Get CellTemplate binding from GridViewColumn

Question

So, I have this ListView that needs to use some custom compare functions depending on what is bound. Right now the only solution I have found so far is to have a custom property to declare (SortablePropertyName) what has been used as binding source, when using CellTemplates for binding more complex objects, such as object with both icon and text.

...
<ui:MyListView Grid.Row="1" ItemsSource="{Binding SubComponents}" SelectionChanged="SubComponentSelectionChanged" SelectionMode="Extended" VirtualizingStackPanel.IsVirtualizing ="False" Margin="2" DefaultSortingColumnHeader="Label" Grid.ColumnSpan="2">
  <ui:MyListView.View>
     <GridView>
         <ui:MyGridViewColumn Header="Solution" Width="200" SortBy="Context" SortablePropertyName="SolutionVisualizationViewModel">
           <GridViewColumn.CellTemplate>
               <DataTemplate>
                  <bcp:MyObjectVisualizationView DataContext="{Binding SolutionVisualizationViewModel}"/>
               </DataTemplate>
           </GridViewColumn.CellTemplate>
       </ui:MyGridViewColumn>
...

Because later on when dealing with sorting I need information of what property of the ViewModel that has been used for current column.

foreach (MyGridViewColumn column in columns)
{
    //Sort by context
    if (column.SortBy == MyListViewSorting.SortOption.Context)
       {   
        if (column.SortDirectionType == MyListViewSorting.SortDirectionType.Ascending)
           {             
               listViewCollection.CustomSort = new ContextComparer(column.SortablePropertyName);
            }
...

I can by adding DependencyObject data = column.CellTemplate.LoadContent() as DependencyObject; get hold of what view has been used, but still not what I want.

Is there away to find out this binding 'DataContext="{Binding VisualizationViewModel}' associated with a column without having to use a property? Is there any "links" to be found between bindings and a GridViewColumn to hopefully solve this problem?

Answer 1

Is there away to find out this binding 'DataContext="{Binding VisualizationViewModel}' associated with a column without having to use a property?

You could realize the template using the LoadContent() method and check the DataContext property of the root element in it.

Or, assuming that the template has already been applied, you could use GetCellContent method to get a reference to the root element.

You may also override the GenerateElement method.

But using a property is probably easier.

A template is just a template and there is no element instantiated, binding applied och source value being resolved until it's actually applied. The column doesn't care/know what's in its CellTemplate. It just realizes the template.