VS 2019 generates AllowNull for struct IEquatable - visual-studio-2019

I created a struct that I'm going to use as a key of a Dictionary like so:
public struct PairKey : IEquatable<PairKey>
{
When I use visual studio to "Implement Method", it generates an empty Equals method that has an [AllowNull] attribute for the parameter.
public bool Equals([AllowNull] PairKey other)
{
throw new NotImplementedException();
}
I'm assuming this doesn't make sense for a struct parameter. Is this a bug in the code generator and is it safe to remove the AllowNull in this instance?
I'm using VS 2019, version 16.3.8.

Related

Discovering Generic Controllers in ASP.NET Core

I am trying to create a generic controller like this:
[Route("api/[controller]")]
public class OrdersController<T> : Controller where T : IOrder
{
[HttpPost("{orderType}")]
public async Task<IActionResult> Create(
[FromBody] Order<T> order)
{
//....
}
}
I intend for the {orderType} URI segment variable to control the generic type of the controller. I'm experimenting with both a custom IControllerFactory and IControllerActivator, but nothing is working. Every time I try to send a request, I get a 404 response. The code for my custom controller factory (and activator) is never executed.
Evidently the problem is that ASP.NET Core expects valid controllers to end with the suffix "Controller", but my generic controller instead has the (reflection based) suffix "Controller`1". Thus the attribute-based routes it declares are going unnoticed.
In ASP.NET MVC, at least in its early days, the DefaultControllerFactory was responsible for discovering all the available controllers. It tested for the "Controller" suffix:
The MVC framework provides a default controller factory (aptly named DefaultControllerFactory) that will search through all the assemblies in an appdomain looking for all types that implement IController and whose name ends with "Controller."
Apparently, in ASP.NET Core, the controller factory no longer has this responsibility. As I stated earlier, my custom controller factory executes for "normal" controllers, but is never invoked for generic controllers. So there is something else, earlier in the evaluation process, which governs the discovery of controllers.
Does anyone know what "service" interface is responsible for that discovery? I don't know the customization interface or "hook" point.
And does anyone know of a way to make ASP.NET Core "dump" the names of all the controllers it discovered? It would be great to write a unit test that verifies that any custom controller discovery I expect is indeed working.
Incidentally, if there is a "hook" which allows generic controller names to be discovered, it implies that route substitutions must also be normalized:
[Route("api/[controller]")]
public class OrdersController<T> : Controller { }
Regardless of what value for T is given, the [controller] name must remain a simple base-generic name. Using the above code as an example, the [controller] value would be "Orders". It would not be "Orders`1" or "OrdersOfSomething".
Note
This problem could also be solved by explicitly declaring the closed-generic types, instead of generating them at run time:
public class VanityOrdersController : OrdersController<Vanity> { }
public class ExistingOrdersController : OrdersController<Existing> { }
The above works, but it produces URI paths that I don't like:
~/api/VanityOrders
~/api/ExistingOrders
What I had actually wanted was this:
~/api/Orders/Vanity
~/api/Orders/Existing
Another adjustment gets me the URI's I'm looking for:
[Route("api/Orders/Vanity", Name ="VanityLink")]
public class VanityOrdersController : OrdersController<Vanity> { }
[Route("api/Orders/Existing", Name = "ExistingLink")]
public class ExistingOrdersController : OrdersController<Existing> { }
However, although this appears to work, it does not really answer my question. I would like to use my generic controller directly at run-time, rather than indirectly (via manual coding) at compile-time. Fundamentally, this means I need ASP.NET Core to be able to "see" or "discover" my generic controller, despite the fact that its run-time reflection name does not end with the expected "Controller" suffix.
What happens by default
During the controller discovery process, your open generic Controller<T> class will be among the candidate types. But the default implementation of the IApplicationFeatureProvider<ControllerFeature> interface, DefaultControllerTypeProvider, will eliminate your Controller<T> because it rules out any class with open generic parameters.
Why overriding IsController() doesn't work
