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Can't get custom fonts to display at runtime - Windows Phone 8.1 MVVM - FontAwesome

I am having trouble with custom fonts in my Windows Phone 8.1 MVVM app.
I am using FontAwesome icons. I have included the FontAwesome font file in my project. When I set a static control such as this, it works perfectly;
<TextBlock x:Name="txtTest" Grid.Row="3" Text="" Foreground="Black" FontSize="20" FontFamily="/Assets/Fonts/FontAwesome.ttf#FontAwesome"/>
However, what I need is for this to work dynamically. I have a Hub control on the main page of the app, with ListViews in each Hub section. These are bound to a collection of custom objects, populated from an API response. When creating the collection of objects, the code looks for a marker in the response and dynamically sets the FontAwesome icon depending on the marker.
Hub Section code:
<HubSection x:Uid="hubApproved" Header="Approved"
DataContext="{Binding MyObjects.Approved}"
d:DataContext="{Binding MyObjects.Approved}"
HeaderTemplate="{ThemeResource HubSectionHeaderTemplate}" >
<DataTemplate>
<ListView
ItemsSource="{Binding}"
ItemTemplate="{ThemeResource ApprovedTemplate}"
IsItemClickEnabled="True"
ItemClick="ListView_ItemClick"
ContinuumNavigationTransitionInfo.ExitElementContainer="True">
</ListView>
</DataTemplate>
</HubSection>
And here is the Approved Template which binds to this:
<DataTemplate x:Key="ApprovedTemplate">
<StackPanel Margin="0,0,0,19" Background="{x:Null}" >
<TextBlock FontFamily="/Assets/Fonts/FontAwesome.ttf#FontAwesome" Text="{Binding Icon}" Foreground="Black" />
<TextBlock Text="{Binding SupplierName}" Style="{ThemeResource ListViewItemTripNameTextBlockStyle}" />
<TextBlock Style="{ThemeResource ListViewItemSubheaderTextBlockStyle}" Text="{Binding StartDate}"></TextBlock>
</StackPanel>
</DataTemplate>
The Template contains a TextBlock which binds to the Icon property of my object. This is supposed to then display the appropriate FontAwesome icon, but instead just displays the unicode of the icon:
I have tried defining the font family of the Hub control from the code behind in the view, but it has no effect:
Hub.FontFamily = new FontFamily("ms-appx:///Assets/Fonts/FontAwesome.otf#FontAwesome");
Any ideas on how to dynamically get these icons to display...? Thanks

You should be able to do it like this:
FontFamily fontFam = new FontFamily("ms-appx:///Assets/Fonts/FontAwesome.otf#FontAwesome");
and set FontFamily like this:
Hub.FontFamily = fontFam

I solved this with a workaround. The icons in my ListView will only ever be 1 of 5 possible icons. So instead of setting the unicode, I created 5 different textbox objects in the template definition, one for each icon. The unicode is static, so the dynamic aspect is instead the Visibility of each object. I created corresponding XAML Visibility properties on the custom object. After this, the style object is bound to its Visibility property, like so:
<!--Generic (shopping cart icon)-->
<TextBlock FontFamily="/Assets/Fonts/FontAwesome.otf#FontAwesome" Grid.Column="0" Text="" Style="{ThemeResource ListViewItemTripNameTextBlockStyle}"
VerticalAlignment="Center" Visibility="{Binding VisGeneric}" />
Then when I create the object collection from the API response, I set the appropriate visibility property to be Visible, according the the marker in the response.
I'd like a slightly more elegant solution than this, but essentially it works...

Using Icons in WPF Database Driven Application Results

I am attempting to make a WPF application. The application needs to use a "list view" to show results of queries to the database. I have been able to successfully create the application (GUI, database, LINQ, etc.), however, the display of my query results appear more "gridlike".
The specifications for the project below show that each record that appears in the results needs to have a green circle icon next to it. I have removed the actual results from the images below to keep the contents of the database private.
I don't have enough Reputation Points to post images, so I posted pictures so a sample/testing domain that I use. You can see screenshots here of the WPF app and code here:
http://digitalworkzone.com/WPF.html
What am I doing incorrectly? Is there something I need to add or modify to my code to be able to get the green circles and more of a "list" style to display my query results?

