Data Binding doesn't work in xaml - wpf

I try to use binding to display Hi in the Text content.
However, when clicking the button, it doesn't work.
Could someone help me to solve the problem?
Thanks.
1.XAML CODE :
<Window x:Class="Wpftest.binding.Window0"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
Title="Window0" Height="300" Width="300">
<Grid>
<TextBox x:Name="textBox2" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="168"
Text="{Binding Source= stu, Path= Name, Mode=TwoWay}"/>
</Grid>
</Window>
2.Class :
namespace Wpftest.binding.Model
{
public class student : INotifyPropertyChanged
{
public event PropertyChangedEventHandler PropertyChanged;
private string name;
public string Name
{
get { return name; }
set { name = value;
if(this.PropertyChanged != null)
{
this.PropertyChanged.Invoke(this, new
PropertyChangedEventArgs("Name"));
}
}
}
}
}
3.XAML.cs:
namespace Wpftest.binding
{
public partial class Window0 : Window
{
student stu;
public Window0()
{
InitializeComponent();
stu = new student();
}
private void button_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
stu.Name += "Hi!";
}
}
}

There are many ways to achieve what you need; the correct method depends very much on what style of application you want to create. I'll demonstrate two methods that will require minimal changes from your supplied example:
Method 1
Set the DataContext to stu and bind to the Name property.
XAML.cs
private student stu;
public Window0()
{
InitializeComponent();
stu = new student();
DataContext = stu;
}
XAML code
<TextBox Text="{Binding Path=Name, Mode=TwoWay}"/>
Method 2
Generally you will set the DataContext to some object other than the Window (e.g. the ViewModel if you are following the MVVM pattern), but sometimes you may need to bind a control to some property of the Window. In this case the DataContext can't be used, but you can still bind to a property of the Window by using RelativeSource. See below:
XAML.cs
// note this must be a property, not a field
public student stu { get; set; }
public Window0()
{
InitializeComponent();
stu = new student();
}
XAML code
<TextBox Text="{Binding Path=stu.Name, Mode=TwoWay,
RelativeSource={RelativeSource FindAncestor, AncestorType={x:Type Window}}}"/>
Hint: if you are having trouble with WPF data binding, then it often helps to look at the debugger output window to see the binding trace messages. And debugging can be further enhanced by adding this namespace to the Window element
xmlns:diag="clr-namespace:System.Diagnostics;assembly=WindowsBase"
and then setting the TraceLevel e.g.
<TextBox Text="{Binding Source=stu, diag:PresentationTraceSources.TraceLevel=High}"/>

Basically you need to set DataContext property to your Window.
For example:
public MainWindow()
{
DataContext=new YourViewModel();
}
DataContext of Window is a way to communicate between View(XAML) and ViewModel(C# code)
In addition, you can add DataContext in xaml:
<Window.DataContext>
<local:YourViewModel/>
</Window.DataContext>
Also, instead of handling Click event, you should use Command property of Button. Example can be seen here.

Related

How to show floating virtual keyboard (user control) in MainWindow when an input control (from another user control) has been set to focus in WPF?

I have been doing development work in WPF application which uses an MVVM pattern for a couple of days now. I'm very new to WPF and MVVM pattern as well.
In my scenario, I have a user control view (named EPayView.xaml) which has a textbox that will accept a phone number. The view has a corresponding viewmodel (named EPayViewModel.cs). In the MainWindow.xaml, I have a user control (floating virtual keyboard) which is derived from namespace controls WpfKb.Controls. The MainWindow.xaml also has a corresponding viewmodel (named MainViewModel.cs)
Having said that, I have done research on how to use attached dependency properties which lead me to this solution. Set focus on textbox in WPF from view model (C#) which I believe this is where I could bind the property IsFocused in the textbox of EPayView.xaml.
Below are the codes that I have already incorporated in my solution.
