Data not displaying in columns in grid UWP - sqlite

Question

I have a database linked to my grid. When adding data a new checkbox appears, so it is registering that something has been entered, but, the columns are all blank.
Im pretty sure the issue is that I have the bindings set up for the class Person. Could I either still use this class with some additional code, or, find a way to separate the data from the database into columns?
Relevant Code:
Database Class method:
public static List<string> Grab_Entries()
{
List<string> entries = new List<string>();
using (SqliteConnection db = new SqliteConnection("Filename=sqliteSample.db"))
{
db.Open();
SqliteCommand selectCommand = new SqliteCommand("SELECT * from EmployeeTable", db);
SqliteDataReader query;
try
{
query = selectCommand.ExecuteReader();
}
catch (SqliteException)
{
//Handle error
return entries;
}
while (query.Read())
{
entries.Add(query.GetString(0));
}
db.Close();
}
return entries;
MainPage method:
public void EmployeeGrid_Loaded(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
EmployeeGrid.ItemsSource = DB.Grab_Entries();
}
Main Page XAML:
<controls:DataGrid x:Name="EmployeeGrid" Margin="170,55,35,35"
ItemsSource="{x:Bind persons}"
CanUserSortColumns="True"
AutoGenerateColumns="False" Background="Black" Loaded="EmployeeGrid_Loaded">
<controls:DataGrid.Columns>
<controls:DataGridTextColumn Header="Employee ID"
Binding="{Binding PersonId}"/>
<controls:DataGridTextColumn Header="First Name"
Binding="{Binding FirstName}"/>
<controls:DataGridTextColumn Header="Last Name"
Binding="{Binding LastName}"/>
<controls:DataGridTextColumn Header="Address"
Binding="{Binding Address}"/>
<controls:DataGridTextColumn Header="Position"
Binding="{Binding Position}"/>
<controls:DataGridTextColumn Header="Pay Rate (ph)"
Binding="{Binding PayratePH}"/>
<controls:DataGridTextColumn Header="Sex"
Binding="{Binding Sex}"/>
<controls:DataGridTextColumn Header="TaxCode"
Binding="{Binding TaxCode}"/>
<controls:DataGridTextColumn Header="Email"
Binding="{Binding Email}"/>
<controls:DataGridTextColumn Header="Emergency Contact"
Binding="{Binding EmergencyDetails}"/>
<controls:DataGridCheckBoxColumn Header="Selected"
/>
</controls:DataGrid.Columns>
</controls:DataGrid>
Ill add my Person class too:
public class Person
{
public int PersonId { get; set; }
public int DepartmentId { get; set; }
public string FirstName { get; set; }
public string LastName { get; set; }
public string Position { get; set; }
public string Address { get; set; }
public double PayratePH { get; set; }
public string Sex { get; set; }
public string TaxCode { get; set; }
public string EmergencyDetails { get; set; }
public string Email { get; set; }

Answer 1

I can spot two things here. First, the main page XAML binds the items source to persons, which gets overwritten with the return value of DB.Grab_Entries() whenever the control loads.
In EmployeeGrid_Loaded(), you should be populating the collection that the ItemsSource is bound to (persons), instead of assigning a new collection.
The loaded event should look something like this:
public void EmployeeGrid_Loaded(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
this.persons.Clear();
this.persons.AddRange(DB.Grab_Entries());
}
P.S. make sure that the ItemsSource collection is of type ObservableCollection, because otherwise it will not update the binding when the elements change.
Second, the method DB.Grab_Entries() returns a list of strings, but by the looks of it, the data grid and the persons collection is expecting a list of person objects with certain properties.
When you're reading the data from the sqlite query, you're getting a single column of data at a time (query.GetString(0)). You'll need to construct an object with all column values and put the object into a list.

Answer 2

As #Darius S. mentioned, the ItemsSource of DataGrid you bound with is the lists of Person class, however, the DB.Grab_Entries() method returns the lists of string type, so the DataGrid can't display well. In your Grab_Entries method, you could get the value each property and then convert them into the Person class. After that, add the Person class into entries lists.
In addition, it is recommended to use ObservableCollection class, when you insert or remove data from this class, it will automatically update the UI. So it's better to return ObservableCollection type from your Grab_Entries method directly. I take the FirstName property as an example:
public async static Task<ObservableCollection<Person>> Grab_Entries()
{
ObservableCollection<Person> entries = new ObservableCollection<Person>();
string dbpath = Path.Combine(ApplicationData.Current.LocalFolder.Path, "sqliteSample.db");
using (SqliteConnection db = new SqliteConnection($"Filename={dbpath}"))
{
db.Open();
SqliteCommand selectCommand = new SqliteCommand("SELECT * from EmployeeTable", db);
using (var reader = await selectCommand.ExecuteReaderAsync())
{
var nameOrdinal = reader.GetOrdinal("First_Name");
//The same method to get other properties
while (await reader.ReadAsync())
{
entries.Add(new Person() { FirstName = reader.GetString(nameOrdinal) });
}
}
db.Close();
}
return entries;
}
MainPage.cs:
ObservableCollection<Person> persons;
public async void EmployeeGrid_Loaded(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
persons = await Person.Grab_Entries();
EmployeeGrid.ItemsSource = persons;
}