfo 
                    ItemsSource="{Binding}">
                    <local:SeriesBindingInfo.SeriesTemplate>
                        <igChart:Series 
                            ChartType="{Binding ChartType}"
                            DataMapping="{Binding DataMapping}"
                            DataSource="{Binding DataSource}">
                        </igChart:Series>
                    </local:SeriesBindingInfo.SeriesTemplate>
                </local:SeriesBindingInfo>
            </local:SeriesBinder.BindingInfo>
        </igChart:XamChart>
        
        <Button Grid.Row="1" 
                Click="Button_Click">
            Add Series
        </Button>
    </Grid>
</Window>

And the window code behind:

public partial class Window1 : Window
    {
        public Window1()
        {
            InitializeComponent();

            DataContext = GetSampleData();
        }

        private ObservableCollection<TestSeriesItem> GetSampleData()
        {
            ObservableCollection<TestSeriesItem> data = new ObservableCollection<TestSeriesItem>()
            {
                new TestSeriesItem()
                {
                    ChartType = ChartType.Column,
                    DataMapping = "Label = Label; Value = Value",
                    DataSource = new ObservableCollection<TestDataItem>()
                    {
                        new TestDataItem()
                        {
                            Label = "1",
                            Value = 1
                        },
                        new TestDataItem()
                        {
                            Label = "2",
                            Value = 2
                        }
                    }
                },
                new TestSeriesItem()
                {
                    ChartType = ChartType.Line,
                    DataMapping = "Label = Label; Value = Value",
                    DataSource = new ObservableCollection<TestDataItem>()
                    {
                        new TestDataItem()
                        {
                            Label = "1",
                            Value = 1
                        },
                        new TestDataItem()
                        {
                            Label = "2",
                            Value = 2
                        }
                    }
                }
            };

            return data;
        }

        private void Button_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
        {
            ((ObservableCollection<TestSeriesItem>)DataContext).Add(
                new TestSeriesItem()
                {
                    ChartType = ChartType.Area,
                    DataMapping = "Label = Label; Value = Value",
                    DataSource = new ObservableCollection<TestDataItem>()
                    {
                        new TestDataItem()
                        {
                            Label = "1",
                            Value = 5
                        },
                        new TestDataItem()
                        {
                            Label = "2",
                            Value = 6
                        }
                    }
                });
        }
    }

    public class TestSeriesItem
    {
        public ChartType ChartType { get; set; }
        public string DataMapping { get; set; }
        public object DataSource { get; set; }
    }

    public class TestDataItem
    {
        public string Label { get; set; }
        public double Value { get; set; }
    }

And the attached properties and helper classes

class DependencyPropertyEnumerator
    {
        public static IEnumerable<DependencyProperty> DependencyProperties(Type type)
        {
            var props = from prop in type.GetProperties(BindingFlags.Instance |
                           BindingFlags.Public | BindingFlags.FlattenHierarchy)
                        join field in type.GetFields(BindingFlags.Static |
                            BindingFlags.Public | BindingFlags.FlattenHierarchy)
                            on prop.Name + "Property" equals field.Name into propGroup
                        from item in propGroup.DefaultIfEmpty(null)
                        where item != null
                        select (DependencyProperty)item.GetValue(null);

            return props;
        }

        public static bool DependencyPropertyHasBinding(
            FrameworkContentElement obj,
            DependencyProperty dp, 
            out BindingExpression be)
        {
            be = null;

            if (obj == null)
            {
                return false;
            }

            be = obj.GetBindingExpression (dp);
            if (be != null)
            {
                return true;
            }

            return false;
        }

        public static bool DependencyPropertyHasValue(
            FrameworkContentElement obj,
            DependencyProperty dp, out object value)
        {
            value = null;

            if (obj == null)
            {
                return false;
            }

            object localValue = obj.ReadLocalValue(dp);
            object defaultValue =
                dp.GetMetadata(typeof(Series)).DefaultValue;

            if (localValue != DependencyProperty.UnsetValue)
            {
                if ((localValue == null && defaultValue != null)
                    || !localValue.Equals(defaultValue))
                {
                    value = localValue;
                    return true;
                }
            }
            return false;
        }
    }