EpayView.xaml (textbox xaml markup)
<TextBox Text="{Binding PhoneNo}" Grid.Row="5" Margin="10,0,10,0" VerticalContentAlignment="Center" FontSize="12" x:Name="Email" behaviors:FocusExtension.IsFocused="{Binding IsFocused, Mode=TwoWay}"/>
MainWindow.xaml (xaml markup)
<Window x:Class="SmartPole540.View.MainWindow"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
xmlns:controls="clr-namespace:WpfKb.Controls;assembly=SmartPole.WpfKb"
xmlns:wpf="clr-namespace:WebEye.Controls.Wpf;assembly=WebEye.Controls.Wpf.WebCameraControl"
xmlns:utilities="clr-namespace:SoltaLabs.Avalon.Core.Utilities;assembly=SoltaLabs.Avalon.Core"
xmlns:userControls="clr-namespace:SoltaLabs.Avalon.View.Core.UserControls;assembly=SoltaLabs.Avalon.View.Core"
xmlns:square="clr-namespace:SmartPole.View.Square;assembly=SmartPole.View"
xmlns:view="clr-namespace:SmartPole.View;assembly=SmartPole.View"
Title="CitiPulse"
WindowStartupLocation="Manual"
PreviewMouseLeftButtonDown="Window_PreviewMouseLeftButtonDown"
Name="mainWindow">
<userControls:RollPanel.BottomContent>
<square:SquareView Canvas.Top="1010" DataContext="{Binding DataContext.SquareViewModel,
RelativeSource={RelativeSource Mode=FindAncestor, AncestorType={x:Type userControls:RollPanel}}}"/>
</userControls:RollPanel.BottomContent>
<controls:FloatingTouchScreenKeyboard
x:Name="floatKb" Width="500" Height="250" PlacementTarget="{Binding ElementName=MainGrid}"
Placement="Center" AreAnimationsEnabled="False" Visibility="Visible"
IsOpen="{Binding IsChecked, ElementName=kbButton}"/>
</Window>
In the above code, the user control RollPanel.BottomContent host the EPayView.xaml view inside another view which is RollPanel.xaml
EpayViewModel.cs contains the static class FocusExtension for the IsFocused attached property (refer to this solution - Set focus on textbox in WPF from view model (C#)). And, EPayViewModel.cs already implemented INotifyPropertyChanged which is wrapped inside a concrete class ObservableObject that accepts type of T. This is also same with MainViewModel.cs
public class EPayViewModel : ObservableObject<EPayViewModel>, IPaymentViewModel, IActiveViewModel
{ ... }
public class MainViewModel : ObservableObject<MainViewModel>
{ ... }
As such, my goal is that when the textbox in EPayView.xaml has the focus, the floating virtual keyboard (floatKb) in the MainWindow.xaml will be shown.
I'm stuck on how to proceed (I was thinking if a call to FocusExtension static class in EPayViewModel inside my MainViewModel.cs will suffice?), any help is greatly appreciated.
Cheers,
As AnjumSKhan already said, to react to some event in a MVVM way, you'll have to use Command. Command can be called within an EventTrigger, you will need to add a Reference to System.Windows.Interactvity component.
Let's assume you have a simple View and View Model and you need to show this View when the TextBox in a MainWindow got focus.
View (NewWindow.xaml)
<Window x:Class="My.NewWindow"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
Title="NewWindow" Height="300" Width="300">
<TextBlock Text="{Binding Message}"/>
View Model
public class NewWindowViewModel
{
private string _message;
public string Message
{
get { return _message; }
set { _message = value; }
}
}
You also have a MainWindow, it is a main view for an app and it contains the target TextBox. You may see that there is an EventTrigger added to the TextBox and it has a property InvokeCommandAction which is binded to the MainWindowViewModel's command called ShowCommand.
Main Window
<Window x:Class="My.MainWindow"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml" xmlns:Interactivity="clr-namespace:System.Windows.Interactivity;assembly=System.Windows.Interactivity" Title="MainWindow" Height="350" Width="525">
<TextBox Height="40" Text="{Binding Text}">
<Interactivity:Interaction.Triggers>
<Interactivity:EventTrigger EventName="GotFocus">
<Interactivity:InvokeCommandAction Command="{Binding ShowCommand}"/>
</Interactivity:EventTrigger>
</Interactivity:Interaction.Triggers>
</TextBox>
In the Show method of MainWindowViewModel NewWindow view is created and got new NewWindowViewModel instance as a DataContext. RelayCommand class is presented in my answer to this question
MainWindowViewModel
public class MainWindowViewModel
{
private string _text;
public string Text
{
get { return _text; }
set { _text = value; }
}
private ICommand _increaseCommand;
public ICommand ShowCommand
{
get
{
if (_increaseCommand == null)
{
_increaseCommand = new RelayCommand(
p => true,
Show);
}
return _increaseCommand;
}
}
private void Show(object obj)
{
var w = new NewWindow();
var nvm = new NewWindowViewModel();
nvm.Message = "Test";
w.DataContext = nvm;
w.Show();
}
}
What is left is to create a new MainWindowViewModel and setup a DataContext for MainWindow.
public MainWindow()
{
InitializeComponent();
var mvm = new MainWindowViewModel();
mvm.Text = "Focus me!";
DataContext = mvm;
}
Hope it will help.

wpf binding instantiated object to datacontext

EDIT : Question was not clear enough. In fact there are two of them.
