Why would you use DataTemplate in a ListView?

Question

could someone please explain to me what is the difference if I use DataTemplate inside the ListView in XAML?

I have used ListView to display the content from my ObservableCollection without using DataTemplate and with DataTemplate it seems to look exactly the same?

Why then would I want to use Data Template? I would like to see a simple explanation/example.

Can you show a code how you use DataTemplate in XAML? How you imagine to put image with text as list item? — Romasz, Mar 05 '15 at 19:37
So, the difference is that in Data Template I can put not just text but any content and from my Properties and decide what it looks like? — , Mar 05 '15 at 19:44
Right. Data templates allow you to do *anything*, not just a simple text block — BradleyDotNET, Mar 05 '15 at 19:49
Please take a look at examples in the internet, blogs, tutorials, MSDN. You can for example put a *panel* (let's say Grid for example) and add many things as children to this *panel*. — Romasz, Mar 05 '15 at 19:49

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 05 '15 at 19:52

DataTemplate is used to show data in ways beyond a simple text block. Sure doing this:

<ListView.ItemTemplate>
   <DataTemplate>
     <TextBlock Text="{Binding Name}"/>
   </DataTemplate>
</ListView.ItemTemplate>

Doesn't buy you much. But it allows you to do stuff like this:

<ListView.ItemTemplate>
   <DataTemplate>
     <StackPanel>
        <Image Source="{Binding ImagePath}"/>
        <TextBlock Text="{Caption}"/>
     </StackPanel>
   </DataTemplate>
</ListView.ItemTemplate>

Which is pretty cool! You can put anything inside the template, so it makes ItemsControl (and its derivatives) some of the most powerful classes in WPF.

score -1 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 11:52

Please take a look at #HighCore's answer here WPF MVVM Why use ContentControl + DataTemplate Views rather than straight XAML Window Views?.

 <Window x:Class="MyViews.MainWindow"   
    xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
    xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml
    xmlns:viewmodel="clr-namespace:Project.ViewModel" 
    DataContext="{Binding Main, Source={StaticResource Locator}}"
    Title="{Binding Title, Mode=TwoWay}"  Height="{Binding Height, Mode=TwoWay}" Width="{Binding Width, Mode=TwoWay}" Left="{Binding Left, Mode=TwoWay}" Top="{Binding Top, Mode=TwoWay}" WindowStartupLocation="CenterScreen">


<Window.Resources>     
    <HierarchicalDataTemplate DataType="{x:Type viewmodel:OtherViewModel1}">            
        <ContentPresenter Content="{Binding Path=Text}" />
    </HierarchicalDataTemplate>
    <DataTemplate DataType="{x:Type viewmodel:OtherViewModel2}">
        <view:ConnectivityLED />
    </DataTemplate>      
</Window.Resources>

So you can see Mainwindow is talking to more than 1 viewmodel, Main is its own view model which is its datacontext and it also has reference to otherviewmodel1 and otherviewmodel2. Hope this helps, Cheers!

This doesn't answer the question. The OP wants to know about data templates in *collection* controls. — BradleyDotNET, Mar 05 '15 at 20:00

Why would you use DataTemplate in a ListView?

2 Answers2