Path drawing and data binding

Question

I am looking for a way to be able to use the wpf Path element to draw a path that will represent a route on the map. I have the Route class that contains a collection of vertices and would like to use it for binding. I don't really know how to even start.. Any hints?

Solution 1

The main thing you'll need for the binding is a converter that turns your points into Geometry which the path will need as Data, here is what my one-way converter from a System.Windows.Point-array to Geometry looks like:

[ValueConversion(typeof(Point[]), typeof(Geometry))]
public class PointsToPathConverter : IValueConverter
{
    #region IValueConverter Members

    public object Convert(object value, Type targetType, object parameter, System.Globalization.CultureInfo culture)
    {
        Point[] points = (Point[])value;
        if (points.Length > 0)
        {
            Point start = points[0];
            List<LineSegment> segments = new List<LineSegment>();
            for (int i = 1; i < points.Length; i++)
            {
                segments.Add(new LineSegment(points[i], true));
            }
            PathFigure figure = new PathFigure(start, segments, false); //true if closed
            PathGeometry geometry = new PathGeometry();
            geometry.Figures.Add(figure);
            return geometry;
        }
        else
        {
            return null;
        }
    }

    public object ConvertBack(object value, Type targetType, object parameter, System.Globalization.CultureInfo culture)
    {
        throw new NotSupportedException();
    }

    #endregion
}

Now all that is really left is to create an instance of it and use it as the converter for the binding. What it might look like in XAML:

<Grid>
    <Grid.Resources>
        <local:PointsToPathConverter x:Key="PointsToPathConverter"/>
    </Grid.Resources>
    <Path Data="{Binding ElementName=Window, Path=Points, Converter={StaticResource ResourceKey=PointsToPathConverter}}"
          Stroke="Black"/>
</Grid>

If you need the binding to update automatically you should work with dependency properties or interfaces like INotifyPropertyChanged/INotifyCollectionChanged

Hope that helps :D

Solution 2

Also you can try it this way:

public static class PathStrings
{
    public const string Add = "F1 M 22,12L 26,12L 26,22L 36,22L 36,26L 26,26L 26,36L 22,36L 22,26L 12,26L 12,22L 22,22L 22,12 Z";
}

Then in the resource create a PathString

<Window.Resources>
    <yourNamespace:PathStrings x:Key="pathStrings"/>
</Window.Resources>

then bind it this way:

<Path Stroke="Black" Fill="Black" 
      Data="{Binding Source={StaticResource pathStrings}, Path=Add}"></Path>

Comments

[kubal5003]

Awesome. I've written converters before, but somehow I couldn't have figured it out. I was thinking about using DataTemplates or styles or something like this, but this is a great solution. Thank you.

[H.B.]

@PortlandRunner: It is just a property of type Point[], debugging individual bindings is not the scope of this answer.

[H.B.]

@PortlandRunner: Then i do not understand what it is you are asking for, what is there more to say than it being a point array?

[Automate This]

@H.B. Not exactly, but never mind anyways. I've found another solution for what I'm trying to do. - Comments removed.

[kubal5003]

Thanks, I was struggling with this for the last 6 years :)