Binding matrix arrays to WPF DataGrid

Question

I have 3 string arrays like this:

public string[] RowHeaders
{
    get { return new[] {"RowHeader1", "RowHeader2", "RowHeader3", "RowHeader4"}; 
}

public string[] ColumnHeaders
{
    get { return new[] {"ColumnHeader1", "ColumnHeader2", "ColumnHeader3"}; }
}

public string[][] Values
{
    get { return new[]
    {
        new []{"Value11", "Value12", "Value13"},
        new []{"Value21", "Value22", "Value23"},
        new []{"Value31", "Value32", "Value33"},
        new []{"Value41", "Value42", "Value43"},
    }; }
}

Array sizes are unknown until run-time (array values in code snippet are for showing the concept). I want to create a WPF grid from them like

which binds to these 3 arrays and designed entirely in XAML (if possible). How?

Answer 1

here a solution using DataTable and MultipleBinding, in the xaml pass the three arrays to an IMultivaluesConverter:

<Grid>
   <DataGrid>
        <DataGrid.ItemsSource>
            <MultiBinding Converter="{StaticResource MatrixToDataViewConverter}">
                <Binding Path="ColumnHeaders"/>
                <Binding Path="RowHeaders"/>
                <Binding Path="Values"/>
            </MultiBinding>
        </DataGrid.ItemsSource>
    </DataGrid>
</Grid>

then in the converter manage those arrays to create a DataView that will be bond to the Grid ItemSource :

 public class MatrixToDataViewConverter:IMultiValueConverter
{            
    public object Convert(object[] values, Type targetType, object parameter, CultureInfo culture)
    {
        var myDataTable = new DataTable();
        var colums = values[0] as string[];
        var rows = values[1] as string[];
        var vals = values[2] as string[][];
        myDataTable.Columns.Add("---");    //The blanc corner column
        foreach (var value in colums)
        {
            myDataTable.Columns.Add(value);
        }
        int index = 0;

        foreach (string row in rows)
        {
            var tmp = new string[1 + vals[index].Count()];                
            vals[index].CopyTo(tmp, 1);
            tmp[0] = row;
            myDataTable.Rows.Add(tmp);
            index++;
        }     
        return myDataTable.DefaultView;
    }

    public object[] ConvertBack(object value, Type[] targetTypes, object parameter, CultureInfo culture)
    {
        throw new NotImplementedException();
    }
}

output :