Expression Blend and Data Binding

Hi Everyone!

Wow... I havn't posted here in a LONG time, though I made this screenname a while ago. I usually don't have a lot of time for online forums (college student working my way through college). However, I do visit Channel 9 weekly as it is a great source for information.

I have been looking for information on data binding using XAML/Expression Blend/Visual Studio/C#. There are many useful tutorials and samples out there showing how to make nifty apps which use data binding to retrieve data from a back end. However, pretty much all of them use XML for the back end.

My question is simple: What is the best way to perform data binding in a WPF application using a different database as a back end (lets say.. an Access .mdb file)? To keep it simple.. say you have a list box and you want to data bind it to a column in an Access database.

As a side question: Is there a way to do this using XAML (and/or Blend) alone like you can using XML as the back end?

After searching around, I havn't really been able to find a conclusive answer on the best way to accomplish this (Maybe I am dumb though ). Everyone here seems helpful so I figure I would make a post!

If anyone could give me any pointers or advice I'd appreciate it.
Thanks in advance!

Ok.... so I posted this question over at the forums on http://wpf.netfx3.com/ and a Microsoft employee (Sam Bent) responded with an answer. So, I thought I'd share it with you all in case any one else is interested.

You can find the post here: http://forums.microsoft.com/MSDN/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=2073054&SiteID=1

Basically.. you just connect to the database and query it using the OleDbDataAdpater as normal. Then you set the resulting dataset as the data context for what ever control you want to bind with. After that all you have to do is modify that control's template to display the proper info from the dataset.