Binding Data With Unknown Column Count

[Andrew]

I have data that is generated based on a myriad of user data from a database, and I've notice that most of the samples for binding data to the GridView require that you know the column names and count in order to create an object that represents a given collection of data. You have to create an object as a List<> or ObservableCollection.

Is there a way to bind data whosse makeup you have no knowledge of at runtime?

Thanks.

[Daní]

Hi Andrew,

You may try to build dynamically DataTable with the incoming data. You can add so many DataColumns as "columns" you get.

[Milan]

Hello Andrew,

You could try using the lightweight DataTable that Vladimir Enchev has implemented. You can find more information about it here: http://blogs.telerik.com/blogs/posts/09-04-23/lightweight_datatable_for_your_silverlight_applications.aspx

All the best,
Milan
the Telerik team

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[Daní]

Oops, I forgot that DataSet, DataTable and so on are not present in Silverlight... I did a similar thing in a project a few months ago and I solved it using the System.Reflection.Emit namespace. That means creating a new type dynamically. In Visual Studio documentation you can find a very good, and easy (despite at first time it sounds tediuos) example.

Another issue you, maybe, will have to face is about templating the cells in each column, I suggest to use the XamlReader.Load() method to load dynamically the cell styles.

Hope this helps