Q1 :
I have a UserControl "CustomView" that is dynamically created with a template:
<Window.Resources>
<DataTemplate DataType="{x:Type my:CustomViewModel}">
<my:CustomView/>
</DataTemplate>
</Window.Resources>
<ItemsControl ItemsSource="{Binding Path=CustomList}"/>
Where CustomList is a Property of type ObservableCollection<'CustomViewModel> belonging to MainWindowViewModel, which is the Window's DataContext.
In CustomView's Xaml code, there are some Properties binded to CustomViewModel's Properties. Everything works properly. But when I try to do this in CustomView's code behind :
public CustomView()
{
InitializeComponents();
if (this.DataContext == null) Console.WriteLine ("DataContext is null");
else Console.WriteLine(this.DataContext.GetType().ToString());
}
It is written in Console : 'DataContext is null', even if bindings are working betweeen CustomView and CustomViewModel. Do you know why it's working?
Q2 :
Now, imagine that CustomView has another UserControl (IndexPicker) inside of it. IndexPicker has an associated ViewModel too (IndexPickerViewModel) who's in charge with data access. I need to bind one property ("Index") of this IndexPickerViewModel to the previous CustomViewModel's property "Id". I want to instantiate it in StaticResources and bind it to the CustomViewModel (which I believe is the dataContext according to my previous question):
<UserControl x:Class="MyView.CustomView"
...
<UserControl.Resources>
<DataTemplate DataType="{x:Type myPicker:IndexPickerViewModel}">
<myPicker:IndexPicker/>
</DataTemplate>
<myPicker:IndexPickerViewModel x:Key="pickerViewModel" Index="{Binding Path=Id}/>
</Window.Resources/>
<ContentControl Content={StaticResource pickerViewModel}/>
What I have tried : I tried to make "IndexPickerViewModel" inherit from "DependencyObject" and make "Index" a DependencyProperty. But the following error message shows up :
"System.Windows.Data Error: 2 : Cannot find governing FrameworkElement or FrameworkContentElement for target element. BindingExpression:Path=Id; DataItem=null; target element is 'IndexPickerViewModel' (HashCode=59604175); target property is 'Index' (type 'Nullable`1')
I believe this is because of what I asked just above. But is it possible to do something like that? If yes, what am I missing? And : Is this a stupid idea?
Thank you in advance for any help.
Now, imagine that CustomView has another UserControl (IndexPicker) inside of it. IndexPicker has an associated ViewModel too (IndexPickerViewModel) who's in charge with data access. I need to bind one property ("Index") of this IndexPickerViewModel to the previous CustomViewModel's property "Id". I want to instantiate it in StaticResources and bind it to the CustomViewModel (which I believe is the dataContext according to my previous question)
If IndexPicker doesn't have an explicitly set datacontext then IndexPicker will inherit the datacontext from it's parent element.
However if IndexPicker does already have a datacontext then you will have to use relative source binding with an ancestor search:
Index="{Binding Id, RelaticeSource={RelativeSource FindAncestor, AncestorType={x:Type Window}}, FallbackValue={x:Null}}"
Of course you can probably already sense that this is messy. Going after standard properties of a UIElement or Control is quite safe (and common), but when you start going after custom properties then you are introducing dependencies between the child control and its parent (when the child control shouldn't know much of anything about its parent), and you are also bound to start getting binding errors at some stage (hence the use of a fallback value).
It seems that I've asked too early because I've found answers by myself.
Answer to Question1
When you have a UserControl that is dynamically created from a DataTemplate in which it is associated with another object (belonging to a ViewModel or to a Resource), this object is defined as the DataContext of the UserControl. However, you cannot reach it in the UserControl's constructor, you have to wait until the "Loaded" event is raised :
public CustomUserControl()
{
InitializeComponent();
Console.WriteLine(this.DataContext.ToString());
// This doesn't work : DataContext is null
}
private void UserControl_Loaded(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
Console.WriteLine(this.DataContext.ToString());
// or
Console.WriteLine((sender as UserControl).DataContext.ToString());
// this is Ok.
}
Answer to Question2
This is how you do to get a UserControl whose ViewModel is instantiated in a parent UserControl.Resources :
You don't do it.
