Hands-On Lab

Building a Data-Driven Master/Detail

Business Form using Visual Studio 2010

Lab version: 1.0.0

Last updated: 12/7/2021

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CONTENTS

OVERVIEW................................................................................................................................................. 3

EXERCISE 1: CREATING THE APPLICATION’S DATA SCAFFOLDING, MAKING BASIC

CUSTOMIZATIONS.................................................................................................................................... 5
Task 1 – Adding a Database to the Project Using Data Sources...........................................................5
Task 2 – Using Data Sources to Add Data-Bound Controls to the Window..........................................7

EXERCISE 2: CREATING MASTER-DETAIL DATA SCAFFOLDING, MAKING MORE DETAILED

CUSTOMIZATIONS.................................................................................................................................. 11
Task 1 – Adding a Listing Details Grid to the Window........................................................................11
Task 2 – Providing Forward and Back Buttons for Navigation............................................................13
Task 3 – Providing a Visualization for the Data in the Listings DataGrid............................................15

EXERCISE 3: CREATING AND USING RESOURCES............................................................................19

Task 1 – Creating a Resource from the Background Property of a Button.........................................19
Task 2 – Using the Resource to Update Background Property of Another Button.............................21

SUMMARY................................................................................................................................................ 22

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Overview
In this lab you will learn all the necessary steps for creating and customizing a master-detail business
form in WPF 4.0 using Visual Studio 2010 tools.

Objectives
Once you’ve completed this lab you will understand:
How to use the Data Sources window with a WPF project, to create initial scaffolding for the
data bindings of your application
How to use the Data Sources window to “paint” a databinding on an existing WPF control
How to create master-detail scaffolding with the Data Sources window
How to customize the output of the data sources window to create custom visuals using the
Databinding expression builder in the Visual Studio 2010 property browser
How to use markup extension intellisense to create databinding expressions
How to extract a common look into a resource using the extract resource feature of Visual
Studio 2010
How to apply a common look to a control using the resource picker feature of Visual Studio
2010

Scenario
The application being built in this lab is a simple read-only representation of the sort of application that
might be used to manage and view entries in a real estate agent’s office. The techniques used could
easily be applied to nearly any data-driven client application scenario.

Exercises
This Hands-On Lab is comprised by the following exercises:
Creating the Application’s Data Scaffolding
Creating Master-Detail Scaffolding
Creating and Using Resources

Estimated time to complete this lab: 45 minutes.

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Prerequisites
You should have a basic familiarity with the following products or technologies before you begin this lab:
Data-driven application UI development
Windows Presentation Foundation

System Requirements
You must have the following items to complete this lab:
Visual Studio 2010
.NET Framework 4

Starting Materials
This Hands-On Lab includes the following starting materials.
Visual Studio solutions: The exercise provides a Visual Studio solution that you can use as
starting point for the lab exercise. You will find the starting point at: %TrainingKitInstallFolder
%\Labs\WPF4DataDrivenMasterDetailBusinessForm\Source\Ex01-
CreatingTheAppDataScaffolding\begin\C#
◦ Southridge.sln: A solution containing a simple WPF application used as a starting
point for Exercise 1 and the subsequent exercises.

Note: For each exercise, there is an End folder which contains the resulting solution
you should obtain after completing that exercise.

If you would like to use code snippets for this lab, launch the WPF4DataDriven.vsi file located in
%TrainingKitInstallFolder%\Labs\WPF4DataDrivenMasterDetailBusinessForm\Setup

For More Information

See the following videos in which this application is built up:

“What's New for Microsoft Silverlight and Microsoft Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF)
Developers in Microsoft Visual Studio 2010”
http://videos.visitmix.com/MIX09/T73M

“What's New in Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) 4”

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http://videos.visitmix.com/MIX09/T39F

Setup
All the requisites for this lab are verified using the Dependency Checker. To make sure that everything is
correctly configured, follow these steps:

Note: To perform the setup steps you need to run the scripts in a command window with
administrator privileges.

1. Run the Dependency checker for the Training Kit if you haven't done it previously. To do this,
run the CheckDependencies.cmd script located under the %TrainingKitInstallationFolder
%\Labs\WPF4DataDrivenMasterDetailBusinessForm\Setup folder. Install any pre-requisites
that are missing (rescanning if necessary) and complete the wizard.

Note: For convenience, much of the code you will be managing along this lab is available as
Visual Studio code snippets. The CheckDependencies.cmd file launches the Visual Studio
installer file that installs the code snippets. If you cannot find the snippets when you write the
solutions, make sure you installed the code snippets inside Visual Studio 2010 Code Snippets
Repository.

