Getting abbreviation list of a quantity

[YektaMirkan]

I am trying to bind abbreviation list of quatities to combobox itemsource property. But I am not able to do it. Because I couldn't find abbreviations property . In c# code I solved this problem with using LINQ. But now I need abbreviation list in xaml. So I can't use LINQ to get abbreviations from units. There is a way to achive this problem. Using converter class to convert units to abbreviations. But I need a base class otherwise I need to create a converter class for each unit. So these are the only ways that I could find.
What do you think about base class or abbreviation list?
Or do you have any other solution to get abbreviation list of quatities ?

[angularsen]

I don't fully understand your example, but here are some pointers that may help you out:

Example converter app:
https://github.com/angularsen/UnitsNet#example-creating-a-unit-converter-app

Pull request on XAML binding to units using value converter with some reflection code (PR discusses possibility of avoiding the reflection code):
#353

If you are able to achieve what you want with C#, then you should be able to do the same with XAML by using a view model property that calculates the combobox list content in C# and binding the XAML to it. I personally prefer this approach over complicated/specialized value converters.

Does this help?

[YektaMirkan]

I am able to get abbreviation list in xaml but I need to create a converter class for each unit. Because there isn't any base class for units. Temperature.Units.ToList().Skip(1).Select(Temperature.GetAbbreviation).ToList()
I have solved the problem in this way. But I want to create a common converter class which can convert units to abbreviations without knowing unit type. I think this problem can only be solved by using base class otherwise I need to use reflection and it costs me a lot.

[angularsen]

Right, if I understand it correctly the only approach right now is reflection if you truly must work with the quantities in a generic manner and cannot do things like:

if (value is Length) { /* get length abbreviations */ }
else if (value is Mass) { /* get mass abbreviations */ }

It's not elegant, but it works if you have a small set of quantities you expect to be used and is safer than reflection. #353 discusses a reflection approach.

I have created an issue to try to come up with a design proposal for a base type that will help things like your example and the #353 example.

Please contribute to #371 to help move this forward.

[angularsen]

Closing this in favor of #371. Help move that forward instead.