Instead, you instantiate its ViewModel in its parent ViewModel. Full example :
MainWindow.xaml:
<Window x:Class="MainWindow"
...
xmlns:local="clr-namespace:my_project_namespace"
xmlns:cust="clr-namespace:CustomUserControl;assembly=CustomUserControl"
...>
<Window.Resources>
<DataTemplate DataType="{x:Type cust:CustomControlViewModel}">
<cust:CustomControlView>
</DataTemplate>
<!-- Here are listed all the types inheriting from CustomControlViewModel and CustomControlView.-->
<!-- CustomControlViewModel and CustomControlView are used as "abstract" classes-->
</Window.Resources>
<Window.DataContext>
<local:MainWindowViewModel>
</Window.DataContext>
<Grid>
<ItemsControl ItemsSource="{Binding Path=CustomVMList}"/>
</Grid>
</Window>
MainWindowViewModel.cs:
namespace my_project_namespace
{
public class MainWindowViewModel
{
public ObservableCollection<CustomControlViewModel> CustomVMList { get; set; }
public MainWindowViewModel()
{
CustomVMList = new ObservableCollection<CustomControlViewModel>();
// Fill in the list...
}
}
}
CustomControlView.xaml
<UserControl x:class="CustomUserControl.CustomControlView"
...
xmlns:my="clr-namespace:IndexPicker;assembly=IndexPicker"
...>
<UserControl.Resources>
<DataTemplate DataType="{x:Type my:IndexPickerViewModel}">
<my:IndexPickerView/>
</DataTemplate>
</UserControl.Resources>
<StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal">
<Label Content="{Binding Name}/>
<ContentControl Content="{Binding Path=MyIndexPicker}"/>
</Grid>
</UserControl>
And this is where it's interesting :
CustomControlViewModel.cs:
namespace CustomUserControl
{
public class CustomControlViewModel : INotifyPropertyChanged
{
public IndexPickerViewModel MyIndexPicker{ get; set; }
public string Name { get ; set; }
public int Id
{
get
{
return MyIndexPicker.Index;
}
set
{
if (value != MyIndexPicker.Index)
{
MyIndexPicker.Index = value;
NotifyPropertyChanged("Id");
}
}
}
public CustomControlViewModel(string _name)
{
Name = _name;
MyIndexPicker = new IndexPickerViewModel();
}
public event PropertyChangedEventHandler PropertyChanged;
private void NotifyPropertyChanged(string propertyName)
{
if (this.PropertyChanged != null)
PropertyChanged(this, new PropertyChangedEventArgs(propertyName);
}
}
}
IndexPickerView.xaml:
<UserControl x:Class="IndexPicker.IndexPickerView"
...
...>
<Grid>
<Combobox ItemsSource="{Binding Path=MyTable}"
DisplayMemberPath="ColumnXYZ"
SelectedItem={Binding Path=SelectedRow}/>
</Grid>
</UserControl>
Finally
IndexPickerViewModel.cs:
namespace IndexPicker
{
public class IndexPickerViewModel : INotifyPropertyChanged
{
private DataAccess data;
public DataView MyTable { get; set; }
private DataRowView selectedRow;
public DataRowView SelectedRow
{
get { return selectedRow; }
set
{
selectedRow = value;
NotifyPropertyChanged("SelectedRow");
}
}
public int? Index
{
get
{
if (SelectedRow != null) return (int?)selectedRow.Row["Column_Id"];
else return null;
}
set
{
SelectedRow = MyTable[MyTable.Find((int)value)];
NotifyPropertyChanged("Index");
}
}
public IndexPickerViewModel()
{
data = new DataAccess();
MyTable = data.GetTableView("tableName");
MyTable.Sort = "Column_Id";
}
// And don't forget INotifyPropertyChanged implementation
}
}
This configuration is used with several different UserControls inheriting from CustomControlView and their ViewModel inheriting from CustomControlViewModel. They are dynamically created and listed in CustomVMList. Here CustomControlViewModel containing an IndexPicker is already a specialization.
Concrete use: Generic Dialog for CRUD database Tables, which can dynamically create UserControls depending on each Table Columns. The specialization shown here is used in case of a column containing a foreign key.
I hope its clear.
The code listed above may contain mistakes. Criticisms and remarks are welcome.

How do I Bind WPF Commands between a UserControl and a parent Window

I'l start by letting a picture do some talking.
So you see, I want to create a WPF user control that supports binding to a parent window's DataContext. The user control is simply a Button and a ListBox with a custom ItemTemplate to present things with a Label and a Remove Button.
The Add button should call an ICommand on the main view model to interact with the user in selecting a new thing (instance of IThing). The Remove buttons in the ListBoxItem in the user control should similarly call an ICommand on the main view model to request the related thing's removal. For that to work, the Remove button would have to send some identifying information to the view model about the thing requesting to be removed. So there are 2 types of Command that should be bindable to this control. Something like AddThingCommand() and RemoveThingCommand(IThing thing).
I got the functionality working using Click events, but that feels hacky, producing a bunch of code behind the XAML, and rubs against the rest of the pristine MVVM implementation. I really want to use Commands and MVVM normally.