Next Step
Exercise 1: Creating the application’s data scaffolding, making basic customizations

Exercise 1: Creating the application’s

data scaffolding, making basic
customizations
In this exercise, you will create the databinding scaffolding for your application, and display your first
data. You will make some initial customizations of the data sources window’s output.
Task 1 – Adding a Database to the Project Using Data Sources
1. Navigate to Start | All Programs | Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 | Microsoft Visual Studio
2010.
2. Select the File | Open | Project/Solution… menu command. In the Open Project dialog,
navigate to %TrainingKitInstallFolder

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 %\Labs\WPF4DataDrivenMasterDetailBusinessForm\Source\Ex01-
CreatingTheAppDataScaffolding\begin\C# and select Southridge.sln file.
3. Open the Window1.xaml file by double-clicking on the file in the Solution Explorer.
4. Select the root window (be careful that you have the Window not the Grid selected – you
can tell what is selected by checking the property browser window or the document outline
window in Visual Studio). Use the Property Browser to set the Width of the window to 800 and
the Height to 600

Figure 1
Updating Window1 Height and Width

5. Open the Data Sources window by clicking Data | Show Data Sources
6. Create a new Data Source by clicking Add New Data Source…

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 Figure 2
Data Sources

7. Choose the Data Source Type of Database. Click Next.

8. Choose DataSet as the Database Model and click Next.
9. Click New Connection… and choose the following options:
a. Data source: Microsoft SQL Server Database File
b. Database file name: %TrainingKitInstallFolder
%\Labs\WPF4DataDrivenMasterDetailBusinessForm\Source\Assets\Southridge.mdf
c. Log on to server: Use Windows Authentication
10. Click Next. Click Yes to copy the file to your local project.
11. Click Next, keeping the default connection string name.
12. On the Choose Your Database Objects screen:
a. Under Tables | Listings, check MLS, Title, Price and PrimaryPhoto
b. Check Tables | Neighborhoods
c. Check Tables | Viewings
13. Click Finish.
14. You should now see the Data Sources window populated already with database schema. You
will also see the related XSD strongly typed DataSet in the Solution Explorer.
15. Build the solution – you should see no build errors

Task 2 – Using Data Sources to Add Data-Bound Controls to the Window

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1. In the Data Sources window, click the Listings dropdown and select Details.

Figure 3
Listings Details

2. Drag and drop from the Listing dropdown onto Windows1

3. Note that the Data-Bindings and Controls are created automatically. Inspect the XAML that
was created for you and observe its relationship to the SouthridgeDataSet data source.

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 Figure 4
Listing Details in WPF Designer

4. On the Design pane, delete the Primary Photo Label and Textbox.
5. Drag and drop and Image control from the Toolbox and place to the right of the details grid.
6. In the Data Sources window, expand the Listings table and then drag and drop the
PrimaryPhoto field onto the Image control. This will “paint” the data binding information on to
the control.

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 Figure 5
Adding an Image Control

7. Press Ctrl-F5 to run the application. You should see data appearing from the first row in the
database, and a picture showing.

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 Figure 6
Running the Application

Next Step
Exercise 2: Creating master-detail data scaffolding, making more detailed customizations

Exercise 2: Creating master-detail data

scaffolding, making more detailed
customizations
In this exercise, you will add some additional detail to the window. You will also provide a way for the
user to navigate forward and backward through the listings. To help visualize the data a little better, you

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will also override one of the default templates and provide a visual indication if a listing is proceeding or
not.
Task 1 – Adding a Listing Details Grid to the Window
1. For this exercise, you can continue to use the solution from Exercise 1 or open the begin
solution located at %TrainingKitInstallFolder
%\Labs\WPF4DataDrivenMasterDetailBusinessForm\Source\Ex02-
CreatingMasterDetailDataScaffolding\begin\C#. You will need to build the solution (click Build
| Build Solution) before the designer will show the WPF work we did in Exercise 1.
2. If the Data Sources window is not show, click Data | Show Data Sources.

Figure 7
Viewings in Data Sources

3. Drag the Viewings Foreign Key table from under Listings in the Data Sources window onto
the Window to make a master-details view. Note that the data sources window takes care of all
the details of keeping the two views in sync, and creates a DataGrid with all your fields in
different columns:

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 Figure 8
Adding the Viewings Into the Designer

Task 2 – Providing Forward and Back Buttons for Navigation

1. Drag 2 new Buttons onto the design surface from the toolbox
2. Set the Name of the first Button to forwardButton.
3. Set the Content property of the forwardButton to Forward.

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 Figure 9
Forward Button Properties

4. Double-click the forwardButton on the designer surface. Visual Studio will switch to code
view and add a click handler for this button.
5. Insert the following code into this new click handler.
(Code Snippet – WPF MasterDetail Lab – Ex2 ForwardClickHandler C#)
C#
CollectionViewSource cvs = (this.FindResource("listingsViewSource"))
as CollectionViewSource;
cvs.View.MoveCurrentToNext();

6. Switch back to by right-clicking in the code editor and select View Designer.
7. Set the Name of the second Button to backButton.
8. Set the Content property of the backButton to Back.

