WPF Binding - get path to Image from ComboBox

Question

I\'ve got a ComboBox that contains paths to Images and I need to use the selected path as a source for an Image object. I\'ve tried to bind it like this:

...
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Answer 1

Since you are explicitly creating ComboBoxItems, you have to use their Content property to access the item object:

Source="{Binding ElementName=ComboBox, Path=SelectedItem.Content}"

Note that setting UpdateSourceTrigger=PropertyChanged has no effect in this Binding.

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Alternatively, you may set the ComboBox's SelectedValuePath property to "Content" and bind to SelectedValue instead of SelectedItem:

<Image Source="{Binding ElementName=ComboBox, Path=SelectedValue}"/>
...
<ComboBox Name="ComboBox" SelectedValuePath="Content">
    <ComboBoxItem IsSelected="True">Images/men.png</ComboBoxItem>
    <ComboBoxItem>Images/women.png</ComboBoxItem>
</ComboBox>

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Another alternative would be to use String items instead of ComboBoxItems:

xmlns:system="clr-namespace:System;assembly=mscorlib"
...
<Image Source="{Binding ElementName=ComboBox, Path=SelectedItem}"/>
...
<ComboBox Name="ComboBox" SelectedIndex="0">
    <system:String>Images/men.png</system:String>
    <system:String>Images/women.png</system:String>
</ComboBox>