There's enough code involved to get a basic demo working, I am holding off on posting the whole thing to reduce confusion. What is working that makes me feel like I'm so close is the DataTemplate for the ListBox binds the Label correctly, and when the parent window adds items to the collection, they show up.
<Label Content="{Binding Path=DisplayName}" />
While that displays the IThing correctly, the Remove button right next to it does nothing when I click it.
<Button Command="{Binding Path=RemoveItemCommand, RelativeSource={RelativeSource AncestorType={x:Type userControlCommands:ItemManager }}}">
This isn't terribly unexpected since the specific item isn't provided, but the Add button doesn't have to specify anything, and it also fails to call the command.
<Button Command="{Binding Path=AddItemCommand, RelativeSource={RelativeSource AncestorType={x:Type userControlCommands:ItemManager }}}">
So what I need is the "basic" fix for the Add button, so that it calls the parent window's command to add a thing, and the more complex fix for the Remove button, so that it also calls the parent command but also passes along its bound thing.
Many thanks for any insights,
This is trivial, and made so by treating your UserControl like what it is--a control (that just happens to be made up from other controls). What does that mean? It means you should place DependencyProperties on your UC to which your ViewModel can bind, like any other control. Buttons expose a Command property, TextBoxes expose a Text property, etc. You need to expose, on the surface of your UserControl, everything you need for it to do its job.
Let's take a trivial (thrown together in under two minutes) example. I'll leave out the ICommand implementation.
First, our Window
<Window x:Class="UCsAndICommands.MainWindow"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
xmlns:t="clr-namespace:UCsAndICommands"
Title="MainWindow" Height="350" Width="525">
<Window.DataContext>
<t:ViewModel />
</Window.DataContext>
<t:ItemsEditor Items="{Binding Items}"
AddItem="{Binding AddItem}"
RemoveItem="{Binding RemoveItem}" />
</Window>
Notice we have our Items editor, which exposes properties for everything it needs--the list of items it is editing, a command to add a new item, and a command to remove an item.
Next, the UserControl
<UserControl x:Class="UCsAndICommands.ItemsEditor"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006"
xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008"
xmlns:t="clr-namespace:UCsAndICommands"
x:Name="root">
<UserControl.Resources>
<DataTemplate DataType="{x:Type t:Item}">
<StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal">
<Button Command="{Binding RemoveItem, ElementName=root}"
CommandParameter="{Binding}">Remove</Button>
<TextBox Text="{Binding Name}" Width="100"/>
</StackPanel>
</DataTemplate>
</UserControl.Resources>
<StackPanel>
<Button Command="{Binding AddItem, ElementName=root}">Add</Button>
<ItemsControl ItemsSource="{Binding Items, ElementName=root}" />
</StackPanel>
</UserControl>
We bind our controls to the DPs defined on the surface of the UC. Please, don't do any nonsense like DataContext=this; as this anti-pattern breaks more complex UC implementations.
Here's the definitions of these properties on the UC
public partial class ItemsEditor : UserControl
{
#region Items
public static readonly DependencyProperty ItemsProperty =
DependencyProperty.Register(
"Items",
typeof(IEnumerable<Item>),
typeof(ItemsEditor),
new UIPropertyMetadata(null));
public IEnumerable<Item> Items
{
get { return (IEnumerable<Item>)GetValue(ItemsProperty); }
set { SetValue(ItemsProperty, value); }
}
#endregion
#region AddItem
public static readonly DependencyProperty AddItemProperty =
DependencyProperty.Register(
"AddItem",
typeof(ICommand),
typeof(ItemsEditor),
new UIPropertyMetadata(null));
public ICommand AddItem
{
get { return (ICommand)GetValue(AddItemProperty); }
set { SetValue(AddItemProperty, value); }
}
#endregion
#region RemoveItem
public static readonly DependencyProperty RemoveItemProperty =
DependencyProperty.Register(
"RemoveItem",
typeof(ICommand),
typeof(ItemsEditor),
new UIPropertyMetadata(null));
public ICommand RemoveItem
{
get { return (ICommand)GetValue(RemoveItemProperty); }
set { SetValue(RemoveItemProperty, value); }
}
#endregion
public ItemsEditor()
{
InitializeComponent();
}
}
Just DPs on the surface of the UC. No biggie. And our ViewModel is similarly simple
public class ViewModel
{
public ObservableCollection<Item> Items { get; private set; }
public ICommand AddItem { get; private set; }
public ICommand RemoveItem { get; private set; }
public ViewModel()
{
Items = new ObservableCollection<Item>();
AddItem = new DelegatedCommand<object>(
o => true, o => Items.Add(new Item()));
RemoveItem = new DelegatedCommand<Item>(
i => true, i => Items.Remove(i));
}
}
You are editing three different collections, so you may want to expose more ICommands to make it clear which you are adding/removing. Or you could cheap out and use the CommandParameter to figure it out.
