How to Bind Local Embedded Image in ListView in Xamarin Forms?

Question

I have a ListView in XAML and a List<string> that holds local embedded image paths. I am not able to show images in List. By the way I am able to show as a single image by

<Image Source="{local:ImageResource TypingApplication.Images.Icons.Search.png}" />

But I cannot show the images in ListView. Here is my XAML code

<ListView x:Name="ListView"
            ItemsSource="{Binding ListItems}"
            IsEnabled="True"
            IsVisible="True"
            RowHeight="40"
            Opacity="0.9">
    <ListView.ItemTemplate>
        <DataTemplate>
            <ViewCell>                            
                <Image Source="{local:ImageResource TypingApplication.Images.Icons.{Binding .}}"/>
            </ViewCell>                        
        </DataTemplate>
    </ListView.ItemTemplate>
</ListView>

I have added ImageResourceExtension in Extensions folder and xmlns:local="clr-namespace:TypingApplication.Extensions" in XAML, as I mentioned I can show Single Image, only there is problem with ListView.

Here is my C# code that contains List and Constructor

public List<string> ListItems
{
    get
    {
        return new List<string>()
        {
            "Home.png",
            "Favorite.png",
            "Search.png"
        };
    }
}

public HomePage()
{
    InitializeComponent();
    this.BindingContext = this;
}

Please note that I am using shared Images in my project. I have set Properties of all Images to Embedded resource in SolutionExplorer.

Answer 1

• Change list to ObservableCollection
• IValueConverter implementation to convert your binding to desired value
• The image property should be set to EmbeddedResource

public class EmbeddedToImageSourceConverter : IValueConverter
{
    public object Convert(object value, Type targetType, object parameter, CultureInfo culture)
    {
        if (value is string fileName && parameter is String assemblyName)
        {
            try
            {
                var imageSource = ImageSource.FromResource(assemblyName + "." + fileName, typeof(EmbeddedToImageSourceConverter).GetTypeInfo().Assembly);
                return imageSource;
            }
            catch (Exception)
            {
                return value;
            }
        }
        else
            return value;
    }

    public object ConvertBack(object value, Type targetType, object parameter, CultureInfo culture)
    {
        return value;
    }
}

XAML

<ContentPage.Resources>
    <local:EmbeddedToImageSourceConverter x:Key="converter" />
</ContentPage.Resources>

In the listview add binding w.r.to converter resource we just created.

<Image Source="{Binding ., Converter={StaticResource converter}, ConverterParameter='TypingApplication.Images.Icons'}" />

If you are not using View Model (MVVM), you can directly specify image file's name in XAML as:

<Image Source="{Binding Source='ImageFileName.png', Converter={StaticResource converter}, ConverterParameter='TypingApplication.Images.Icons'}" />

Answer 2

If you want to add Embedded image in listview, according to json's reply, your binding have some problem, you can use IValueConverter to convert image path as correct.

I do one sample according to your code, you can take a look:

<ListView HasUnevenRows="True" ItemsSource="{Binding ListItems}">
            <ListView.ItemTemplate>
                <DataTemplate>
                    <ViewCell>
                        <StackLayout>
                            <Image
                                HeightRequest="100"
                                Source="{Binding ., Converter={StaticResource imageconverter}}"
                                WidthRequest="100" />
                        </StackLayout>

                    </ViewCell>
                </DataTemplate>
            </ListView.ItemTemplate>
        </ListView>

 <ContentPage.Resources>
    <local:imageconverter x:Key="imageconverter" />
</ContentPage.Resources>

The Image converter:

 public class imageconverter : IValueConverter
{
    public string Source { get; set; }
    public object Convert(object value, Type targetType, object parameter, CultureInfo culture)
    {
         Source = (string)value;

        if (Source == null)
            return null;

        // Do your translation lookup here, using whatever method you require

        var imageSource = ImageSource.FromResource("demo3."+Source, typeof(ImageResourceExtension).GetTypeInfo().Assembly);
        return imageSource;
    }


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

You can change demo3 as TypingApplication according to your code.

public partial class Page14 : ContentPage
{
    public ObservableCollection<string> ListItems { get; set; }
    public Page14()
    {
        InitializeComponent();

        ListItems = new ObservableCollection<string>()
        {
            "image1.jpg","image2.png","image3.png"
        };

        this.BindingContext = this;
    }
}

As Prateek's reply, I suggest you can change List<> to Observablecollection<>, because it implement INotifyPropertyChanged interface, notify data changed.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/api/system.collections.objectmodel.observablecollection-1?view=netframework-4.8