Understand the WPF content model. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb613548.aspx
Anything that has a 'Content' property basically behaves in two ways. If the 'Content' is set to something that derives from UIElement, then the class will manage it's own presentation. Anything else, however, will just get .ToString() called, and it's text displayed instead.
What this means in the long run is that everything in WPF can display anything. If you want to show a button in a button, you can. For example:
<Button>
<Button.Content>
<Button Content="This will show as text" />
</Button.Content>
</Button>
The inner button will have text, but the outer button will show a Button because Button derives from UIElement and therefore will handle its own presentation.
In your picture examples above, you have ListBoxes/DataGrids that you want to fill in with graphical information. Try this out:
<ListBox HorizontalContentAlignment="Stretch">
<ListBox.Items>
<Button Content="One"/>
<Button Content="Two"/>
<Button Content="Three"/>
<Button Content="Four"/>
</ListBox.Items>
</ListBox>
Now you have a ListBox that shows Buttons instead of Text. You can take this a step further and contain the items in a stackpanel, for example:
<ListBox HorizontalContentAlignment="Stretch">
<ListBox.Items>
<StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal">
<Button Content="A button"/>
<Label Content="Some text" />
</StackPanel>
<StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal">
<Button Content="A button"/>
<Label Content="Some text" />
</StackPanel>
<StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal">
<Button Content="A button"/>
<Label Content="Some text" />
</StackPanel>
</ListBox.Items>
</ListBox>
Now we have items that contain a layout container (StackPanels, which then contains other elements).
However, if you set the ItemsSource elsewhere, you can actually use a DataTemplate to display the contents. A DataTemplate in effect targets a particular class and lays out it's contents as defined in XAML. Consider:
Code Behind:
public partial class MyWindow : UserControl {
public MyWindow() {
InitializeComponent();
MyListBox.ItemsSource = new List<Person> {
new Person("Sam", "Smith"),
new Person("Jim", "Henson"),
new Person("Betty", "White"),
};
}
XAML:
<ListBox HorizontalContentAlignment="Stretch" x:Name="MyListBox" >
<ListBox.ItemTemplate>
<DataTemplate>
<StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal" >
<Label Content="{Binding FirstName}"/>
<Label Content="{Binding LastName}"/>
</StackPanel>
</DataTemplate>
</ListBox.ItemTemplate>
</ListBox>
Now when the Listbox displays, it will cycle through each of the items in the ItemsSource property, and then lay them out using the DataTemplate. It's possible to have the DataTemplate target specific classes by using the DataType property if you're using polymorphism (as in different types of people such as 'Cusomters' or 'Employees' which all derive from 'Person).
The problem with this approach is that you are setting the value of the items directly, which is bad form. It's better to define a class that handles all of the data for your view separately. Consider:
public class ViewModel {
// WPF will automatically read these properties using reflection.
public List<Person> People {
get {
return new List<Person> {
new Person("Sam", "Smith"),
new Person("Jim", "Henson"),
new Person("Betty", "White")
};
}
}
}
That will hold all the data for the view, now let's add it to the actual window. First we need to reference the namespace ('xmlns' means xml namespace):
<Window x:Class="Sharp.MyWindow"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006"
xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008"
xmlns:lol="clr-namespace:Sharp">
The namespace is Sharp (the namespace where my stuff lives), and the alias we'll give it is lol. Now we attach our ViewModel class to the window by setting it to the DataContext property, as in:
<Window>
<Window.DataContext>
<lol:ViewModel />
</Window.DataContext>
</Window>
This makes all of the public properties on the ViewModel class available to the Window. This way, if we want to read the Persons information into our ListBox, we simply say:
<ListBox HorizontalContentAlignment="Stretch" ItemsSource="{Binding People}" >
...
</ListBox>
Notice that we say ItemsSource={Binding People}, which means 'scan the ViewModel for any public properties called 'People' and then retrieve those results. This is essentially the fundamentals behind the MVVM approach. You might have all of your business logic in one or many classes which handle the main application operation in a Model, but then you have a ViewModel which interacts with the Model and exposes the results as public properties. WPF automatically binds to those properties and presents them for your. The information just flows, rather than setting the values by force.
To really understand how WPF is supposed to work, you should take some time to understand the basics of MVVM. WPF was really designed with MVVM in mind, and so to really get how WPF is supposed to work, you really should take the time to get your head around it. Take a look at:
http://agilewarrior.wordpress.com/2011/01/11/simple-mvvm-walkthrough-part-i/ .

