Should my ViewModel have an ObservableCollection of Views or ViewModels?

Question

I\'m trying to understand the basic MVVM design approach when using ItemsControl by binding it via DataTemplates to ObservableCollectio

Answer 1

I would use an ObservableCollection of ViewModels for the following reasons:

• ObservableCollection already has events available for signaling when it has been modified (e.g. when items are added/removed from the collection).
• We're at the ViewModel 'layer' so it provides cleaner separation to have a ViewModel contain a collection of ViewModels rather than Views
• If it is necessary to modify or get data from items within the collection you can more easily modify/access that data if the items are ViewModels (if they're views you'll frequently be casting the View's DataContext or accessing its UI elements).