Replacing the default implementation of the IApplicationFeatureProvider<ControllerFeature> interface, in order to override DefaultControllerTypeProvider.IsController(), will not work. Because you don't actually want the discovery process to accept your open generic controller (Controller<T>) as a valid controller. It is not a valid controller per se, and the controller factory wouldn't know how to instantiate it anyway, because it wouldn't know what T is supposed to be.
What needs to be done
1. Generate closed controller types
Before the controller discovery process even starts, you need to generate closed generic types from your open generic controller, using reflection. Here, with two sample entity types, named Account and Contact:
Type[] entityTypes = new[] { typeof(Account), typeof(Contact) };
TypeInfo[] closedControllerTypes = entityTypes
.Select(et => typeof(Controller<>).MakeGenericType(et))
.Select(cct => cct.GetTypeInfo())
.ToArray();
We now have closed TypeInfos for Controller<Account> and Controller<Contact>.
2. Add them to an application part and register it
Application parts are usually wrapped around CLR assemblies, but we can implement a custom application part providing a collection of types generated at runtime. We simply need to have it implement the IApplicationPartTypeProvider interface. Therefore, our runtime-generated controller types will enter the controller discovery process like any other built-in type would.
The custom application part:
public class GenericControllerApplicationPart : ApplicationPart, IApplicationPartTypeProvider
{
public GenericControllerApplicationPart(IEnumerable<TypeInfo> typeInfos)
{
Types = typeInfos;
}
public override string Name => "GenericController";
public IEnumerable<TypeInfo> Types { get; }
}
Registration in MVC services (Startup.cs):
services.AddMvc()
.ConfigureApplicationPartManager(apm =>
apm.ApplicationParts.Add(new GenericControllerApplicationPart(closedControllerTypes)));
As long as your controller derives from the built-in Controller class, there is no actual need to override the IsController method of the ControllerFeatureProvider. Because your generic controller inherits the [Controller] attribute from ControllerBase, it will be accepted as a controller in the discovery process regardless of its somewhat bizarre name ("Controller`1").
3. Override the controller name in the application model
Nevertheless, "Controller`1" is not a good name for routing purposes. You want each of your closed generic controllers to have independent RouteValues. Here, we will replace the name of the controller with that of the entity type, to match what would happen with two independent "AccountController" and "ContactController" types.
The model convention attribute:
public class GenericControllerAttribute : Attribute, IControllerModelConvention
{
public void Apply(ControllerModel controller)
{
Type entityType = controller.ControllerType.GetGenericArguments()[0];
controller.ControllerName = entityType.Name;
}
}
Applied to the controller class:
[GenericController]
public class Controller<T> : Controller
{
}
Conclusion
This solution stays close to the overall ASP.NET Core architecture and, among other things, you will keep full visibility of your controllers through the API Explorer (think "Swagger").
It has been tested successfully with both conventional and attribute-based routing.
Short Answer
Implement IApplicationFeatureProvider<ControllerFeature>.
Question and Answer
Does anyone know what "service" interface is responsible for [discovering all available controllers]?
The ControllerFeatureProvider is responsible for that.
And does anyone know of a way to make ASP.NET Core "dump" the names of all the controllers it discovered?
Do that within ControllerFeatureProvider.IsController(TypeInfo typeInfo).
Example
MyControllerFeatureProvider.cs
using System;
using System.Linq;
using System.Reflection;
using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.Controllers;
namespace CustomControllerNames
{
public class MyControllerFeatureProvider : ControllerFeatureProvider
{
protected override bool IsController(TypeInfo typeInfo)
{
var isController = base.IsController(typeInfo);
if (!isController)
{
string[] validEndings = new[] { "Foobar", "Controller`1" };
isController = validEndings.Any(x =>
typeInfo.Name.EndsWith(x, StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase));
}
Console.WriteLine($"{typeInfo.Name} IsController: {isController}.");
return isController;
}
}
}
Register it during startup.
public void ConfigureServices(IServiceCollection services)
{
services
.AddMvcCore()
.ConfigureApplicationPartManager(manager =>
{
manager.FeatureProviders.Add(new MyControllerFeatureProvider());
});
}
Here is some example output.
MyControllerFeatureProvider IsController: False.
OrdersFoobar IsController: True.
