C# WPF - Listview Binding not working

Question

I have been trying to create a window in WPF and bind a listview to a list of objects, but I can't get the objects in the list to display in the listview.

Here is the XAML of the window:

<Window x:Class="WpfApplication.window_ManageInstruments"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
Title="window_ManageInstruments" Height="400" Width="600" WindowStartupLocation="CenterOwner">
<Grid>
    <Grid.RowDefinitions>
        <RowDefinition Height="100" />
        <RowDefinition />
    </Grid.RowDefinitions>
    <ListView Grid.Row="1" Margin="5" Name="listInstruments" ItemsSource="{Binding InstrumentList}">
        <ListView.View>
            <GridView>
                <GridViewColumn Width="120" Header="Symbol" DisplayMemberBinding="{Binding Field1}"/>
                <GridViewColumn Width="200" Header="Description" DisplayMemberBinding="{Binding Field2}"/>
                <GridViewColumn Width="120" Header="Last Stats" DisplayMemberBinding="{Binding Field3}"/>
                <GridViewColumn Width="100" Header="Margin" DisplayMemberBinding="{Binding Field4}"/>
            </GridView>
        </ListView.View>
    </ListView>

    <Label HorizontalAlignment="Left" Margin="10,10,0,0" Name="label1" Width="120" Height="25" VerticalAlignment="Top">Symbol</Label>
    <Label HorizontalAlignment="Left" Margin="10,40,0,0" Name="label2" Width="120" Height="25">Description</Label>
    <TextBox Height="25" Margin="150,10,0,0" Name="txtSymbol" VerticalAlignment="Top" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Width="120" />
    <TextBox Margin="150,40,0,0" Name="txtDescription" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Width="120" Height="25" />
    <Button Height="23" HorizontalAlignment="Right" Margin="0,12,133,0" Name="btn_AddInstrument" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="75">Add</Button>
</Grid>

and here is the code-behind:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Windows;
using System.Windows.Controls;
using System.Windows.Data;
using System.Windows.Documents;
using System.Windows.Input;
using System.Windows.Media;
using System.Windows.Media.Imaging;
using System.Windows.Shapes;
using System.Xml;
using WpfApplication.classes;
using System.Collections.ObjectModel;

namespace WpfApplication {
    /// 
    /// Interaction logic for window_ManageInstruments.xaml
    /// 
    public partial class window_ManageInstruments : Window {
        public ObservableCollection InstrumentList = new ObservableCollection();

        public window_ManageInstruments() {
            this.DataContext = this;
            InstrumentList.Add(new TestClass { Field1 = "A", Field2 = "B", Field3 = "C", Field4 = "D" });
            InstrumentList.Add(new TestClass { Field1 = "E", Field2 = "F", Field3 = "G", Field4 = "H" });
            InitializeComponent();
        }
    }

    public class TestClass {
        public string Field1 { get; set; }
        public string Field2 { get; set; }
        public string Field3 { get; set; }
        public string Field4 { get; set; }
    }
}

I don't know if I am missing any crucial configuration here, so any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you in advance.

Answer 1

Your InstrumentList needs to be a property I think. Change it to

private ObservableCollection _instrumentList = new ObservableCollection();
public ObservableCollection InstrumentList{
  get{ return _instrumentList;}
}

Answer 2

Does it work when you change the code to the following?

public window_ManageInstruments() 
{
    InitializeComponent();
    InstrumentList.Add(new TestClass { Field1 = "A", Field2 = "B", Field3 = "C", Field4 = "D" });
    InstrumentList.Add(new TestClass { Field1 = "E", Field2 = "F", Field3 = "G", Field4 = "H" });
    this.DataContext = this;
}

Answer 3

Change the InstrumentList declaration as a property.

public ObservableCollection<TestClass> InstrumentList { get; set; }

And add below line on Constructor

InstrumentList = new ObservableCollection<TestClass>();

It should work and collection will be binded to ListView.

Note - I am using generic collection here, you can change according to your need.

You can bind only to property not to variable.