WPF troubleshooting: is there a way to see why binding fails?

Question

so, i am trying to get the following to work:

<Style x:Key="ToolTipVisibility" TargetType="{x:Type StackPanel}">
   <Setter Property="Visibility" Value="{Binding RelativeSource={RelativeSource FindAncestor, AncestorType={x:Type Window}},Path=EnabledToolTips}" />

calling this from inside of a xaml control, and the property is in my main window:

public Visibility EnabledToolTips {
    get { return Visibility.Collapsed; } //  testing
}

nothing fails, it just shows default tooltip behavior.

are there ways to profile wpf binding process to see why exactly this fails? Looking for ways to troubleshoot cases such as this one..

Answer 1

see How to detect broken WPF Data binding? and specifically the answer given here http://www.beacosta.com/blog/?p=52

Answer 2

You need to read Bea Stollnitz Blog Basically, it boils down to this:

add this xmlns to your .xaml file....

xmlns:diagnostics="clr-namespace:System.Diagnostics;assembly=WindowsBase"

now, add this to the binding you want to debug. you will get scads of information

diagnostics:PresentationTraceSources.TraceLevel=High

Answer 3

When debugging, the output window should give you some information.