Dynamically add multiple buttons to wpf window?

Question

how would i add multiple buttons to a window in c#? here's what i need to do... i'm getting multiple user values from a dictionary (within reason, only @ 5-6 values). for each value, i need to create a button. now, how do i name the button, not the text within the button? how do i define the "click" method for each button (they will all be different)? and how do i erase the button if i don't want it anymore?

H.B. · Answer 1 · 2021-04-18T08:31:40.933

36

I would encapsulate the whole thing, there normally should be no point in naming the button. Something like this:

public class SomeDataModel
{
    public string Content { get; }

    public ICommand Command { get; }

    public SomeDataModel(string content, ICommand command)
    {
        Content = content;
        Command = command;
    }
}

Then you can create models and put them into a bindable collection:

public ObservableCollection<SomeDataModel> MyData { get; } =
     new ObservableCollection<SomeDataModel>();

Then you just need to add and remove items from that and create buttons on the fly:

<ItemsControl ItemsSource="{Binding MyData}">
    <ItemsControl.ItemTemplate>
        <DataTemplate>
            <Button Content="{Binding Content}" Command="{Binding Command}"/>
        </DataTemplate>
    </ItemsControl.ItemTemplate>
</ItemsControl>

For more info see relevant articles on MSDN:

Data Binding Overview
Commanding Overview
Data Templating Overview

edited Apr 18 '21 at 08:31

answered May 08 '11 at 20:22

H.B.

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4

Very WPFish solution. I like it. :) – Ben May 08 '11 at 20:59
1

Is there any way you can provide an example with real data? I'm very new to WPF and this seems a little over my head. Thanks – RestingRobot Jul 05 '14 at 23:02
@Jlange: Please read the linked articles, they should give you all you need. – H.B. Jul 07 '14 at 04:32
Your answer provides better and professional way to solve the problem. I preferred taking my time to go through the articles to understand this solution rather than running a loop to add controls. Cheers! – sohaiby Apr 05 '17 at 08:27
1

@sohaiby: It is crucial for using the framework effectively to understand the various WPF concepts, so i appreciate it when people take the time to learn it properly; makes it easier for everyone involved :) – H.B. Apr 06 '17 at 06:58
How do you populate MyData WPF isn't updating? – Demodave Jan 30 '19 at 15:33
@Demodave: You just `Add` to it, for example. Note that changes to the properties of the items in the list will not be reflected automatically. To have such updates the item class needs to implement `INotifyPropertyChanged`. Does the binding work? It will not if you have not set the `DataContext` accordingly. – H.B. Jan 31 '19 at 14:59
@H.B. please provide example, I couldn't get the INotifyPropertyChange to work either – Demodave Jan 31 '19 at 15:37
@Demodave: That is not in the scope of this question or comments. First you should learn how to debug bindings (search for `wpf binding errors` for example) and if you still have an issue that has not been addressed by the hundreds of questions on this topic ask a new one. – H.B. Feb 01 '19 at 09:12

score 35 · Accepted Answer · edited May 08 '11 at 19:43

35

Consider you have a StackPanel named sp

for(int i=0; i<5; i++)
{
    System.Windows.Controls.Button newBtn = new Button();

    newBtn.Content = i.ToString();
    newBtn.Name = "Button" + i.ToString();

    sp.Children.Add(newBtn);
}

To remove button you could do

sp.Children.Remove((UIElement)this.FindName("Button0"));

Hope this help.

edited May 08 '11 at 19:43

Florian Greinacher

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answered May 08 '11 at 19:32

FIre Panda

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score 13 · Answer 3 · edited May 08 '11 at 20:30

Xaml code:

<Window x:Class="Test.MainWindow"
    xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
    xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
    Title="MainWindow" Height="350" Width="525">
  <UniformGrid x:Name="grid">

  </UniformGrid>
</Window>

Code-behind:

public MainWindow()
{
  InitializeComponent();

  for (int i = 0; i < 10; ++i)
  {
    Button button = new Button()
      { 
        Content = string.Format("Button for {0}", i),
        Tag = i
      };
    button.Click += new RoutedEventHandler(button_Click);
    this.grid.Children.Add(button);
  }
}

void button_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
  Console.WriteLine(string.Format("You clicked on the {0}. button.", (sender as Button).Tag));
}

Dynamically add multiple buttons to wpf window?

3 Answers3

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