OrdersFoobarController`1 IsController: True.
Program IsController: False.
<>c__DisplayClass0_0 IsController: False.
<>c IsController: False.
And here is a demo on GitHub. Best of luck.
Edit - Adding Versions
.NET Version
> dnvm install "1.0.0-rc2-20221" -runtime coreclr -architecture x64 -os win -unstable
NuGet.Config
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<configuration>
<packageSources>
<clear/>
<add key="AspNetCore"
value="https://www.myget.org/F/aspnetvnext/api/v3/index.json" />
</packageSources>
</configuration>
.NET CLI
> dotnet --info
.NET Command Line Tools (1.0.0-rc2-002429)
Product Information:
Version: 1.0.0-rc2-002429
Commit Sha: 612088cfa8
Runtime Environment:
OS Name: Windows
OS Version: 10.0.10586
OS Platform: Windows
RID: win10-x64
Restore, Build, and Run
> dotnet restore
> dotnet build
> dotnet run
Edit - Notes on RC1 vs RC2
This might not be possible is RC1, because DefaultControllerTypeProvider.IsController() is marked as internal.
Application Feature Providers examine application parts and provide features for those parts. There are built-in feature providers for the following MVC features:
Controllers
Metadata Reference
Tag Helpers
View Components
Feature providers inherit from IApplicationFeatureProvider, where T is the type of the feature. You can implement your own feature providers for any of MVC's feature types listed above. The order of feature providers in the ApplicationPartManager.FeatureProviders collection can be important, since later providers can react to actions taken by previous providers.
By default, ASP.NET Core MVC ignores generic controllers (for example, SomeController). This sample uses a controller feature provider that runs after the default provider and adds generic controller instances for a specified list of types (defined in EntityTypes.Types):
public class GenericControllerFeatureProvider : IApplicationFeatureProvider<ControllerFeature>
{
public void PopulateFeature(IEnumerable<ApplicationPart> parts, ControllerFeature feature)
{
// This is designed to run after the default ControllerTypeProvider,
// so the list of 'real' controllers has already been populated.
foreach (var entityType in EntityTypes.Types)
{
var typeName = entityType.Name + "Controller";
if (!feature.Controllers.Any(t => t.Name == typeName))
{
// There's no 'real' controller for this entity, so add the generic version.
var controllerType = typeof(GenericController<>)
.MakeGenericType(entityType.AsType()).GetTypeInfo();
feature.Controllers.Add(controllerType);
}
}
}
}
The entity types:
public static class EntityTypes
{
public static IReadOnlyList<TypeInfo> Types => new List<TypeInfo>()
{
typeof(Sprocket).GetTypeInfo(),
typeof(Widget).GetTypeInfo(),
};
public class Sprocket { }
public class Widget { }
}
The feature provider is added in Startup:
services.AddMvc()
.ConfigureApplicationPartManager(p =>
p.FeatureProviders.Add(new GenericControllerFeatureProvider()));
By default, the generic controller names used for routing would be of the form GenericController`1[Widget] instead of Widget. The following attribute is used to modify the name to correspond to the generic type used by the controller:
using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.ApplicationModels;
using System;
namespace AppPartsSample
{
// Used to set the controller name for routing purposes. Without this convention the
// names would be like 'GenericController`1[Widget]' instead of 'Widget'.
//
// Conventions can be applied as attributes or added to MvcOptions.Conventions.
[AttributeUsage(AttributeTargets.Class, AllowMultiple = false, Inherited = true)]
public class GenericControllerNameConvention : Attribute, IControllerModelConvention
{
public void Apply(ControllerModel controller)
{
if (controller.ControllerType.GetGenericTypeDefinition() !=
typeof(GenericController<>))
{
// Not a GenericController, ignore.
return;
}
var entityType = controller.ControllerType.GenericTypeArguments[0];
controller.ControllerName = entityType.Name;
}
}
}
The GenericController class:
using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc;
namespace AppPartsSample
{
[GenericControllerNameConvention] // Sets the controller name based on typeof(T).Name
public class GenericController<T> : Controller
{
public IActionResult Index()
{
return Content($"Hello from a generic {typeof(T).Name} controller.");
}
}
}
Sample: Generic controller feature
To get a list of controllers in RC2, just get ApplicationPartManager from DependencyInjection and do this:
ApplicationPartManager appManager = <FROM DI>;
var controllerFeature = new ControllerFeature();
appManager.PopulateFeature(controllerFeature);
foreach(var controller in controllerFeature.Controllers)
{
...
}

