Creating a list of items

Lists are typically used to show a collection of related objects. WPF provides several controls which can be used for that purpose, such as ListBox and ComboBox (which can be considered classic). All these derive from ItemsControl, which defines some basic functionality, such as an Items property. In this recipe, we'll take a quick look at ListBox and ComboBox. We'll reserve a more detailed explanation for Chapter 6, Data Binding, as this is the typical way list-based controls are used in WPF.

Getting ready

Make sure Visual Studio is up and running.

How to do it…

1. Create a new WPF application named CH04.Lists.

2. Open MainWindow.Xaml. Add two rows to the existing Grid, as follows:

   <Grid.RowDefinitions>
       <RowDefinition Height="Auto" />
       <RowDefinition />
   </Grid.RowDefinitions>

3. Add a ComboBox to the Grid with some string items:

   <ComboBox Margin="4" x:Name="_langCombo">
       <ComboBoxItem>C++</ComboBoxItem>
       <ComboBoxItem&gt...