WPF MVVM: how to bind GridViewColumn to ViewModel-Collection?

Question

In my View I got a ListView bound to a CollectionView in my ViewModel, for example like this:

Answer 1

I took Thomas Levesque's excellent solution and modified it to remove the static collection of GridViews and also add the ability to set a column width and string format, so thought I'd share my code.

Modified attached property class:

public static class GridViewColumnCollection
{
    public static readonly DependencyProperty ColumnCollectionBehaviourProperty =
        DependencyProperty.RegisterAttached("ColumnCollectionBehaviour", typeof(GridViewColumnCollectionBehaviour), typeof(GridViewColumnCollection), new UIPropertyMetadata(null));

    public static readonly DependencyProperty ColumnsSourceProperty =
        DependencyProperty.RegisterAttached("ColumnsSource", typeof(object), typeof(GridViewColumnCollection), new UIPropertyMetadata(null, GridViewColumnCollection.ColumnsSourceChanged));

    public static readonly DependencyProperty DisplayMemberFormatMemberProperty =
        DependencyProperty.RegisterAttached("DisplayMemberFormatMember", typeof(string), typeof(GridViewColumnCollection), new UIPropertyMetadata(null, GridViewColumnCollection.DisplayMemberFormatMemberChanged));

    public static readonly DependencyProperty DisplayMemberMemberProperty =
        DependencyProperty.RegisterAttached("DisplayMemberMember", typeof(string), typeof(GridViewColumnCollection), new UIPropertyMetadata(null, GridViewColumnCollection.DisplayMemberMemberChanged));

    public static readonly DependencyProperty HeaderTextMemberProperty =
        DependencyProperty.RegisterAttached("HeaderTextMember", typeof(string), typeof(GridViewColumnCollection), new UIPropertyMetadata(null, GridViewColumnCollection.HeaderTextMemberChanged));

    public static readonly DependencyProperty WidthMemberProperty =
        DependencyProperty.RegisterAttached("WidthMember", typeof(string), typeof(GridViewColumnCollection), new UIPropertyMetadata(null, GridViewColumnCollection.WidthMemberChanged));

    [AttachedPropertyBrowsableForType(typeof(GridView))]
    public static GridViewColumnCollectionBehaviour GetColumnCollectionBehaviour(DependencyObject obj)
    {
        return (GridViewColumnCollectionBehaviour)obj.GetValue(ColumnCollectionBehaviourProperty);
    }

    public static void SetColumnCollectionBehaviour(DependencyObject obj, GridViewColumnCollectionBehaviour value)
    {
        obj.SetValue(ColumnCollectionBehaviourProperty, value);
    }

    [AttachedPropertyBrowsableForType(typeof(GridView))]
    public static object GetColumnsSource(DependencyObject obj)
    {
        return (object)obj.GetValue(ColumnsSourceProperty);
    }

    public static void SetColumnsSource(DependencyObject obj, object value)
    {
        obj.SetValue(ColumnsSourceProperty, value);
    }

    [AttachedPropertyBrowsableForType(typeof(GridView))]
    public static string GetDisplayMemberFormatMember(DependencyObject obj)
    {
        return (string)obj.GetValue(DisplayMemberFormatMemberProperty);
    }

    public static void SetDisplayMemberFormatMember(DependencyObject obj, string value)
    {
        obj.SetValue(DisplayMemberFormatMemberProperty, value);
    }

    [AttachedPropertyBrowsableForType(typeof(GridView))]
    public static string GetDisplayMemberMember(DependencyObject obj)
    {
        return (string)obj.GetValue(DisplayMemberMemberProperty);
    }

    public static void SetDisplayMemberMember(DependencyObject obj, string value)
    {
        obj.SetValue(DisplayMemberMemberProperty, value);
    }

    [AttachedPropertyBrowsableForType(typeof(GridView))]
    public static string GetHeaderTextMember(DependencyObject obj)
    {
        return (string)obj.GetValue(HeaderTextMemberProperty);
    }

    public static void SetHeaderTextMember(DependencyObject obj, string value)
    {
        obj.SetValue(HeaderTextMemberProperty, value);
    }

    [AttachedPropertyBrowsableForType(typeof(GridView))]
    public static string GetWidthMember(DependencyObject obj)
    {
        return (string)obj.GetValue(WidthMemberProperty);
    }

    public static void SetWidthMember(DependencyObject obj, string value)
    {
        obj.SetValue(WidthMemberProperty, value);
    }

    private static void ColumnsSourceChanged(DependencyObject sender, DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs e)
    {
        GridViewColumnCollection.GetOrCreateColumnCollectionBehaviour(sender).ColumnsSource = e.NewValue;
    }

    private static void DisplayMemberFormatMemberChanged(DependencyObject sender, DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs e)
    {
        GridViewColumnCollection.GetOrCreateColumnCollectionBehaviour(sender).DisplayMemberFormatMember = e.NewValue as string;
    }

    private static void DisplayMemberMemberChanged(DependencyObject sender, DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs e)
    {
        GridViewColumnCollection.GetOrCreateColumnCollectionBehaviour(sender).DisplayMemberMember = e.NewValue as string;
    }

    private static void HeaderTextMemberChanged(DependencyObject sender, DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs e)
    {
        GridViewColumnCollection.GetOrCreateColumnCollectionBehaviour(sender).HeaderTextMember = e.NewValue as string;
    }

    private static void WidthMemberChanged(DependencyObject sender, DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs e)
    {
        GridViewColumnCollection.GetOrCreateColumnCollectionBehaviour(sender).WidthMember = e.NewValue as string;
    }

    private static GridViewColumnCollectionBehaviour GetOrCreateColumnCollectionBehaviour(DependencyObject source)
    {
        GridViewColumnCollectionBehaviour behaviour = GetColumnCollectionBehaviour(source);

        if (behaviour == null)
        {
            GridView typedSource = source as GridView;

            if (typedSource == null)
            {
                throw new Exception("This property can only be set on controls deriving GridView");
            }

            behaviour = new GridViewColumnCollectionBehaviour(typedSource);

