How to use MultiBinding in WPF ComboBox

Question

It makes me NUTS !!!

I have ComboBoxone used to filter a request by an employee that works fine, but only displays the name of the employee. I want to use MultiValueConverterto display the full name of the employees (it would be less urgent if we did not have 2 Mikes and 2 Daves)

Below is my working code and class IMultiValueConverter(with unnecessary formatting for brevity). I tried everything I could come up with to make MultiConverter work, but I had no luck.

<ComboBox ItemsSource="{Binding Path=EmployeesFilter}" 
                       DisplayMemberPath="EmpFirstName"
                       SelectedValue="{Binding Path=EmployeeToShow, Mode=TwoWay}"/>

ViewModel properties are associated with:

// This collection is used to populate the Employee Filter ComboBox
private ObservableCollection<Employee> employeesFilter;
public ObservableCollection<Employee> EmployeesFilter
{
    get {
            return employeesFilter;
        }
    set {
        if (employeesFilter != value)
        {
            employeesFilter = value;
            OnPropertyChanged("EmployeesFilter");
        }
    }
}

// This property is TwoWay bound to the EmployeeFilters SelectedValue
private Employee employeeToShow;
public Employee EmployeeToShow
{
    get {
            return employeeToShow;
        }
    set {
        if (employeeToShow != value)
        {
            employeeToShow = value;
            OnPropertyChanged("EmployeeToShow");
            QueryIssues(); // Requery with new employee filter
        }
    }
}

IMultiValueConverter:

class StringsToFullNameMultiConverter : IMultiValueConverter
{
    public object Convert(object[] values, 
                          Type targetType, 
                          object parameter, 
                          System.Globalization.CultureInfo culture)
    {
        // I added this because I kept getting DependecyProperty.UnsetValue 
        // Passed in as the program initializes
        if (values[0] as string != null)
        {
            string firstName = (string)values[0];
            string lastName = (string)values[1];
            string fullName = firstName + " " + lastName;
            return fullName;
        }
        return null;
    }

    public object[] ConvertBack(object value, 
                                Type[] targetTypes, 
                                object parameter, 
                                System.Globalization.CultureInfo culture)
    {
        return null; 
    }
}

I tried a lot of different things, but mostly use the following in a ComboBox

<ComboBox.SelectedValue>
     <MultiBinding Converter="{StaticResource StringsToFullNameMultiConverter}" 
                   Mode="OneWay" > 
           <Binding Path="EmpFirstName" />
           <Binding Path="EmpLastName"/>
     </MultiBinding>
</ComboBox.SelectedValue>

, , DependencyProperty.UnsetValue. , . .

/, . , , , .

Answer 1

! , , ComboBox.ItemTemplate, SelectedValue. XAML.

<ComboBox.ItemTemplate>
    <DataTemplate>
        <TextBlock>
            <TextBlock.Text>
                <MultiBinding Converter="{StaticResource StringsToFillNameMultiConverter}">
                    <Binding Path="EmpFirstName" />
                    <Binding Path="EmpLastName" />
                </MultiBinding>
            </TextBlock.Text>
        </TextBlock>
    </DataTemplate>
</ComboBox.ItemTemplate>

, , , . , (-, , , .)

<!-- "Last, First" -->
<MultiBinding StringFormat="{}{1}, {0}">
    <Binding Path="EmpFirstName" />
    <Binding Path="EmpLastName" />
</MultiBinding>

Answer 2

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Answer 3

I ended up adding the Readonly property to my class and using the Displaymemberpath in Combobox

public class MyEmployee
{
    public string FirstName { get; set; }
    public string LastName { get; set; }
    public string DisplayName {
    get { return FirstName + " " + LastName; }
        }
}

Maybe something like this work for your situation ...? BR, Daniel