This post contains three questions really, so I'll try and be as succinct as possible.

I have a class (MyClass) derived from UserControl containing a DataGrid with a Column defined as thus:

<xcdg:Column FieldName="Contact" ForeignKeyConfiguration="{StaticResource contactForeignKeyConfiguration}" />

The ForeignKeyConfiguration is defined in my Resources as thus:

<xcdg:ForeignKeyConfiguration x:Key="contactForeignKeyConfiguration"
      ItemsSource="{Binding Source={x:Static Application.Current}, Path=Contacts}"
      ValuePath="ContactID" />

I then have the following property defined in my App class:

public DataTable Contacts
{
  get
  {
    DataTable dt = new DataTable();
    dt.Columns.Add("ContactID", typeof(int));
    dt.Columns.Add("Contact", typeof(string));
    DataRow dr = dt.NewRow();
    dr["ContactID"] = 1;
    dr["Contact"] = "Jason";
    dt.Rows.Add(dr);
    return dt;
  }
}

First question
However, in a similar way to the 'Ship Via' column in the TableView example, I expected a drop-down list to appear on the cells of my DataGrid under the 'Contact' column showing one item "Jason".  Instead, it showed one item "System.Data.DataRowView".  This is the first question - how do I get it showing the value in the 'Contact' column of my DataTable?

Second question
Now, if I move the Contacts property into MyClass and change my ForeignKeyConfiguration to:

<xcdg:ForeignKeyConfiguration x:Key="contactForeignKeyConfiguration"
      ItemsSource="{Binding RelativeSource={RelativeSource AncestorType={x:Type UserControl}}, Path=Contacts}"
      ValuePath="ContactID" />

...this doesn't work.  The property isn't even read.  How do I achieve this so that the property in my UserControl class is correctly assigned to the ItemsSource property of my Column's ForeignKeyConfiguration?

Third question
And finally, I would like the property to be of type Dictionary<int,string> rather than DataTable.  Can I achieve the same auto-detection of drop-down items as with a DataTable?

Thanks for any help that you can give!

Jason

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Assistant Vice President, .NET Development
Barclays Capital, UK

I will answer the 3rd question since the first 2 are moot in the case where "3" is possible. That said, yes, you can use a Dictionary<int, string> rather than a DataTable; however, you will need to create a custom ForeignKeyConverter to provide the correct key for a value and vice versa. 

Take a look at the  "Custom key/value mappings" example in the "Foreign Key Detection" topic. It demonstrates what you need to do.

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Technical Writer/Technical Support Team Manager - Xceed Software

In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: it goes on.

Thank you.  With your answer and the assistance you provided in this thread - http://xceed.com/CS/forums/thread/22376.aspx - I was able to come up with a solution in the code-behind.  A solution in the XAML wasn't viable for my purposes as I want to read the items into ItemsSource from an object (Dictionary) created late at run-time and isn't available in the visual tree.

    // Put all the contacts into a dictionary list
    Dictionary<int, string> contacts = new Dictionary<int, string>();
    foreach (ContactDetails contactDetails in _data.ClientAddressData)
    {
        contacts.Add(contactDetails.ID, contactDetails.ContactName);
    }

    // Update the drop-down list of the Contact Column to contain all the contacts available
    ForeignKeyConfiguration fkcContacts = new ForeignKeyConfiguration();
    fkcContacts.ForeignKeyConverter = new ContactForeignKeyConverter();
    fkcContacts.ItemsSource = contacts;
    fkcContacts.ValuePath = "Key";
    fkcContacts.DisplayMemberPath = "Value";
    ((Column)dgcAlertsAndCalls.Columns["Contact"]).ForeignKeyConfiguration = fkcContacts;

And ContactForeignKeyConverter is defined as thus:

    public class ContactForeignKeyConverter : ForeignKeyConverter
    {
        public override object GetValueFromKey(object key, ForeignKeyConfiguration configuration)
        {
            if (key != null)
            {
                Dictionary<int, string> contacts = configuration.ItemsSource as Dictionary<int, string>;
                if (contacts != null)
                {
                    foreach (KeyValuePair<int, string> contact in contacts)
                    {
                        if (contact.Key == (int)key)
                        {
                            return contact.Value;
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
            return null;
        }
    }

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Assistant Vice President, .NET Development
Barclays Capital, UK