WPF how to transfer data between windows (MVVM)? - wpf

Question

I know there are a lot of similar questions and I spent two hours by now trying to implementing them but can't proceed. So the problem seems simple. When I don't have a viewmodel, I can set the datacontext to a class and it is very easy to transfer data with that class. But when there is viewmodel, I have to set the datacontext to that and can't find a way to return any value after that. I tried to implement countless solutions to the problem but it seems that they are above my skill level. Thank you so much for your help!
The important parts of my code (its a simple game which i want to save, where save is named by userinput) The first window, where I want to get data from the second window
case Key.Escape: {
Thread t = new Thread(() => {
SaveGameWindow pw = new SaveGameWindow(); //the second window
if ((pw.ShowDialog() == true) && (pw.Name != string.Empty)) //pw.Name always empty
{
ILogicSaveGame l = new LogicSaveGame();
l.Write(pw.Name, "saved_games.txt");
MessageBox.Show("game saved");
}
});
t.SetApartmentState(ApartmentState.STA);
t.Start();
XAML (from now on everything belongs to the SaveGameWindow):
<Window.Resources>
<local:SaveGameViewModel x:Key="my_viewmodel"/>
</Window.Resources>
<Grid DataContext="{StaticResource my_viewmodel}">
<TextBox Text="{Binding Name}"/> //i want to acces this in the first window
<Button Command="{Binding CloseCommand}"
Content="Save"/>
Code behind:
private readonly SaveGameViewModel vm;
public SaveGameWindow()
{
this.InitializeComponent();
this.vm = this.FindResource("my_viewmodel") as SaveGameViewModel;
if (this.vm.CloseAction == null)
{
this.vm.CloseAction = new Action(() => this.Close());
}
}
Viewmodel
public class SaveGameViewModel : ViewModelBase
{
public SaveGameViewModel()
{
this.CloseCommand = new RelayCommand(() => this.Close());
}
public string Name { get; set; }
public ICommand CloseCommand { get; private set; }
public Action CloseAction { get; set; }
private void Close()
{
this.CloseAction();
}
}
I use galasoft mvvmlightlibs

Answer 1

There are many solutions to this problem. The simplest solution is to use a shared view model for both windows and data binding. Since both windows would share the same DataContext, both have access to the same data or model instance by simply referencing their DataContext property.
But if you prefer to have individual view models, you would choose a different solution.
Solution 1
If you want to use a dedicated view model for each window, you can always use composition and make e.g. an instance SaveGameViewModel a member of MainWindowViewModel. Any class that has access to MainWindowViewModel will also have access to the SaveGameViewModel and its API, either directly or via delegating properties.
This example uses direct access by exposing SaveGameViewModel as a public property of MainWindowViewModel:
SaveGameViewModel.cs
public class SaveGameViewModel : INotifyPropertyChanged
{
private string name;
public string Name
{
get => this.name;
set
{
this.name = value;
OnPropertyChanged();
}
}
public event PropertyChangedEventHandler PropertyChanged;
protected virtual void OnPropertyChanged([CallerMemberName] string propertyName = null)
{
this.PropertyChanged?.Invoke(this, new PropertyChangedEventArgs(propertyName));
}
}
MainWindowViewModel.cs
public class MainWindowViewModel : INotifyPropertyChanged
{
public SaveGameViewModel SaveGameViewModel { get; set; }
// Allow to create an instance using XAML
public MainWindowViewModel() {}
// Allow to create an instance using C#
public MainWindowViewModel(SaveGameViewModel saveGameViewModel)
=> this.SaveGameViewModel = saveGameViewModel;
}
App.xaml
<Application>
<Application.Resources>
<MainWindowViewModel x:Key="MainWindowViewModel">
<MainWindowViewModel.SaveGameViewModel>
<SaveGameViewModel />
</MainWindowViewModel.SaveGameViewModel>
</MainWindowViewModel>
</Application.Resources>
</Application>
SaveGameWindow.xaml
<Window DataContext="{Binding Source={StaticResource MainWindowViewModel}, Path=SaveGameViewModel}">
<TextBox Text="{Binding Name}" />
<Window>
MainWindow.xaml
<Window DataContext="{StaticResource MainWindowViewModel}">
<Window>
MainWindow.xaml.cs
partial class MainWindow : Window
{
private void OnKeyPressed(object sender, KeyEventArgs e)
{
if (e.Key == Key.Escape)
{
var mainWindowViewModel = this.DataContext as MainWindowViewModel;
string saveGameName = mainWindowViewModel.SaveGameViewModel.Name;
}
}
}
Solution 2
Since you are just showing a dialog, you can store the current instance of the SaveGameViewModel or its values of interest after the dialog has been closed:
MainWindow.xaml.cs
partial class MainWindow : Window
{
private SaveGameViewModel CurrentSaveGameViewModel { get; set; }
private bool IsSaveGameValid { get; set; }
private void ShowDialog_OnSaveButtonClick(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
var saveGameDialog = new SaveGameWindow();
this.IsSaveGameValid = saveGameDialog.ShowDialog ?? false;
this.CurrentSaveGameViewModel = saveGameDialog.DataContext as SaveGameViewModel;
}
private void OnKeyPressed(object sender, KeyEventArgs e)
{
if (e.Key == Key.Escape && this.IsSaveGameValid)
{
string saveGameName = this.CurrentSaveGameViewModel.Name;
}
}
}
MainWindow.xaml
<Window>
<Window.DataContext>
<MainWindowViewModel />
</Window.DataContext>
<Window>
SaveGameWindow.xaml
<Window>
<Window.DataContext>
<SaveGameViewModel />
</Window.DataContext>
<TextBox Text="{Binding Name}" />
<Window>