Refer the below code.
UserControl.XAML
<Grid>
<ListBox ItemsSource="{Binding Things}" x:Name="lst">
<ListBox.ItemTemplate>
<DataTemplate>
<StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal">
<TextBlock Text="{Binding ThingName}" Margin="3"/>
<Button Content="Remove" Margin="3" Command="{Binding ElementName=lst, Path=DataContext.RemoveCommand}" CommandParameter="{Binding}"/>
</StackPanel>
</DataTemplate>
</ListBox.ItemTemplate>
</ListBox>
</Grid>
Window.Xaml
<Window x:Class="MultiBind_Learning.Window1"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
xmlns:local="clr-namespace:MultiBind_Learning"
Title="Window1" Height="300" Width="300">
<StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal">
<Button Content="Add" Width="50" Height="25" Command="{Binding AddCommnd }"/>
<local:UserControl2/>
</StackPanel>
Window.xaml.cs
public partial class Window1 : Window
{
public Window1()
{
InitializeComponent();
this.DataContext = new ThingViewModel();
}
}
ThingViewModel.cs
class ThingViewModel
{
private ObservableCollection<Thing> things = new ObservableCollection<Thing>();
public ObservableCollection<Thing> Things
{
get { return things; }
set { things = value; }
}
public ICommand AddCommnd { get; set; }
public ICommand RemoveCommand { get; set; }
public ThingViewModel()
{
for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++)
{
things.Add(new Thing() { ThingName="Thing" +i});
}
AddCommnd = new BaseCommand(Add);
RemoveCommand = new BaseCommand(Remove);
}
void Add(object obj)
{
things.Add(new Thing() {ThingName="Added New" });
}
void Remove(object obj)
{
things.Remove((Thing)obj);
}
}
Thing.cs
class Thing :INotifyPropertyChanged
{
private string thingName;
public string ThingName
{
get { return thingName; }
set { thingName = value; OnPropertyChanged("ThingName"); }
}
public event PropertyChangedEventHandler PropertyChanged;
private void OnPropertyChanged(string propName)
{
if (PropertyChanged != null)
{
PropertyChanged(this, new PropertyChangedEventArgs(propName));
}
}
}
BaseCommand.cs
public class BaseCommand : ICommand
{
private Predicate<object> _canExecute;
private Action<object> _method;
public event EventHandler CanExecuteChanged;
public BaseCommand(Action<object> method)
{
_method = method;
}
public bool CanExecute(object parameter)
{
return true;
}
public void Execute(object parameter)
{
_method.Invoke(parameter);
}
}
Instead of Base command you can try RelayCommand from MVVMLight or DelegateCommand from PRISM libraries.
By default, your user control will inherit the DataContext of its container. So the ViewModel class that your window uses can be bound to directly by the user control, using the Binding notation in XAML. There's no need to specify DependentProperties or RoutedEvents, just bind to the command properties as normal.

Extremely simple silverlight binding not working

This should be an extremely simple solution, but searching through the internet there seems to be multiple different ways to do binding and NONE seem to actually work.
I've created a simple application with a button, textbox and listbox. The user adds text to the textbox, clicks Add and I want the text to appear in the list box. Note that the Add button will create a Person with the firstname the text in the textbox and the last name "Jones". This is just to figure out how to get binding to actually work. I have the ObservableCollection but can't seem to even figure out how to put in the resource to the object within the class itself. Is this even possible? do I have to create a separate class to have a binding?
