Silverlight 4 Data and Services Cookbook

Customizing the DataForm using a custom DataTemplate

In order to customize the DataForm, you can use helpers in the form of Data Annotations as seen in the Customizing the DataForm using Data Annotations recipe. But sometimes this isn't sufficient. You might have a requirement where generating the fields automatically, even with the use of Data Annotations , isn't sufficient: you need more control. But at the same time, you'd still like to use the built-in navigation capabilities, read/edit-mode, and so on of the DataForm.

In this recipe, you'll learn how to do just that. You'll learn to completely customize the way the DataForm shows your data by disabling automatic generation and defining the DataTemplate yourself.

Getting ready

We're starting ...