WPF ListBox - Display Message When Item Source Is Empty

Question

Hello All -

I am trying to replace the listbox with a message for the user when there is no data available. When there is data available, whatever is available, will display out. I have been working on this for a while but do not know what to do.

When the collection is empty, only the title displays, which is not what I want. I expected the message to tell the user there is no data.

I can populate the rows with data, so the bindings work fine. Any thoughts or ideas?

    public class MyData
    {
        public string Property1 { get; set; }
        public string Property2 { get; set; }
        public string Property3 { get; set; }
    }

    <UserControl.Resources>
        <Style TargetType="ListView" x:Key="ListViewStyle">
            <Style.Triggers>
                <Trigger Property="HasItems" Value="False">
                    <Setter Property="Template">
                        <Setter.Value>
                            <ControlTemplate TargetType="ListView">
                                <TextBlock Text="Nothing to display" HorizontalAlignment="Center" VerticalAlignment="Center"/>
                            </ControlTemplate>
                        </Setter.Value>
                    </Setter>
                </Trigger>
            </Style.Triggers>
        </Style>
    </UserControl.Resources>


  <ListView Style="{DynamicResource ListViewStyle}" ItemsSource="{Binding MyDataX}">
                <ListBox.Template>
                    <ControlTemplate>
                        <DockPanel LastChildFill="True">
                            <Grid DockPanel.Dock="Top" Height="30">
                                <Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
                                    <ColumnDefinition Width="*"></ColumnDefinition>
                                    <ColumnDefinition Width="*"></ColumnDefinition>
                                    <ColumnDefinition Width="*"></ColumnDefinition>
                                </Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
                                <Label Grid.Column="0" HorizontalAlignment="Center">Id Number</Label>
                                <Label Grid.Column="1" HorizontalAlignment="Center">Desctiption</Label>
                                <Label Grid.Column="2" HorizontalAlignment="Center">Date</Label>
                            </Grid>
                            <ItemsPresenter></ItemsPresenter>
                        </DockPanel>
                    </ControlTemplate>
                </ListBox.Template>
                <ListBox.ItemTemplate>
                    <DataTemplate>
                        <StackPanel>
                            <Border BorderThickness="1" BorderBrush="Gray">
                            </Border>
                            <Grid Margin="0,2">
                                <Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
                                    <ColumnDefinition Width="*"></ColumnDefinition>
                                    <ColumnDefinition Width="*"></ColumnDefinition>
                                    <ColumnDefinition Width="*"></ColumnDefinition>
                                </Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
                                <TextBlock Text="{Binding Property1}" HorizontalAlignment="Center"></TextBlock>
                                <TextBlock Text="{Binding Property1}" Grid.Column="1" HorizontalAlignment="Center"></TextBlock>
                                <TextBlock Text="{Binding Property1}" Grid.Column="2" HorizontalAlignment="Center"></TextBlock>
                            </Grid>
                        </StackPanel>
                    </DataTemplate>
                </ListBox.ItemTemplate>
            </ListView>

Answer 1

There are two good answers in this post: WPF listbox empty datatemplate

One of them that I tried with a little modification:

<Window x:Class="WpfApp1.MainWindow"
        xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
        xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
        xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008"
        xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006"
        xmlns:local="clr-namespace:WpfApp1"
        mc:Ignorable="d"
        Title="MainWindow" Height="450" Width="800">
    <Window.Resources>
        <Style TargetType="ListBox" BasedOn="{StaticResource {x:Type ListBox}}">
            <Style.Triggers>
                <DataTrigger Binding="{Binding RelativeSource={x:Static RelativeSource.Self}, Path=Items.Count}" Value="0">
                    <Setter Property="Template">
                        <Setter.Value>
                            <ControlTemplate>
                                <TextBlock>No items to display</TextBlock>
                            </ControlTemplate>
                        </Setter.Value>
                    </Setter>
                </DataTrigger>
            </Style.Triggers>
        </Style>
    </Window.Resources>
    <Grid>
         
    </Grid>
</Window>

Answer 2

As Reza Aghaei said, you could use Empty Template style. The code is show as follows.

 <Window.Resources>
        <Style TargetType="ListBox" x:Key="ListStyle" BasedOn="{StaticResource {x:Type ListBox}}">
            <Setter Property="Template">
                <Setter.Value>
                    <ControlTemplate>
                        <DockPanel LastChildFill="True">
                            <Grid DockPanel.Dock="Top" Height="30">
                                <Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
                                    <ColumnDefinition Width="*"></ColumnDefinition>
                                    <ColumnDefinition Width="*"></ColumnDefinition>
                                    <ColumnDefinition Width="*"></ColumnDefinition>
                                </Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
                                <Label Grid.Column="0" HorizontalAlignment="Center">Id Number</Label>
                                <Label Grid.Column="1" HorizontalAlignment="Center">Desctiption</Label>
                                <Label Grid.Column="2" HorizontalAlignment="Center">Date</Label>
                            </Grid>
                            <ItemsPresenter></ItemsPresenter>
                        </DockPanel>
                    </ControlTemplate>
                </Setter.Value>
            </Setter>
            <Style.Triggers>
                <DataTrigger    Binding="{Binding RelativeSource={x:Static RelativeSource.Self}, Path=Items.Count}"  Value="0"  >
                    <Setter Property="Template">
                        <Setter.Value>
                            <ControlTemplate>
                                <TextBlock>No items to display</TextBlock>
                            </ControlTemplate>
                        </Setter.Value>
                    </Setter>
                </DataTrigger>
            </Style.Triggers>
        </Style>
    </Window.Resources>
    <Grid>
        <ListBox  Style="{DynamicResource ListStyle}" ItemsSource="{Binding MyDataX}">
            
        
            <ListBox.ItemTemplate>
                <DataTemplate>
                    <StackPanel>
                        <Border BorderThickness="1" BorderBrush="Gray">
                        </Border>
                        <Grid Margin="0,2">
                            <Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
                                <ColumnDefinition Width="*"></ColumnDefinition>
                                <ColumnDefinition Width="*"></ColumnDefinition>
                                <ColumnDefinition Width="*"></ColumnDefinition>
                            </Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
                            <TextBlock Text="{Binding Property1}" HorizontalAlignment="Center"></TextBlock>
                            <TextBlock Text="{Binding Property1}" Grid.Column="1" HorizontalAlignment="Center"></TextBlock>
                            <TextBlock Text="{Binding Property1}" Grid.Column="2" HorizontalAlignment="Center"></TextBlock>
                        </Grid>
                    </StackPanel>
                </DataTemplate>
            </ListBox.ItemTemplate>
        </ListBox>
    </Grid>

The result:

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