How to get the cell content of DatagridTemplateColumn in wpf datagrid?

Question

I have a DataGridTemplateColumn whose header basically consists of StackPanel which contains a Button and TextBlock. I would want to access the Cell content or DataGridCell when the datagridrow is loaded.

My one of the datagridcolumn looks like this:

<DataGridTemplateColumn>
                <DataGridTemplateColumn.HeaderTemplate >
                    <DataTemplate>
                        <StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal">
                            <Button Style="{StaticResource {x:Static ToolBar.ButtonStyleKey}}"  Click="HeaderButtonClick">
                                <Button.Content>
                                    <Path Stretch="Fill" Fill="Black" Stroke="{x:Null}" StrokeThickness="0.5" 
                                          Data="M3.875,0 L5.125,0 5.125,3.875 9,3.875 9,5.125 5.125,5.125 5.125,9 3.875,9 3.875,5.125 0,5.125 0,3.875 3.875,3.875 3.875,0 z" />
                                </Button.Content>
                            </Button>
                            <TextBlock Text="Fund" Margin="20,0,0,0"/>
                        </StackPanel>
                    </DataTemplate>
                </DataGridTemplateColumn.HeaderTemplate>
                <DataGridTemplateColumn.CellTemplate>
                    <DataTemplate>
        <TextBlock Text="{Binding Fund}" Margin="20,0,0,0"/>
                    </DataTemplate>
                </DataGridTemplateColumn.CellTemplate>

and the datagrid_loadingrow event looks like

    var dg = sender as DataGrid;
    if (dg != null)
    {
        foreach (var item in dg.Columns)
        {
            DataGridCell cell1 = item.GetCellContent(row) as DataGridCell;
         }
    }

Can anyone help me with this?

Answer 1

This is WPF, not WindowsForms. When using WPF, we data bind to UI control properties, rather than attempting to programmatically set these values. When data binding, you already have access to the data in your code behind/view model, so there really is no need to attempt to access it from the UI controls.

If you look at the DataGridTemplateColumn Class page on MSDN, you'll see this example:

<Grid>
    <Grid.Resources>
        <!--DataTemplate for Published Date column defined in Grid.Resources.  PublishDate is a property on the ItemsSource of type DateTime -->
        <DataTemplate x:Key="DateTemplate" >
            <StackPanel Width="20" Height="30">
                <Border Background="LightBlue" BorderBrush="Black" BorderThickness="1">
                    <TextBlock Text="{Binding PublishDate, StringFormat={}{0:MMM}}" FontSize="8" HorizontalAlignment="Center" />
                </Border>
                <Border Background="White" BorderBrush="Black" BorderThickness="1">
                    <TextBlock Text="{Binding PublishDate, StringFormat={}{0:yyyy}}" FontSize="8" FontWeight="Bold" HorizontalAlignment="Center" />
                </Border>
            </StackPanel>
        </DataTemplate>
        <!--DataTemplate for the Published Date column when in edit mode. -->
        <DataTemplate x:Key="EditingDateTemplate">
            <DatePicker SelectedDate="{Binding PublishDate}"  />
        </DataTemplate>
    </Grid.Resources>
    <DataGrid Name="DG1" ItemsSource="{Binding}" AutoGenerateColumns="False" >
        <DataGrid.Columns>
            <!--Custom column that shows the published date-->
            <DataGridTemplateColumn Header="Publish Date" CellTemplate="{StaticResource DateTemplate}" CellEditingTemplate="{StaticResource EditingDateTemplate}" />
        </DataGrid.Columns>
    </DataGrid>
</Grid>

Notice the Bindings... for example, we can see this:

<DatePicker SelectedDate="{Binding PublishDate}"  />

This value can be accessed directly from the PublishDate property of the data bound object, rather than from the DataGrid:

DateTime publishDate = DataBoundCollection.ElementAt(relevantRowIndex).PublishDate;

You can find out more about data binding from the Data Binding Overview page on MSDN.