How do I access the children of an ItemsControl?

Question

If i have a component derived from ItemsControl, can I access a collection of it's children so that I can loop through them to perform certain actions? I can't seem to find any easy way at the moment.

Hello

Answer 1

A solution similar to Seb's but probably with better performance :

for(int i = 0; i < itemsControl.Items.Count; i++)
{
    UIElement uiElement =
        (UIElement)itemsControl.ItemContainerGenerator.ContainerFromIndex(i);
}

Lasandralasater

it seems if the control hasn't rendered/been shown yet, it won't have any items. – Cheer

Answer 2

See if this helps you out:

foreach(var item in itemsControl.Items)
{
    UIElement uiElement =
        (UIElement)itemsControl.ItemContainerGenerator.ContainerFromItem(item);
}

There is a difference between logical items in a control and an UIElement.

Zaragoza

Answer 3

To identify ItemsControl's databound child controls (like a ToggleButton), you can use this:

for (int i = 0; i < yourItemsControl.Items.Count; i++)
{

    ContentPresenter c = (ContentPresenter)yourItemsControl.ItemContainerGenerator.ContainerFromItem(yourItemsControl.Items[i]);
    ToggleButton tb = c.ContentTemplate.FindName("btnYourButtonName", c) as ToggleButton;

    if (tb.IsChecked.Value)
    {
        //do stuff

    }
}

Comity

You need to call c.ApplyTemplate(); before calling FindName() or else it returns null. – Lelea

This should be the accepted answer in my opinion. Anyway the c variable must be checked because it can be null, for example if the control is not visible. – Incorporation