Will marking swift extension public change the property in the extension to be implicitly public or internal?

So in Apple documentation:
Any type members added in an extension have the same default access level as type members declared in the original type being extended. If you extend a public or internal type, any new type members you add will have a default access level of internal.
Giving a sub class of UIView extension:
extension UIViewSubClass
{
var helloWorld : String {
get {
return "helloWorld"
}
}
}
This will mark helloWorld as internal, I have no problem, and I cannot see it in my Objective-C based project.
However, if I mark the extension to be public:
public extension UIViewSubClass
{
var helloWorld : String {
get {
return "helloWorld"
}
}
}
Now helloWorld apprears in my Objective-C based code, which means it is marked as public.
However, I don't see Apple mentions this, did it?
I just saw the documentation said a public class will still has implicit internal level.
public class SomePublicClass { // explicitly public class
public var somePublicProperty = 0 // explicitly public class member
var someInternalProperty = 0 // implicitly internal class member
private func somePrivateMethod() {} // explicitly private class member
}
Marking public for extension seems have different effect than marking a Class definition. This makes me confused.
Could someone help me, is this supposed to be so, or this is a sort of swift bug? I am with swift 2.1 and Xcode 7.2
Answer: Yes, placing access level modifiers (in your case, public, specifically) in front of extensions modify the default access level of all new types in the scope of that extension.
Note that the modifier does not affect the access level of the class/struct/etc being extended (only it's members. However, there are things that ought to be considered, as I will discuss below.
In this discussion, I'll post a few important facts regarding regarding access levels in Swift. All these are from the Swift Language Guide - Access Control - Access Levels.
Let's first assure what you've already stated:
All entities in your code (with a few specific exceptions, as
described later in this chapter) have a default access level of
internal if you do not specify an explicit access level yourself.
OK, this goes in line with what you've quoted in you question: any new type members, whether in a class or structure definition, will have a default access level of internal.
Now, lets look at the access level modifier that you can add in front of extensions:
You can extend a class, structure, or enumeration in any access
context in which the class, structure, or enumeration is available.
Any type members added in an extension have the same default access
level as type members declared in the original type being extended. If
you extend a public or internal type, any new type members you add
will have a default access level of internal. If you extend a private
type, any new type members you add will have a default access level of
private.
Alternatively, you can mark an extension with an explicit access level
modifier (for example, private extension) to set a new default access
level for all members defined within the extension. This new default
can still be overridden within the extension for individual type
members.
This sorts things out. We look at your example, and assume that your class UIViewSubClass has access level public (or compile time error, se below):
/* no access level modifier: default access level will be 'internal' */
extension UIViewSubClass
{
// default access level used: internal
var helloWorld : String {
get {
return "helloWorld"
}
}
}
// modify default access level to public
public extension UIViewSubClass
{
// default access level used: public
var helloWorld : String {
get {
return "helloWorld"
}
}
}
With the discussion above in mind, it's expected that your helloWorld in you public extension ... is marked as internal, as this is, in this context, the default access level. In the context of extensions, access level modifiers work differently than when applied to types.
Finally, we should point out that using a public access modifier when extending a non-public class will yield a compile time error in Swift. So in your case above:
If UISubViewClass is an internal or a private class, then the public extension ... on the class will yield an compile time error.
If UISubViewClass is a public class, then adding the public extension will be redundant as the default access modifier of a public class is already, by definition, public.
I'd say that the error described above is not really an error to avoid runtime errors, but rather to avoid redundant (and confusing) code: public member types or private or internal classes will never make use of itspublic` access level.
class MyImplicitlyInternalClass {
private var myExplicitlyPrivateVar = 0
var myImplicitlyInternalVar = 0
public var myExplicitlyPublicVar = 0 // warning, see (Note 1) below
// redundant 'public': can never be accessed publicly
// myExplicitlyPublicVar will behave as 'internal'
}
public extension MyImplicitlyInternalClass { // error, see (Note 2)
var myNewVarIsInternal : Int { get { return 0 } }
}
/* (Note 1) Compile type warning:
"Declaring a public var for an internal class."
(Note 2) Compile time error:
"Extension of internal class cannot be declared public."
Summary: in theory, these two above are the same type of
'faults', but only the latter is flagged as and error. */
Hence, it only ever makes sense to use the access level modifiers on extensions to make the default access level more restrictive, i.e., using internal extension ... of a public class, or private extension or an internal class.

