How to detect broken WPF Data binding?
data-binding, wpf
Solution
Best I could find... How can I debug WPF Bindings? by Beatriz Stollnitz
Since everyone can't always keep one eye on the Output Window looking for Binding errors, I loved Option#2. Which is add this to your App.Config
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<configuration>
<system.diagnostics>
<sources>
<source name="System.Windows.Data" switchName="SourceSwitch" >
<listeners>
<add name="textListener" />
</listeners>
</source>
</sources>
<switches>
<add name="SourceSwitch" value="All" />
</switches>
<sharedListeners>
<add name="textListener"
type="System.Diagnostics.TextWriterTraceListener"
initializeData="GraveOfBindErrors.txt" />
</sharedListeners>
<trace autoflush="true" indentsize="4"></trace>
</system.diagnostics>
</configuration>
Pair that up with a good regex scan script to extract out relevant info, that you can run occasionally on the GraveOfBindErrors.txt in your output folder
System.Windows.Data Error: 35 : BindingExpression path error: 'MyProperty' property not found on 'object' ''MyWindow' (Name='')'. BindingExpression:Path=MyProperty; DataItem='MyWindow' (Name=''); target element is 'TextBox' (Name='txtValue2'); target property is 'Text' (type 'String')
Problem
While trying to answer a question in the vicinity 'Unit Testing WPF Bindings' I had the following niggling question.. What's the best way to find if you have WPF Data Binding wiring setup incorrectly (or you just broke something that was wired up correctly) ? Although the unit-testing approach seems to be like Joel's 'ripping off your arm to remove a splinter'.. I am looking around for easier less Overhead ways to detect this. Everyone seems to have committed themselves to data binding in a big way with WPF.. and it does have its merits.