            SetColumnCollectionBehaviour(typedSource, behaviour);
        }

        return behaviour;
    }
}

Behaviour (this is stored against each GridView and obviates the need to store the collection-GridView mappings centrally):

public class GridViewColumnCollectionBehaviour
{
    private object columnsSource;
    private GridView gridView;

    public GridViewColumnCollectionBehaviour(GridView gridView)
    {
        this.gridView = gridView;
    }

    public object ColumnsSource
    {
        get { return this.columnsSource; }
        set
        {
            object oldValue = this.columnsSource;
            this.columnsSource = value;
            this.ColumnsSourceChanged(oldValue, this.columnsSource);
        }
    }

    public string DisplayMemberFormatMember { get; set; }

    public string DisplayMemberMember { get; set; }

    public string HeaderTextMember { get; set; }

    public string WidthMember { get; set; }

    private void AddHandlers(ICollectionView collectionView)
    {
        collectionView.CollectionChanged += this.ColumnsSource_CollectionChanged;
    }

    private void ColumnsSource_CollectionChanged(object sender, NotifyCollectionChangedEventArgs e)
    {
        ICollectionView view = sender as ICollectionView;

        if (this.gridView == null)
        {
            return;
        }

        switch (e.Action)
        {
            case NotifyCollectionChangedAction.Add:
                for (int i = 0; i < e.NewItems.Count; i++)
                {
                    GridViewColumn column = CreateColumn(e.NewItems[i]);
                    gridView.Columns.Insert(e.NewStartingIndex + i, column);
                }
                break;
            case NotifyCollectionChangedAction.Move:
                List columns = new List();

                for (int i = 0; i < e.OldItems.Count; i++)
                {
                    GridViewColumn column = gridView.Columns[e.OldStartingIndex + i];
                    columns.Add(column);
                }

                for (int i = 0; i < e.NewItems.Count; i++)
                {
                    GridViewColumn column = columns[i];
                    gridView.Columns.Insert(e.NewStartingIndex + i, column);
                }
                break;
            case NotifyCollectionChangedAction.Remove:
                for (int i = 0; i < e.OldItems.Count; i++)
                {
                    gridView.Columns.RemoveAt(e.OldStartingIndex);
                }
                break;
            case NotifyCollectionChangedAction.Replace:
                for (int i = 0; i < e.NewItems.Count; i++)
                {
                    GridViewColumn column = CreateColumn(e.NewItems[i]);

                    gridView.Columns[e.NewStartingIndex + i] = column;
                }
                break;
            case NotifyCollectionChangedAction.Reset:
                gridView.Columns.Clear();
                CreateColumns(sender as ICollectionView);
                break;
            default:
                break;
        }
    }

    private void ColumnsSourceChanged(object oldValue, object newValue)
    {
        if (this.gridView != null)
        {
            gridView.Columns.Clear();

            if (oldValue != null)
            {
                ICollectionView view = CollectionViewSource.GetDefaultView(oldValue);

                if (view != null)
                {
                    this.RemoveHandlers(view);
                }
            }

            if (newValue != null)
            {
                ICollectionView view = CollectionViewSource.GetDefaultView(newValue);

                if (view != null)
                {
                    this.AddHandlers(view);

                    this.CreateColumns(view);
                }
            }
        }
    }

    private GridViewColumn CreateColumn(object columnSource)
    {
        GridViewColumn column = new GridViewColumn();

        if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(this.HeaderTextMember))
        {
            column.Header = GetPropertyValue(columnSource, this.HeaderTextMember);
        }

        if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(this.DisplayMemberMember))
        {
            string propertyName = GetPropertyValue(columnSource, this.DisplayMemberMember) as string;

            string format = null;

            if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(this.DisplayMemberFormatMember))
            {
                format = GetPropertyValue(columnSource, this.DisplayMemberFormatMember) as string;
            }

            if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(format))
            {
                format = "{0}";
            }

            column.DisplayMemberBinding = new Binding(propertyName) { StringFormat = format };
        }

        if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(this.WidthMember))
        {
            double width = (double)GetPropertyValue(columnSource, this.WidthMember);
            column.Width = width;
        }

        return column;
    }

    private void CreateColumns(ICollectionView collectionView)
    {
        foreach (object item in collectionView)
        {
            GridViewColumn column = this.CreateColumn(item);

            this.gridView.Columns.Add(column);
        }
    }

    private object GetPropertyValue(object obj, string propertyName)
    {
        object returnVal = null;

        if (obj != null)
        {
            PropertyInfo prop = obj.GetType().GetProperty(propertyName);

            if (prop != null)
            {
                returnVal = prop.GetValue(obj, null);
            }
        }

        return returnVal;
    }

    private void RemoveHandlers(ICollectionView collectionView)
    {
        collectionView.CollectionChanged -= this.ColumnsSource_CollectionChanged;
    }
}