How to bind RadioButtons to an enum?

Question

I've got an enum like this:

public enum MyLovelyEnum
{
    FirstSelection,
    TheOtherSelection,
    YetAnotherOne
};

I got a property in my DataContext:

public MyLovelyEnum VeryLovelyEnum { get; set; }

And I got three RadioButtons in my WPF client.

First Selection
The Other Selection
Yet Another one

Now how do I bind the RadioButtons to the property for a proper two-way binding?

Lars_42809 · Answer

You could use a more generic converter

public class EnumBooleanConverter : IValueConverter
{
  #region IValueConverter Members
  public object Convert(object value, Type targetType, object parameter, System.Globalization.CultureInfo culture)
  {
    string parameterString = parameter as string;
    if (parameterString == null)
      return DependencyProperty.UnsetValue;

    if (Enum.IsDefined(value.GetType(), value) == false)
      return DependencyProperty.UnsetValue;

    object parameterValue = Enum.Parse(value.GetType(), parameterString);

    return parameterValue.Equals(value);
  }

  public object ConvertBack(object value, Type targetType, object parameter, System.Globalization.CultureInfo culture)
  {
    string parameterString = parameter as string;
    if (parameterString == null)
        return DependencyProperty.UnsetValue;

    return Enum.Parse(targetType, parameterString);
  }
  #endregion
}

And in the XAML-Part you use:


    
      
    
    
      first selection
      the other selection
      yet another one

Martin_Moser_24756 · Answer

I would use the RadioButtons in a ListBox, and then bind to the SelectedValue.

This is an older thread about this topic, but the base idea should be the same: http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/wpf/thread/323d067a-efef-4c9f-8d99-fecf45522395/

user_6075331 · Answer

You can create the radio buttons dynamically, ListBox can help you do that, without converters, quite simple.

The concrete steps are below:

create a ListBox and set the ItemsSource for the listbox as the enum MyLovelyEnum and binding the SelectedItem of the ListBox to the VeryLovelyEnum property.
then the Radio Buttons for each ListBoxItem will be created.

Step 1: add the enum to static resources for your Window, UserControl or Grid etc.

Step 2: Use the List Box and Control Template to populate each item inside as Radio button

The advantage is: if someday your enum class changes, you do not need to update the GUI (XAML file).

References: https://brianlagunas.com/a-better-way-to-data-bind-enums-in-wpf/

user_2811245 · Answer

One way to handle this would be to have separate bool properties in your ViewModel class. Here is how I've handled with such a situation:

ViewModel:

public enum MyLovelyEnum { FirstSelection, TheOtherSelection, YetAnotherOne };
private MyLovelyEnum CurrentSelection;

public bool FirstSelectionProperty
{
    get
    {
        return CurrentSelection == MyLovelyEnum.FirstSelection;
    }
    set
    {
        if (value)
            CurrentSelection = MyLovelyEnum.FirstSelection;
    }
}

public bool TheOtherSelectionProperty
{
    get
    {
        return CurrentSelection == MyLovelyEnum.TheOtherSelection;
    }
    set
    {
        if (value)
            CurrentSelection = MyLovelyEnum.TheOtherSelection;
    }
}

public bool YetAnotherOneSelectionProperty
{
    get
    {
        return CurrentSelection == MyLovelyEnum.YetAnotherOne;
    }
    set
    {
        if (value)
            CurrentSelection = MyLovelyEnum.YetAnotherOne;
    }
}

XAML:

Similarity
Date Inserted
Date of Question
Date Modified

It's not as robust or dynamic as some of the other solutions, but the nice thing is it's very self-contained and doesn't require creating custom converters or anything like that.

user_13178981 · Answer

A TwoWay Binding solution to UWP that takes the usage of Nullable:

C# Part:

public class EnumConverter : IValueConverter
{
    public Type EnumType { get; set; }
    public object Convert(object value, Type targetType, object parameter, string lang)
    {
        if (parameter is string enumString)
        {
            if (!Enum.IsDefined(EnumType, value)) throw new ArgumentException("value must be an Enum!");
            var enumValue = Enum.Parse(EnumType, enumString);
            return enumValue.Equals(value);
        }
        return value.Equals(Enum.ToObject(EnumType,parameter));
    }

    public object ConvertBack(object value, Type targetType, object parameter, string lang)
    {
        if (parameter is string enumString)
            return value?.Equals(true) == true ? Enum.Parse(EnumType, enumString) : null;
        return value?.Equals(true) == true ? Enum.ToObject(EnumType, parameter) : null;
    }
}

Here the null value acts as the Binding.DoNothing.

private YourEnum? _yourEnum = YourEnum.YourDefaultValue; //put a default value here
public YourEnum? YourProperty
{
    get => _yourEnum;
    set{
        if (value == null) return;
        _yourEnum = value;
    }
}

Xaml Part:

...

    
        
    

...

    First way (parameter of type string)


    
        
            
                YourEnumString
            
        
    
    Second way (parameter of type YourEnum (actually it was converted to int when passed to converter))

How to bind RadioButtons to an enum?

11 Answers