Changing ContentTemplate based on ListBox selection

Question

I have a Listbox and a Border in a StackPanel similar to the following:

<StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal">
      <ListBox>
          <ListBoxItem Content="People"/>
          <ListBoxItem Content="Animals"/>
          <ListBoxItem Content="Cars"/>
       </ListBox>
       <Border Width="200>
            <ContentPresenter/>
       </Border>
</StackPanel>

When selecting an item in the listbox I would like to change the content in the ContentPresenter accordingly e.g. selecting People would change the template to display a series of input fields related to people where as selecting Animals would display a series of fields related to Animals etc. - the behavior of this would be akin to a TabControl.

I think I can achieve this with a DataTrigger which changes the DataTemplate in the Border but I'm not sure how to achieve this.

Any pointers?

Thanks

Potto

Answer 1

You can toggle the ContentTemplate using a DataTrigger as follows.
Note, that I am binding an ObservableCollection to a simple object (Thing) with one property called Name, and am I binding the Content of the ContentControl to the SelectedItem in the ListBox using a ViewModel.

<Grid>
    <Grid.Resources>
        <local:MultiValueConverter x:Key="con" />

        <DataTemplate x:Key="PeopleTemplate">
            <StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal">
                <Label Margin="0,0,5,0" Content="People Name" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Grid.Column="0" />
                <TextBox Grid.Column="1" Width="100" Height="25"></TextBox>
                <Button Content="OK" Grid.Column="2" />
            </StackPanel>
        </DataTemplate>

        <DataTemplate x:Key="AnimalsTemplate">
            <StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal">
                <Label Margin="0,0,5,0" Content="Animal Name" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Grid.Column="0" />
                <TextBox Grid.Column="1" Width="100" Height="25"></TextBox>
                <Button Content="OK" Grid.Column="2" />
            </StackPanel>
        </DataTemplate>

        <DataTemplate x:Key="CarsTemplate">
            <StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal">
                <Label Margin="0,0,5,0" Content="Car Name" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Grid.Column="0" />
                <TextBox Grid.Column="1" Width="100" Height="25"></TextBox>
                <Button Content="OK" Grid.Column="2" />
            </StackPanel>
        </DataTemplate>
    </Grid.Resources>

    <Grid.RowDefinitions>
        <RowDefinition Height="*"/>
    </Grid.RowDefinitions>

    <StackPanel Grid.Row="0" Orientation="Horizontal">
        <ListBox ItemsSource="{Binding Things}" SelectedItem="{Binding SelectedThing}">
            <ListBox.ItemTemplate>
              <DataTemplate>
                <StackPanel Margin="0" Orientation="Horizontal">
                    <TextBlock Padding="5" Text="{Binding Name}" Margin="0"></TextBlock>
                </StackPanel>
              </DataTemplate>
            </ListBox.ItemTemplate>
        </ListBox>
        <Border Width="200">
            <ContentControl Content="{Binding SelectedThing}">
                    <ContentControl.ContentTemplate>
                    <DataTemplate>
                        <ContentControl Name="cc" 
                          Content="{Binding}" 
                          ContentTemplate="{StaticResource PeopleTemplate}" />
                        <DataTemplate.Triggers>
                            <DataTrigger Binding="{Binding Path=Name}" Value="People">
                                <Setter TargetName="cc"  
                                    Property="ContentTemplate" 
                                    Value="{StaticResource PeopleTemplate}" />
                            </DataTrigger>
                            <DataTrigger Binding="{Binding Path=Name}" Value="Animals">
                                <Setter TargetName="cc"  
                                    Property="ContentTemplate" 
                                    Value="{StaticResource AnimalsTemplate}" />
                            </DataTrigger>
                            <DataTrigger Binding="{Binding Path=Name}" Value="Cars">
                                <Setter TargetName="cc"  
                                    Property="ContentTemplate" 
                                    Value="{StaticResource CarsTemplate}" />
                            </DataTrigger>
                        </DataTemplate.Triggers>
                    </DataTemplate>
                </ContentControl.ContentTemplate>
            </ContentControl>
        </Border> 
    </StackPanel>        
<Grid>

Here is the Thing class:

public class Thing
{
  public Thing(String name)
  {
     this.Name = name;
  }

  public String Name { get; set; }

  public static ObservableCollection<Thing> GetThingList()
  {
     return new ObservableCollection<Thing>(new Thing[3] {
            new Thing("People"), 
            new Thing("Animals"),
            new Thing("Cars")
        });
  }
}

Eadwina

Thanks for the concise answer - this works well. I know its slightly off topic so I may repost but do you know if there is anyway I can defer the content template change? I'd like to animate collapsing the border to the left (width=0) and then change the template but it changes straight away. – Potto