AutomationProperties.HelpText doesn't work on UWP ListView - xaml

Question

I have a ListView like this:
<ListView x:Name="ArtistsList"
ItemsSource="{Binding Source={StaticResource ArtistsCVS}}"
SelectionMode="None"
ItemContainerStyle="{StaticResource ListViewContainerStrecher}"
IsItemClickEnabled="True"
ItemClick="ArtistsList_ItemClick">
<ListView.ItemTemplate>
<DataTemplate x:DataType="local:DAPP">
<Grid AutomationProperties.Name="{Binding artist}"
AutomationProperties.HelpText="Navigate to artist info page.">
<Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<ColumnDefinition Width="80"/>
<ColumnDefinition Width="*"/>
</Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<Image Grid.Column="0"
MaxWidth="60"
Source="{Binding thumb}"
HorizontalAlignment="Center"/>
<Grid Grid.Column="1" VerticalAlignment="Center">
<Grid.RowDefinitions>
<RowDefinition Height="Auto"/>
</Grid.RowDefinitions>
<TextBlock Grid.Row="0" Text="{Binding artist}"/>
</Grid>
</Grid>
</DataTemplate>
</ListView.ItemTemplate>
</ListView>
When I try to use Narrator it reads the Artist name but it doesn't read help text. Also, I want to know if is it possible to bind two values a AutomationProperties.Name?
For example, I have an ArtistName and a SongName then for example use AutomationProperties.Name = "{Binding ArtistName};{Binding songName}" then it reads something like Artist (little pause) SongName.

Answer 1

When I try to use Narrator it reads the Artist name but it doesn't read help text.
Setting AutomationProperties.HelpText attached property inside DataTemplate won't work here. To solve this issue, we can using a custom ListView and overriding PrepareContainerForItemOverride method to set automation properties. And this is also the recommended way for adding accessibility support to the items in a ListView.
For example:
public class MyList : ListView
{
protected override void PrepareContainerForItemOverride(DependencyObject element, object item)
{
base.PrepareContainerForItemOverride(element, item);
FrameworkElement source = element as FrameworkElement;
source.SetBinding(AutomationProperties.NameProperty, new Binding
{
Path = new PropertyPath("Content.artist"),
RelativeSource = new RelativeSource() { Mode = RelativeSourceMode.Self }
});
AutomationProperties.SetHelpText(source, "Navigate to artist info page.");
}
}
Then you can use MyList instead of ListView and there is no need to set AutomationProperties.Name and AutomationProperties.HelpText in Grid any more. For more info, please see XAML accessibility sample.
I want to know is it possible to bind two values a AutomationProperties.Name?
UWP has no multibinding support out of the box. But if the ArtistName and songName come form one model or view model, then we can use a Converter to achieve this like:
public class AutomationPropertiesConverter : IValueConverter
{
public object Convert(object value, Type targetType, object parameter, string language)
{
//Suppose ArtistName and songName are the properties of Song class
var song = (Song)value;
return $"{song?.ArtistName} - {song?.songName}";
}
public object ConvertBack(object value, Type targetType, object parameter, string language)
{
throw new NotImplementedException();
}
}
And use the Converter like:
public class MyList : ListView
{
protected override void PrepareContainerForItemOverride(DependencyObject element, object item)
{
base.PrepareContainerForItemOverride(element, item);
FrameworkElement source = element as FrameworkElement;
//Suppose Song class is the DataType of the DataTemplate
source.SetBinding(AutomationProperties.NameProperty, new Binding
{
Path = new PropertyPath("Content"),
RelativeSource = new RelativeSource() { Mode = RelativeSourceMode.Self },
Converter = new AutomationPropertiesConverter()
});
AutomationProperties.SetHelpText(source, "Navigate to artist info page.");
}
}