Here is the complete XMAL
<UserControl x:Class="simpleBinding.MainPage"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008"
xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006"
xmlns:z="clr-namespace:simpleBinding"
mc:Ignorable="d"
d:DesignHeight="300" d:DesignWidth="400">
<Canvas x:Name="LayoutRoot" Background="White">
<Button Name="_b" Content="Add" Height="23" HorizontalAlignment="Left" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="58" Canvas.Left="90" Canvas.Top="5" Click="OnAdd" />
<TextBox Name="_tb" Canvas.Left="12" Canvas.Top="4" Height="24" Width="72"></TextBox>
<ListBox Name="_list" Canvas.Left="18" Canvas.Top="41" Height="98" Width="190" />
</Canvas>
and here is the complete Code behind
namespace simpleBinding
{
public partial class MainPage : UserControl
{
public ObservableCollection<Person> PersonList = new ObservableCollection<Person> ();
public MainPage()
{
InitializeComponent();
}
private void OnAdd(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
PersonList.Add(new Person(_tb.Text, "Jones"));
}
}
public class Person
{
public string FirstName {private set; get;}
public string LastName {private set; get; }
public Person(string fName, string lName)
{
FirstName = fName;
LastName = lName;
}
}
}
thanks for any help,
chris
To illustrate Ravuthasamy's & aqwert's comments. You have to set a DataContext first. You can set this in DataContext or read how MVVM work (It's a good Silvelight binding pattern) :
c#
public MainPage()
{
InitializeComponent();
DataContext = this;
}
After you can bind the class properties to elements :
Xaml
<ListBox
ItemsSource="{Binding PersonList}"
Canvas.Left="18"
Canvas.Top="41"
Height="98"
Width="190" />
Following the timeline you can see that this has taken me a week to finally get to a solution. I post it here now in hopes that someone else won't waste this much time. There seems to be a lot of posts about how to deal with this issue and the examples are limited. They either show only C# or Xaml. Then CollectionChanged and PropertyChanged aren't dealt with in a single example.
This is a simple example, that implements both collection changed and property changed. As well as binding in Xaml
Here is the Xaml.
<UserControl x:Class="simpleBinding.MainPage"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008"
xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006"
xmlns:src="clr-namespace:simpleBinding"
mc:Ignorable="d"
d:DesignHeight="300" d:DesignWidth="400">
<Canvas x:Name="LayoutRoot" Background="White" DataContext="{Binding}">
<Canvas.Resources>
<src:PersonList x:Key="myDataSource"></src:PersonList>
</Canvas.Resources>
<Button Name="_b" Content="Add" Height="23" HorizontalAlignment="Left" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="58" Canvas.Left="90" Canvas.Top="5" Click="OnAdd" />
<Button Canvas.Left="150" Canvas.Top="5" Content="Edit" Height="23" Name="button1" Width="58" Click="OnEdit" />
<TextBox Name="_tb" Canvas.Left="12" Canvas.Top="4" Height="24" Width="72"></TextBox>
<ListBox Name="_list" Canvas.Left="18" Canvas.Top="41" Height="98" Width="190" ItemsSource="{Binding Source={StaticResource myDataSource}}" >
<ListBox.ItemTemplate>
<DataTemplate>
<StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal">
<TextBlock Text="{Binding Path=FirstName}" Margin="0,0,2,0" />
<TextBlock Text="{Binding Path=LastName}" />
</StackPanel>
</DataTemplate>
</ListBox.ItemTemplate>
</ListBox>
</Canvas>
Add a xmlns that will reference your code behind. In this case my namespace is xmlns:src then you can use VS intellisense to go to the correct class.
Add a resource to the layoutRoot item. In my case I'm using a canvas, but it could be Grid or Stackpanel etc.
With the resource declared, you can now set the ItemSource binding in the ListBox.
I've chosen to use a template to display the data which I think is really cool (best part of Xaml!) In this case there are two textBlocks but if my underlying data source had an image, I could have used this was well to graphically display the data. The binding for each textbox can be set because the exposed properties of the object are declared in the C# code. Which will be discussed next
C# Code behind
namespace simpleBinding
{
public partial class MainPage : UserControl
{
public PersonList m_pList = new PersonList();
public MainPage()
{
InitializeComponent();
_list.ItemsSource = m_pList;
m_pList.Add(new Person("John", "Doe"));
}
private void OnAdd(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
m_pList.Add(new Person("Jones", _tb.Text));
}
private void OnEdit(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
m_pList[1].FirstName = _tb.Text;
}
}
public class PersonList : ObservableCollection<Person> , INotifyPropertyChanged
{
public PersonList() : base() // need to call base on intialization otherwise the binded resource is not updated.
{
Add(new Person("Willa", "Cather"));
Add(new Person("Isak", "Dinesen"));
Add(new Person("Victor", "Hugo"));
Add(new Person("Jules", "Verne"));
}
}
public class Person : INotifyPropertyChanged
{
private string _fName;
private string _lName;
public event PropertyChangedEventHandler PropertyChanged;
public string FirstName
{
set
{
_fName = value;
NotifyPropertyChanged("FirstName");
}
get
{
return _fName;
}
}
public string LastName
{
set
{
_lName = value;
NotifyPropertyChanged("LastName");
}
get
{
return _lName;
}
}
public Person(string fName, string lName) : base()
{
FirstName = fName;
LastName = lName;
}
public override string ToString()
{
return String.Format("{0} {1}", FirstName, LastName);
}
private void NotifyPropertyChanged(String propertyName = "")
{
if (PropertyChanged != null)
{
PropertyChanged(this, new PropertyChangedEventArgs(propertyName));
}
}
}
}
I've chosen to use the ObservableCollection because it implements INotifyCollectionChanged. The public variable is exposed which allows you to bind to the resource declared in the Xaml. (Better code, make the var private and have a property that exposes the variable through a get!)
