Is it possible to pass current DataContext as ContructorParameter of ObjectDataProvider?

Question

It would be very useful to pass DataContext as parameter for DataTemplate:
<DataTemplate>
<DataTemplate.Resources>
<ObjectDataProvider x:Key="ServiceDataProvider" ObjectType="{x:Type control:ServiceLayout}">
<ObjectDataProvider.ConstructorParameters>
/*here could be DataContext..but how?*/
</ObjectDataProvider.ConstructorParameters>
</ObjectDataProvider>
</DataTemplate.Resources>
<ContentPresenter
Content="{Binding
Source={StaticResource ServiceDataProvider}}" />
</DataTemplate>
I will use this DataTemplate in ListBox ItemTemplate. So, DataContext will be ListBoxItem bound object (type is known), and it is not very well to use ViewModel added as static resource as in https://social.msdn.microsoft.com/forums/vstudio/en-US/38a80213-9e72-44fc-8338-1a8bcfcf9c9f/objectdataprovider-binds-to-datacontext
May be there are any other ways to pass parameter to constructor from DataTemplate?

Answer 1

I am afraid that it is not possible to bind anything directly to the ConstructorParameters collections since it is just an IList property and not a dependency property.
What you could to is to use a BindingProxy class that extends the Freezable class and captures the DataContext as described here:
http://www.thomaslevesque.com/2011/03/21/wpf-how-to-bind-to-data-when-the-datacontext-is-not-inherited/
You can then bind the DataContext of the ListBoxItem to the Data property of a BindingProxy object and use a custom StaticResourceExtension class as described in the following TechNet article to pass the DataContext to the constructor:
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/23503.trick-to-use-staticresource-with-path.aspx
Here is a complete example:
public class ServiceLayout
public ServiceLayout(object dataContext) {
public class BindingProxy : Freezable
protected override Freezable CreateInstanceCore() {
return new BindingProxy();
public object Data {
get {
return (object)GetValue(DataProperty);
set {
SetValue(DataProperty, value);
public static readonly DependencyProperty DataProperty =
DependencyProperty.Register("Data", typeof(object), typeof(BindingProxy), new UIPropertyMetadata(null));
public class StaticResourcePath : StaticResourceExtension
public PropertyPath Path {
get;
set;
public override object ProvideValue(IServiceProvider serviceProvider) {
object o = base.ProvideValue(serviceProvider);
return (Path == null ? o : PathEvaluator.Evaluate(o, Path));
class PathEvaluator : DependencyObject
private static readonly DependencyProperty DummyProperty =
DependencyProperty.Register("Dummy", typeof(object),
typeof(PathEvaluator), new UIPropertyMetadata(null));
public static object Evaluate(object source, PropertyPath path) {
PathEvaluator d = new PathEvaluator();
BindingOperations.SetBinding(d, DummyProperty, new Binding(path.Path)
Source = source
var result = d.GetValue(DummyProperty);
BindingOperations.ClearBinding(d, DummyProperty);
return result;
<ListBox>
<ListBox.ItemTemplate>
<DataTemplate>
<DockPanel>
<DockPanel.Resources>
<local:BindingProxy x:Key="proxy" Data="{Binding}" />
<ObjectDataProvider x:Key="ServiceDataProvider" ObjectType="{x:Type control:ServiceLayout}">
<ObjectDataProvider.ConstructorParameters>
<local:StaticResourcePath ResourceKey="proxy" Path="Data"/>
</ObjectDataProvider.ConstructorParameters>
</ObjectDataProvider>
</DockPanel.Resources>
<ContentPresenter Content="{Binding Source={StaticResource ServiceDataProvider}}" />
</DockPanel>
</DataTemplate>
</ListBox.ItemTemplate>
Note that you have to move the resources to the root element of the DataTemplate, a DockPanel in the above example, for this to work, i.e. you cannot add the resources to <DataTemplate.Resources> but that should make no difference.
Hope that helps.
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