<ListBox ItemsSource="{Binding QueryResults}">
<ListBox.ItemsTemplate>
<DataTemplate>
<StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal">
<Image Source="{Binding ImageSource}"/>
<TextBlock Text="{Binding TextSource}"/>
</StackPanel>
</DataTemplate>
</ListBox.ItemsTemplate>
</ListBox>
Will work if you have a list of objects named QueryResults in your code behind. Each object needs to have an string property named ImageSource and a string property named TextSource.
However, since you only need to display a green circle icon for each of the items, you can hardcode the image source. The above will work if you want to have a different icon for each, though.
Also note that in order for this to work, you need to set the DataContext of the window to DataContext="{Binding RelativeSource={RelativeSource Self}}"

How to bind item values in an accordion header template

I'm trying to create a simple header template for an accordion object in silverlight 4.
I've added an image and a TextBlock to the header template of the AccordionItem. I want to hide or show the image dependant on the values entered on the page.
Because i want to bind these values directly to the actual accordion item, I've created a new type 'AccordionItemWithIcons' that simply inherits from AccordionItem but adds a couple of dependancy properties to handle this. I'm only showing a couple of those properties for brevity. :)
So, here's my accordion with my 'AccordionItemWithIcons' control. Note that the property 'CheckIsVisible' is of type 'Visibility'
<Grid x:Name="LayoutRoot">
<Controls:Accordion Height="100">
<my:AccordionItemWithIcons
x:Name="FirstItem"
Content="Content Text"
Header="Header Text"
CheckIsVisible="Collapsed"
EventSummary="Summary Text"
HeaderTemplate="{StaticResource AccordionItemHeaderTemplate1}"/>
</Controls:Accordion>
</Grid>
And here is the header template.
<DataTemplate x:Key="AccordionWithIcons_HeaderTemplate1" >
<Grid >
<StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal" VerticalAlignment="Top">
<TextBlock Text="{Binding EventSummary}" />
<Image Visibility="{Binding CheckIsVisible}" Source="/Labyrinth;component/cross.png"/>
</StackPanel>
</Grid>
</DataTemplate>
Can anyone explain how I can bind the TextBlock's text and the Image's Visibility to the values set in the underlying AccordionItemWithIcons object? I've spent hours messing about with different DataContext's and sources and cannot seem to get this to work!
I don't know if helps to explain what I'm trying to achieve, but ultimately in the code behind i want to be able to say something like (shown below), to show or hide the icon in the header template.
FirstItem.CheckIsVisible = Visibility.Visible

For this, there exists a VisibilityToBooleanConverter
<BooleanToVisibilityConverter x:Key=”boolVisConverter”/>
[...]
Visibility="{Binding ElementName=anyCheckbox,
Path=IsChecked,
Converter={StaticResource boolVisConverter}}"

Can't Access Checkbox in Datagrid WPF C#

It's my xaml:
<Custom:DataGridTemplateColumn Header="Pilih" Width="50" IsReadOnly="False">
<Custom:DataGridTemplateColumn.CellTemplate>
<DataTemplate>
<CheckBox Height="23" Name="ckPilih" Checked="ckPilih_Checked">
</CheckBox>
</DataTemplate>
</Custom:DataGridTemplateColumn.CellTemplate>
</Custom:DataGridTemplateColumn>
when i want to use it(ckPilih) in .cs it can't access

You won't have direct access to this checkbox in code behind because the scope of ckPilih is only inside the DataTemplate
On the side note, I am not sure about your use case but it is not usually recommended to access the checkbox or any other control inside DataTemplate in this manner. You should always try to bind the DataGrid with your datasource. DataGrid will then automatically reflect the changes in DataSource

It is DataTemplate element. you can access it only in your DataTemplate definition. Instead of this, you should use DataGrid.Rows[i].Cell[j].Children property to access collection of controls in a cell.