    class SeriesBindingInfo
        : FrameworkElement
    {
        private XamChart targetChart;
        public XamChart TargetChart 
        {
            get
            {
                return targetChart;
            }
            set
            {
                targetChart = value;
                //bridge the data context from the parent hierarchy.
                Binding binding = new Binding("DataContext") 
                { 
                    Source = targetChart 
                };
                SetBinding(DataContextProperty, binding);
                Clear();
                UpdateFromCollection(ItemsSource);
            }
        }

        public static DependencyProperty ItemsSourceProperty = 
            DependencyProperty.Register("ItemsSource",
            typeof(IEnumerable), typeof(SeriesBindingInfo), 
            new FrameworkPropertyMetadata(null,
                (o, e) =>
                {
                    (o as SeriesBindingInfo).OnItemsSourceChanged(e);
                }));

        public IEnumerable ItemsSource
        {
            get
            {
                return (IEnumerable)GetValue(ItemsSourceProperty);
            }
            set
            {
                SetValue(ItemsSourceProperty, value);
            }
        }

        public static DependencyProperty SeriesTemplateProperty = 
            DependencyProperty.Register("SeriesTemplate",
            typeof(Series), typeof(SeriesBindingInfo),
            new FrameworkPropertyMetadata(null,
                (o, e) =>
                {
                    (o as SeriesBindingInfo).OnSeriesTemplateChanged(e);
                }
                    ));

        public Series SeriesTemplate
        {
            get
            {
                return (Series)GetValue(SeriesTemplateProperty);
            }
            set
            {
                SetValue(SeriesTemplateProperty, value);
            }
        }

        protected void OnItemsSourceChanged(DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs e)
        {
            Clear();

            if (e.OldValue != null)
            {
                UnRegCollection(e.OldValue as IEnumerable);
            }
            if (e.NewValue != null)
            {
                RegCollection(e.NewValue as IEnumerable);
                UpdateFromCollection(e.NewValue as IEnumerable);
            }
        }

        protected void OnSeriesTemplateChanged(DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs e)
        {
            Clear();
            UpdateFromCollection(ItemsSource);
        }

        private void Clear()
        {
            if (TargetChart == null)
            {
                return;
            }

            TargetChart.Series.Clear();
        }

        private void UpdateFromCollection(IEnumerable collection)
        {
            if (collection == null)
            {
                return;
            }
            foreach (object item in collection)
            {
                AddItem(item);
            }
        }

        private void AddItem(object item)
        {
            if (SeriesTemplate == null)
            {
                return;
            }

            Series series = new Series();
            series.DataContext = item;

            SetSeriesBindings(series);
            TargetChart.Series.Add(series);
        }        

        private void SetSeriesBindings(Series series)
        {
            if (SeriesTemplate == null)
            {
                return;
            }
            foreach (DependencyProperty dp in 
                DependencyPropertyEnumerator.DependencyProperties(typeof(Series)))
            {
                object value;
                BindingExpression be;

                if (DependencyPropertyEnumerator.
                    DependencyPropertyHasBinding(
                    SeriesTemplate, dp, out be))
                {
                    series.SetBinding(dp, be.ParentBinding);
                }
                else if (DependencyPropertyEnumerator.
                    DependencyPropertyHasValue(
                    SeriesTemplate, dp, out value))
                {
                    series.SetValue(dp, value);
                }
            }
        }

        private void RegCollection(IEnumerable collection)
        {
            if (collection is INotifyCollectionChanged)
            {
                (collection as INotifyCollectionChanged).CollectionChanged
                    += new NotifyCollectionChangedEventHandler(
                        SeriesBindingInfo_CollectionChanged);
            }
        }

        private void UnRegCollection(IEnumerable collection)
        {
            if (collection is INotifyCollectionChanged)
            {
                (collection as INotifyCollectionChanged).CollectionChanged
                    -= new NotifyCollectionChangedEventHandler(
                        SeriesBindingInfo_CollectionChanged);
            }
        }