Cannot get assembly version for footer

I'm using the automatic build versioning mentioned in this question (not the selected answer but the answer that uses the [assembly: AssemblyVersion("1.0.*")] technique). I'm doing this in the footer of my Site.Master file in MVC 2. My code for doing this is as follows:
<div id="footer">
webmaster#foo.com - Copyright © 2005-<%= DateTime.Today.Year.ToString() %>, foo LLC. All Rights Reserved.
- Version: <%= Assembly.GetEntryAssembly().GetName().Version.ToString() %>
</div>
The exception I get is a Object reference not set to an instance of an object because GetEntryAssembly() returns NULL. My other options don't work either. GetCallingAssembly() always returns "4.0.0.0" and GetExecutingAssembly() always returns "0.0.0.0". When I go look at my DLLs, everything is versioning as I would expect. But I cannot figure out how to access it to display in my footer!!
That's because Assembly.GetEntryAssembly() is returning null: there is no "entry" assembly in an ASP.NET site (because the .NET framework is hosted in the w3wp.exe process). Assembly.GetEntryAssembly() is used to get the .exe assembly that you launched from (usually in a console or Windows application)
The reason Assembly.GetAssembly(this.GetType()) is returning an assembly with version "0.0.0.0" is because ASP.NET compiles your Site.Master file into a temporary assembly under your "ASP.NET Temporary Files" folder. this is a reference to the "generated" class.
Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly() is basically the same as Assembly.GetAssembly(this.GetType()) (except it also works when there is no "this" (e.g. in static methods).
The best way would be use explicity use a type that you know exists in the assembly you're after. As an example, I assume your "Site.Master" has a code-behind file that is compiled into the assembly. You can use that instead:
Assembly.GetAssembly(typeof(Site)).GetName().Version.ToString()
(assuming the name of the class is Site)
Just as another solution that people may be interested in, I've concocted these helpers to help with this problem:
public static class HtmlHelperExtensions
{
private static string _CachedCurrentVersionDate;
/// <summary>
/// Return the Current Version from the AssemblyInfo.cs file.
/// </summary>
public static string CurrentVersion(this HtmlHelper helper)
{
try
{
var version = Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().GetName().Version;
return version.ToString();
}
catch
{
return "?.?.?.?";
}
}
public static string CurrentVersionDate(this HtmlHelper helper)
{
try
{
if (_CachedCurrentVersionDate == null)
{
// Ignores concurrency issues - assuming not locking this is faster than
// locking it, and we don't care if it's set twice to the same value.
var version = Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().GetName().Version;
var ticksForDays = TimeSpan.TicksPerDay * version.Build; // days since 1 January 2000
var ticksForSeconds = TimeSpan.TicksPerSecond * 2 * version.Revision; // seconds since midnight, (multiply by 2 to get original)
_CachedCurrentVersionDate = new DateTime(2000, 1, 1).Add(new TimeSpan(ticksForDays + ticksForSeconds)).ToString();
}
return _CachedCurrentVersionDate;
}
catch
{
return "Unknown Version Date";
}
}
}
This allows consumption as follows in your footer:
Version: <%= Html.CurrentVersion() %> from <%= Html.CurrentVersionDate() %>
You can:
e.g in your Application_Start method in Global.asax file add
protected void Application_Start(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
HttpContext.Current.Application.Add("Version", System.Reflection.Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().GetName().Version.ToString());
}
in HTML show it by
<div><% =HttpContext.Current.Application["Version"].ToString() %></div>
ALSO Change Assembly version to 1.0.0.* by going to
- Project properties > Application > Assembly Information and assembly version is shown as 1.0.0.0 - change it to 1.0.0.*
this will give you some versioning
If you already have Global.asax in place, it could be a good place to store version globally once.
Global.asax.cs:
public class Global : HttpApplication
{
public static readonly Version Version = Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().GetName().Version;
}
Your view:
<div>- Version: #YourNamespace.Global.Version</div>

