dotnet/wpf · error · ArgumentException

SR.CollectionView_WrongType

Error message

SR.CollectionView_WrongType

What it means

ViewManager.RegisterViewAsync (GetViewRecord) throws this ArgumentException when the caller passes a collectionViewType that is not a type implementing ICollectionView. WPF requires every view it manages to be an ICollectionView; honoring an arbitrary type is impossible.

Solutions

  1. Pass a Type assignable to ICollectionView, e.g. typeof(ListCollectionView) or typeof(BindingListCollectionView)
  2. If you need a custom view, implement ICollectionView (usually via CollectionView) and pass that type
  3. Check the value passed as collectionViewType at the call site before invoking the binding/view API

Example fix

// before
viewManager.GetViewRecord(collection, typeof(object), true, true);
// after
viewManager.GetViewRecord(collection, typeof(ListCollectionView), true, true);
Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

if (!typeof(System.ComponentModel.ICollectionView).IsAssignableFrom(collectionViewType)) throw new ArgumentException($"{collectionViewType.Name} must implement ICollectionView");

Type guard

static bool IsValidViewType(Type t) => t != null && typeof(System.ComponentModel.ICollectionView).IsAssignableFrom(t);

Try / catch

try { var rec = GetViewRecord(col, viewType, ...); } catch (ArgumentException ex) when (ex.Message.Contains("ICollectionView")) { viewType = typeof(ListCollectionView); }

Prevention

When it happens

Trigger: Calling BindingOperations.GetView / ViewManager.GetViewRecord (e.g. via a CollectionViewSource.View or custom binding) with a collectionViewType parameter that does not derive from ICollectionView, such as typeof(object) or a custom non-view collection wrapper type.

Common situations: Custom markup extensions or third-party collection frameworks registering a wrong view type; copy-pasted code where the type parameter was changed to a base class; typos passing the collection's type instead of the view type.

Understand the failure class

Background: "Must be a positive integer", "Invalid value", "Unsupported": the invalid-argument-value error family, when a library rejects the value you pass — this error's family across 35 libraries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of dotnet/wpf@81131a70a4 (2026-09-14). Data as JSON: /api/errors/9fa93ae639211b6c. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at src/Microsoft.DotNet.Wpf/src/PresentationFramework/MS/Internal/Data/ViewManager.cs:579

                        else
                            icv = new ListCollectionView(il);
                    }
                    else
                    {
                        // collection is not IList, wrap it
                        IEnumerable ie = collection as IEnumerable;
                        if (ie != null)
                        {
                            icv = new EnumerableCollectionView(ie);
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
            else
            {
                // caller specified a type for the view.  Try to honor it.
                if (!typeof(ICollectionView).IsAssignableFrom(collectionViewType))
                    throw new ArgumentException(SR.Format(SR.CollectionView_WrongType, collectionViewType.Name));

                // if collection is IListSource, get its list first (bug 1023903)
                object arg = ilsList ?? collection;

                try
                {
                    icv = Activator.CreateInstance(collectionViewType,
                                    System.Reflection.BindingFlags.CreateInstance, null,
                                    new object[1] { arg }, null) as ICollectionView;
                }
                catch (MissingMethodException e)
                {
                    throw new ArgumentException(SR.Format(SR.CollectionView_ViewTypeInsufficient,
                                    collectionViewType.Name, collection.GetType()), e);
                }
            }

            // if we got a view, add it to the tables

View on GitHub (pinned to 81131a70a4)