        void SeriesBindingInfo_CollectionChanged(object sender, NotifyCollectionChangedEventArgs e)
        {
            if (TargetChart == null)
            {
                return;
            }
            //this could be made more efficient of course.
            Clear();
            UpdateFromCollection(ItemsSource);
        }
    }

    class SeriesBinder
        : DependencyObject
    {
        public static DependencyProperty BindingInfoProperty =
            DependencyProperty.RegisterAttached("BindingInfo",
            typeof(SeriesBindingInfo), typeof(SeriesBinder),
            new PropertyMetadata(null,
                (o, e) =>
                {
                    if (o is XamChart)
                    {
                        SeriesBindingInfo prev = GetBindingInfo(o);
                        if (prev != null && prev.TargetChart != null)
                        {
                            prev.TargetChart = null;
                        }
                        if (e.NewValue != null)
                        {
                            (e.NewValue as SeriesBindingInfo).TargetChart =
                                (XamChart)o;
                        }
                    }
                }));

        public static void SetBindingInfo(DependencyObject target, SeriesBindingInfo info)
        {
            target.SetValue(BindingInfoProperty, info);
        }

        public static SeriesBindingInfo GetBindingInfo(DependencyObject target)
        {
            return (SeriesBindingInfo)target.GetValue(BindingInfoProperty);
        }
    }

I am having one issue that I cannot figure out when using the SeriesBindingInfo classes.  If I reload the data that is used with the chart, my chart does not refresh automatically.  Is there something that I am missing in order to get this to work properly?

Could you share the code you are using to refresh the data?

-Graham

Could you post the solution in a project file inside a .zip?

Thank you

The idea of this code is to enable MVVM scenarios.

Hi,

Is this code applicable for implementation through MVVM also?

Thanks,

VJ

I solved my problem !

Your code doesn't manage Multibinding... I just modified your SetSeriesBindings method like that :

private void SetSeriesBindings(Series series)

        {

            if (SeriesTemplate == null)

            {

                return;

            }

            foreach (DependencyProperty dp in

                DependencyPropertyEnumerator.DependencyProperties(typeof(Series)))

            {

                object value;

                BindingExpression be;

                if (DependencyPropertyEnumerator.

                    DependencyPropertyHasBinding(

                    SeriesTemplate, dp, out be))

                {

                    series.SetBinding(dp, be.ParentBinding);

                }

                else if (DependencyPropertyEnumerator.

                    DependencyPropertyHasValue(

                    SeriesTemplate, dp, out value))

                {

                    if (!typeof(MultiBindingExpression).IsAssignableFrom(value.GetType()))

                         series.SetValue(dp, value);         

                    else

                        series.SetBinding(dp, ((MultiBindingExpression)value).ParentMultiBinding);

                }

            }

        }

It's pretty dirty but it works.

Steph 

Hello Graham,

I have a little problem with your SeriesBinder code (the WPF version with xamchart) ; if I use multibinding or triggers, I have an exception which says that the object is not sharable ; see my code below :

<core:SeriesBinder.BindingInfo>

                                    <core:SeriesBindingInfo ItemsSource="{Binding SeriesCollection}">

                                        <core:SeriesBindingInfo.SeriesTemplate>

                                            <igCA:Series   

                                                    ChartType="{Binding ChartType}"  

                                                    DataMapping="{Binding DataMapping}"  

                                                    DataSource="{Binding DataSource}"

                                                    StrokeThickness="2"

                                                    Label="{Binding Label}"

                                                    >

                                                <igCA:Series.Fill>

                                                    <MultiBinding Converter="{StaticResource myConv}">

                                                        <MultiBinding.Bindings>

                                                            <Binding  Path="ParentObject.Consolidation.Name"/>

                                                            <Binding Path="ParentObject.Consolidation.Colour"/>

                                                        </MultiBinding.Bindings>

                                                    </MultiBinding>

                                                </igCA:Series.Fill>

                                            </igCA:Series>

                                        </core:SeriesBindingInfo.SeriesTemplate>

                                    </core:SeriesBindingInfo>

                                </core:SeriesBinder.BindingInfo>

The thing is, with a xamDataChart, it works very well cause I think the whole code is inside a DataTemplate.... is there a way to have the same thing with a xamChart ?

Thanks

Steph