Accessing public readonly members of structs in external assemblies

I'm getting a strange error when I use F# to read a public readonly member of a struct type defined in a C# assembly.
// C#: compile to Lib.dll
namespace Lib
{
public class MyClass { public readonly int ReadonlyFoo; }
public struct MyStruct
{
public readonly int ReadonlyFoo;
public int WriteableFoo;
}
}
// F#: compile to Client.exe
open Lib
let myClass = new MyClass()
printfn "MyClass.ReadonlyFoo = %x" myClass.ReadonlyFoo
let myStruct = new MyStruct()
printfn "MyStruct.WriteableFoo = %x" myStruct.WriteableFoo
printfn "MyStruct.ReadonlyFoo = %x" myStruct.ReadonlyFoo
When I compile Client.exe with F# 1.9.6.16, the last line gives the error:
"The address of the variable 'copyOfStruct' may not be used at this point"
The web is useless as of the time of this writing. It seems odd that one can read an immutable member of a class, and one can read a mutable member of a struct, but one can't read an immutable member of a struct. A workaround is easy enough, but I'm curious: is this a bug in the compiler?
Edit: I submitted a bug report to fsbugs#microsoft.com
Normally when people say 'it looks like a bug in the compiler' that is code for 'I don't know what I'm doing'. In this situation however, it does look to be like a bug.
The F# compiler makes a copy of structs behind the scenes in case they get mutated. (This is why even if you define a struct with mutable fields you must attribute the instance of that struct as mutable before you can update its fields.) It appears that the special magic going on behind the scenes forgets about 'readonly' struct fields.
While the internet and StackOverflow are a great place to ask for help about F#-related issues, please do let the F# team know about any bugs you find by emailing fsbugs#microsoft.com.

Silverlight DataGridColumn AttachedProperties

I am attempting to create an AttachedProperty for a DataGridColumn within Silverlight 3.0 and I am having some issues.
Here is the AttachedProperty:
public class DataGridColumnHelper
{
public static readonly DependencyProperty HeaderProperty =
DependencyProperty.RegisterAttached("Header", typeof(string), typeof(DataGridColumnHelper),
new PropertyMetadata(OnHeaderPropertyChanged));
private static void OnHeaderPropertyChanged(DependencyObject d, DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs e)
{
string header = GetHeader(d);
var dataGridColumn = d as DataGridColumn;
if (dataGridColumn == null)
{
return;
}
dataGridColumn.Header = GetHeader(dataGridColumn);
}
public static string GetHeader(DependencyObject obj)
{
return (string)obj.GetValue(HeaderProperty);
}
public static void SetHeader(DependencyObject obj, string value)
{
obj.SetValue(HeaderProperty, value);
}
}
As you can see it is really simple, I am trying to overcome the limitation that the Header Property in the DataGridColumn class cannot be bound.
This XAML works as expected...
<Controls:DataGridTextColumn Binding="{Binding OwnerName}"
HeaderStyle="{StaticResource DataGridColumnHeaderStyle}"
Behaviors:DataGridColumnHelper.Header="User Name"/>
However this XAML throws an error...(Specifically: {System.Windows.Markup.XamlParseException: AG_E_PARSER_PROPERTY_NOT_FOUND [Line: 224 Position: 112]
at System.Windows.Application.LoadComponent(Object component, Uri resourceLocator)
....})
<Controls:DataGridTextColumn Binding="{Binding OwnerName}"
HeaderStyle="{StaticResource DataGridColumnHeaderStyle}"
Behaviors:DataGridColumnHelper.Header="{Binding Resources.UserNameListViewHeading, Source={StaticResource Labels}}"/>
Just for experimentation I attached this property (with the binding syntax above) to a DataGrid and checked the DataGridColumnHelper.Header property in the OnHeaderPropertyChanged method and the value was correct (and an exception wasn't thrown)
It is my understanding that the object that the AttachedProperty is attached to must be a DependencyProperty. Looking through Reflector, DataGridColumn (from which DataGridTextColumn derives) derives from DependencyProperty.
Can somebody please shed some light on this? I am trying to Localize our application, and I am having trouble with the DataGrid. I am sure I can do this in code-behind, but I am trying to avoid that.
Chris, the problem is very simple, this won't work because the DataGridTextColumn is "detached" from the Visual Tree. Your DataGridTextColumn object is rooted in the Columns collection of the DataGrid - see the indirection. So even attached properties will not work as you expect. Now there is a way to make all this work using something I'm calling Attached Bindings, see:
http://www.orktane.com/Blog/post/2009/09/29/Introducing-nRouteToolkit-for-Silverlight-(Part-I).aspx
Just remember to attach the binding properties using something that is in the VisualTree (so the Grid holding the column would do just fine.)
Hope this helps.
Try using this, im assuming UserName is a property in your viewmodel
<Controls:DataGridTextColumn Binding="{Binding OwnerName}"
HeaderStyle="{StaticResource DataGridColumnHeaderStyle}"
Behaviors:DataGridColumnHelper.Header="{Binding UserName}"/>
I cant test your scenario so my post is just an idea. Might work, might not.

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