Building a multibinding column in a view

Question

I need to create a view where one column is binded to multiple properties, if one of the properties are not found, then it should not show anything.
The xml/xaml that almost works..
<mux:Column Name="TopParent" Width="25" DisplayName="Header_TopParent_DisplayName" Property="Status.DisplayName" DataType="s:String">
<mux:Column.DisplayMemberBinding>
<MultiBinding StringFormat="{}{0}{1}" FallbackValue="" TargetNullValue="">
<Binding Path="ParentActivity/ParentChangeRequest/DisplayName" Mode="OneWay" />
<Binding Path="ParentWorkItem/DisplayName" Mode="OneWay" />
</MultiBinding>
</mux:Column.DisplayMemberBinding>
</mux:Column>
The column then displays either the parent or the parent.parent workitem displayname. But the non-existing property always displays as DependencyProperty.UnsetValue:
As you can see I have tried different things: Fallbackvalue and TargetNullValue, but no luck. I can read that I might need to create an IValueConverter that returns nothing if the value is unset. But this would require c# assembly I guess, and seems a little
overkill for one very small method. Is there any way to achieve this through xml without custom converter method? (maybe there is a method already I could use?)
If no, can someone direct me on how this assembly should be referenced in the view and imported to SCSM ? Would I need to bundle the dll with the view management pack or? 
Thanks!

Answer 1

I would use a converter. You reference it by adding the XML name space in the mux:ColumnCollection like this:
 xmlns:youralias="clr-namespace:YourNameSpace;assembly=YourAssembly"
Then you can change your column binding to use the converter like this:
Text="{Binding Path=YourProperty, Mode=OneWay, Converter={youralias:YourConverter}}"
For this to work, your IValueConverter must inherit System.Windows.Markup.MarkupExtension and IValueConverter and have a slightly different format to normal converters like this:
public class YourConverter : System.Windows.Markup.MarkupExtension, IValueConverter
private static YourConverter _converter = null;
public override object ProvideValue(IServiceProvider serviceProvider)
if (_converter == null)
_converter = new YourConverter();
return _converter;
object IValueConverter.Convert(object value, Type targetType, object parameter, System.Globalization.CultureInfo culture)
try
//Process the value you pass and return the result
catch
return null;
object IValueConverter.ConvertBack(object value, Type targetType, object parameter, System.Globalization.CultureInfo culture)
return null;
The assembly must either exist in the SCSM console installation directory or be bundled somewhere in a Management Pack.
Rob Ford scsmnz.net
Cireson www.cireson.com
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