WPF ValueConverters

As a name suggest "Converter",  convert the values. wpf converters use in data binding and work as a bridge for bind-able properties (source) and ui display(target) , it can be use when source and target property object are different, then "Converter" manipulate the data from source to target and also convert back from target to source.

wpf provides IValueConverter interface, to create a value converter class we need to implement IValueConverter interface.

IValueConverter interface provide two methods, Convert() and ConvertBack().

Convert method gets called when source updates target object.

ConvertBack method gets called when target updates source object.

Problem : Suppose we have a case where we need to bind the integer (0, 1) value to the checkbox,  where we assume 0 is for false and 1 is for true.

Code : 

So let's building an application.

add a wpf project and and add textbox and checkbox in MainWindow.xaml as follows:

<Window x:Class="WPF.MainWindow"

        xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"

        xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"

        Title="IValueConverter" Height="91" Width="284"

        xmlns:local="clr-namespace:WPF">

    <Window.Resources>

        <local:BooleanIntegerConverter x:Key="YesNoToBooleanConverter"/>

    </Window.Resources>

    <Grid>

        <Grid.RowDefinitions>

            <RowDefinition Height="27*"/>

            <RowDefinition Height="34*"/>

        </Grid.RowDefinitions>

        <TextBox Name="txtBoolValue" HorizontalAlignment="Center" Margin="0" TextWrapping="Wrap" Text="0" HorizontalContentAlignment="Center" VerticalAlignment="Center" Height="20" Width="178" />

        <CheckBox Content="CheckBox" HorizontalAlignment="Center"  VerticalAlignment="Center" Grid.Row="1" Margin="0" Height="13" Width="62"

                  IsChecked="{Binding ElementName=txtBoolValue, Path=Text, Converter={StaticResource YesNoToBooleanConverter}}"/>

    </Grid>

</Window>

now create converter 

We will add a new class called BooleanIntegerConverter that implements IValueConverter interface.

using System;

using System.Collections.Generic;

using System.Linq;

using System.Text;

using System.Threading.Tasks;

using System.Windows.Data;

namespace WPF

{

    public class BooleanIntegerConverter : IValueConverter

    {

        public object Convert(object value, Type targetType, object parameter,

               System.Globalization.CultureInfo culture)

        {

            switch (value.ToString().ToLower())

            {

                case "0":

                    return false;

                case "1":

                    return true;

                default:

                    return Binding.DoNothing;

            }

        }

        public object ConvertBack(object value, Type targetType, object parameter,

                System.Globalization.CultureInfo culture)

        {

            if (value is bool)

            {

                if ((bool)value == true)

                    return "1";

                else

                    return "0";

            }

            return "0";

        }

    }

}

Convert() method will receive string value "0" or "1" and return false or true respectively,

and convert back will receive bool true or false and return 1 or 0 respectively.