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 Figure 10
Back Button Properties

9. Double-click the backButton on the designer surface. Visual Studio will switch to code view
and add a click handler for this button.
10. Insert the following code into this new click handler.
(Code Snippet – WPF MasterDetail Lab – Ex2 BackClickHandler C#)
C#
CollectionViewSource cvs = (this.FindResource("listingsViewSource"))
as CollectionViewSource;
cvs.View.MoveCurrentToPrevious();

11. Click Debug | Start without Debugging (or press Ctrl-F5) to run the app and note that you
can page back and forth through your data set, seeing the details for each item as you select it.

Task 3 – Providing a Visualization for the Data in the Listings DataGrid

In this task, you will make a more detailed customization of the DataGrid you just created. The
goal is to change one of the columns from showing CheckBox controls to showing a simple
Red/Green traffic light style rectangle as an indicator. To do this, you will use a
BooleanToBrushConverter already created in the project, to convert the Boolean value in a
column to a Red or Green brush.

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 1. Select the DataGrid control on the design surface by clicking on it. Right-click the design
surface and choose Document Outline.

Figure 11
DataGrid in Document Outline

2. Expand the DataGrid node in the Document Outline, and find the 3 rd-from-bottom Column
inside the DataGrid. This column will be a DataGridCheckBoxColumn and you will notice that
the XAML editor highlights the related code.

Figure 12
DataGridCheckBoxColumn in Document Outline

1. In the XAML editor, comment out the DataGridCheckBoxColumn and insert the following
DataGridTemplateColumn.

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 XAML
<!-- <DataGridCheckBoxColumn Binding="{Binding Path=Proceeding}"
Header="Proceeding" Width="SizeToHeader" /> -->
<DataGridTemplateColumn Header="Proceeding" Width="SizeToHeader">
<DataGridTemplateColumn.CellTemplate >
<DataTemplate>
<Rectangle />
</DataTemplate>
</DataGridTemplateColumn.CellTemplate>
</DataGridTemplateColumn>

2. Place your cursor on the <Rectangle /> code and the Properties pane will show the
properties for the Rectangle.
3. In the Properties window, use the Search field to find the Fill attribute.

Figure 13
Rectangle Fill Property

4. Click the small black square located right next to the word Fill. Click Apply Data Binding.
5. In the Data Binding window, click the Converter pane and select Southridge,
BooleanToBrushConverter and Create New…

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 Figure 14
Adding BooleanToBrushConverter

6. Click OK in the Create Resource dialogue, keeping the default value for Key.
7. Type Proceeding in the Parameter field. This will tell the Converter which field to get the
value from in the current Row.

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 Figure 15
BooleanToBrushConverter Parameter

8. Click Debug | Start without Debugging (or press Ctrl-F5) and see your traffic lights in the
proceeding column!

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 Figure 16
Running the Application

Next Step
Exercise 3: Creating and using resources

Exercise 3: Creating and using resources

Task 1 – Creating a Resource from the Background Property of a Button
1. For this exercise, you can continue to use the solution from Exercise 2 or open the begin
solution located at %TrainingKitInstallFolder
%\Labs\WPF4DataDrivenMasterDetailBusinessForm\Source\Ex03-
CreatedAndUsingResources\begin\C#. You will need to build the solution (click Build | Build
Solution) before the designer will show the WPF work we did in Exercise 2.

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2. Open Window1.xaml and select the forwardButton created in Exercise 2.
3. In the Properties window, use the Search tool to find the Background property.

Figure 17
Setting Backgroun Property

4. Click the Background property and the Brush editor will appear. Click the eyedropper tool
and select a color from anywhere on your screen. You will see the background of the button has
changed
5. Now click the black square next to background label in the property browser to pick the
“Extract to Resource” option.

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 Figure 18
Extract Value to Resource

6. Click OK in the Create Resource dialogue, accepting the default values. This window lets you
extract the property’s value into a resource that you can re-use. In this case, the resource will
be created in Window1.xaml.
7. Look in the XAML code editor and you’ll find a SolidColorBrush in <Window.Resources />
XAML
<Window.Resources>
<!-- Additional Resources Omitted -->
<SolidColorBrush
x:Key="LightOrangeBrushKey">#FFFFF0D0</SolidColorBrush>
</Window.Resources>

Task 2 – Using the Resource to Update Background Property of Another Button

1. Select the backButton and locate the Background property in the properties windows.
2. Click the black square in the properties window next to the Background property label and
select Apply Resource...

Figure 19
Apply Resource

3. Select the resource from the Local expander

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 Figure 20
Apply Resource

4. The forwardButton and backButton now share the same resource, defining the Background.

Next Step
Summary

Summary
In this lab you have learned how to create and customize a master-detail business form in WPF 4.0. You
have created data scaffolding for the application both simple and master-detail.
Among other features, you have seen how to customize the output of datasources to create custom
visuals using the Databinding expression builder from the property browser, and used markup extension
intellisense to create databinding expressions.
Moreover, you have seen how to extract a common look into a resource and how to apply it using the
resource picker.
All these tools, platform, and lanaguages in the latest release of Visual Studio 2010 should boost your
ability to create powerful master-detailed business applications.

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