Creating a master-detail view

A master-detail view is a common way to display lots of information. The master shows a compressed view of some objects, while the detail view shows the selected object (from the master) in greater detail, as appropriate. Let's examine a typical way to achieve this in WPF.

Getting ready

Make sure Visual Studio is up and running.

How to do it...

We'll create an application that shows a list of processes and a detailed look of a selected process.

1. Create a new WPF application named CH06.MasterDetail.

2. Open MainWindow.xaml. Add the following markup to the existing Grid, creating two columns with first holding a ListBox:

   <Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
       <ColumnDefinition Width="200"/>
       <ColumnDefinition  />
   </Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
   <ListBox ItemsSource="{Binding}" FontSize="16"
            DisplayMemberPath="ProcessName" x:Name="_master"/>

3. The ListBox will serve as the master view, showing a flat list of all running processes on the system. Now...