Control which field is displayed in the textbox part of a databound WPF ComboBox

I have a ComboBox in WPF which is databound, and has data template which controls how each of the items is displayed. I have made it so that each item is displayed with two bits of text (for the Name and Path properties) and one image (for the Icon property).
At the moment when I select an item from the ComboBox the textbox bit of the ComboBox just changes to say "TestWPF.Result" which is the name of the class which I have populated the ComboBox with.
I'm interested in one (or both) of two things:
How do I change it so that it displays the value of one of the fields there (eg. so it shows the value of the Name field rather than the name of the class)?
Is it possible get it to use the same DataTemplate there as in the list of items, so that once I have selected an item it displays in the closed ComboBox the same way as it looks in the list of items. Basically I've got a DataTemplate called ShowResults and a ComboBox which uses that template. I've also added in a separate ContentControl which I've got to show the details of the selected item in the ComboBox, but I want to get that to replace the textbox in the ComboBox.
Update:
Thanks for the first answer. I've tried using a separate ContentControl, as you've described, and it works fine. The question now is how to replace the textbox part of the ComboBox with this ContentControl. Any hints on that would be most welcome.
Also, is it possible to replace the textbox bit of the ComboBox control with a mixture of the ContentControl and a textbox, so that I can still type in the textbox to help select items from the ComboBox, but then when I close the dropdown the rest ContentControl bit will be populated with the rest of the text and the icon. Hope that makes sense - ask questions if it doesn't!
Code:
I've been asked to post my code - so here it is. I've tried to remove things that I know are definitely not relevant, but I'm not sure exactly what is relevant so when in doubt I've left things in.
<Window x:Class="TestWPF.Window1"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
xmlns:custom="clr-namespace:TestWPF"
Title="Window1" Height="300" Width="843" Loaded="Window_Loaded">
<Window.Resources>
<DataTemplate x:Key="ShowResult" DataType="TestWPF.Result">
<StackPanel Margin="5" Orientation="Horizontal">
<Image Width="32" Height="32" Source="{Binding Path=Image}"/>
<StackPanel Margin="5">
<TextBlock FontWeight="Bold" Text="{Binding Path=Name}"/>
<TextBlock Text="{Binding Path=Path}"/>
</StackPanel>
</StackPanel>
</DataTemplate>
</Window.Resources>
<Grid Width="786">
<Button Height="23" HorizontalAlignment="Right" Margin="0,24,166,0" Name="btnTest" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="75" Click="btnTest_Click">Add</Button>
<ComboBox StaysOpenOnEdit="True" DropDownClosed="comboBox1_DropDownClosed" PreviewTextInput="comboBox1_PreviewTextInput" SelectionChanged="comboBox1_SelectionChanged" ItemTemplate="{StaticResource ShowResult}" Margin="259,109,22,89" Name="comboBox1" IsEditable="True" />
<ContentControl Height="50" Margin="268,0,22,21" Name="contentControl1" VerticalAlignment="Bottom" Content="{Binding ElementName=comboBox1,Path=SelectedValue}" ContentTemplate="{StaticResource ShowResult}"/>
</Grid>

You got the binding part right - binding to the data and using a DataTemplate to display the source the way you want to.
As to your second question, a way to do it would be to use a ComboBox with IsEditable="True" as you have, and withing the TextChanged event handler check if the comboBox.Items contains the new value, if not check use Linq to seach for a match:
if (comboBox.Items.Contains(e.NewValue))
return;
var matches =
with comboBox.Items
select item
where item.BeginsWith(e.NewValue);
if (matches.Count > 0)
comboBox.SelectedItem = matches.First();

Just place the Property Binding expression to the textBox,You dont need to apply template.
Another way to get exact Data template, Place a ContentControl in the place of textBox and assign the same DataTemplate (say x:Name="robinTemplate")
<ContentControl Content="{Binding ElementName=cmbBox,Path=SelectedValue}" ContentTemplate="{StaticResource robinTemplate}"/>
For making the Selected content display in the same way :
Create a copy of the combobox control template and you will find a ContentPresenter there. Replace that with the ContentControl.. This is not the right solution though.