The ListBox _List needs to have its ItemsSource property set in Code Behind!!! without this whenever you change the list (add, delete etc) the UI is not updated. AND in fact you do not need the binding in the ListBox at all because we set the source in Code behind it is nice however in that in the designer with this bound control you can see that the binding is working because there are four names added when instantiating the PersonList.
The ObservableCollection needs to have the INotifyCollectionChanged added. Without this, when a property is changed the UI is NOT changed.
The properties that are to be exposed to the UI need to be implement in the object that is contained within the ObservableCollection (in my case the class Person exposed both FirstName and LastName) and then these properties can be bound in the Xaml (see the textBlocks's)
INotifyPropertyChanged requires that you implement a PropertyChanged event i.e. public event PropertyChangedEventHandler PropertyChanged;
To actually fire that event the "Person" object needs to implement code to do that, which in my case is the NotifyPropertyChanged Method. Each time a property is set, I call this method, which in turn looks to see is the PropertyChanged event is not null, and if not, then it raises that event.
Here is the key to property changes, without adding the , INotifyPropertyChanged to the Observable collection PropertyChanged is null.
Hope this helps someone

Binding to custom dependency property - again

The task: implement the simplest Dependency Property ever, which can be used in xaml like that:
<uc:MyUserControl1 MyTextProperty="{Binding Text}"/>
I think that this answer is quite close. For better readability i copy all my code here (mostly from that answer above).
<UserControl x:Class="Test.UserControls.MyUserControl1"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006"
xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008"
DataContext="{Binding RelativeSource={RelativeSource Self}}">
<Grid>
<!-- Text is being bound to outward representative property;
Note the DataContext of the UserControl -->
<TextBox Text="{Binding MyTextProperty}"/>
</Grid>
</UserControl>
and
public partial class MyUserControl1 : UserControl
{
// The dependency property which will be accessible on the UserControl
public static readonly DependencyProperty MyTextPropertyProperty =
DependencyProperty.Register("MyTextProperty", typeof(string), typeof(MyUserControl1), new UIPropertyMetadata(String.Empty));
public string MyTextProperty
{
get { return (string)GetValue(MyTextPropertyProperty); }
set { SetValue(MyTextPropertyProperty, value); }
}
public MyUserControl1()
{
InitializeComponent();
}
}
And this is my MainWindow.xaml
<Window x:Class="WpfApplication1.MainWindow"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml" xmlns:uc="clr-namespace:WpfApplication1"
Title="MainWindow" Height="350" Width="525">
<StackPanel Orientation="Vertical">
<uc:MyUserControl1 MyTextProperty="my text goes here"/>
<Button Click="ButtonBase_OnClick" Content="click"/>
</StackPanel>
</Window>
So far, everything works. However, i find this quite not usefull. What i'd need is
<uc:MyUserControl1 MyTextProperty="{Binding Text}"/>
and being able to change this by setting a DataContext (as you usually do in MVVM)
So i replace the line as above and add my code behind as follows:
public partial class MainWindow : Window, INotifyPropertyChanged
{
public MainWindow()
{
InitializeComponent();
Text = "Initial Text";
DataContext = this;
}
private string _Text;
public string Text
{
get { return _Text; }
set
{
if (value != _Text)
{
_Text = value;
NotifyPropertyChanged("Text");
}
}
}
private void ButtonBase_OnClick(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
Text = "clicked";
}
public event PropertyChangedEventHandler PropertyChanged;
private void NotifyPropertyChanged(String info)
{
if (PropertyChanged != null)
{
PropertyChanged(this, new PropertyChangedEventArgs(info));
}
}
}
Neither the "initial Text" nor the "clicked" is displayed... ever. So my question is how to implement a dept. property correctly to be used with
<uc:MyUserControl1 MyTextProperty="{Binding Text}"/>
The Text property is located on the DataContext of the MainWindow not of the UserControl.
So change this line <uc:MyUserControl1 MyTextProperty="{Binding Text}"/> into this:
<uc:MyUserControl1 MyTextProperty="{Binding Text, ElementName=MyMainWindow}"/>
Which will tell the Binding that you're talking about the Text element located in you MainWindow. Of course, since in this example I used ElementName, you're going to want to name your window MyMainWindow...
So add this to your MainWindow:
<Window Name="MyMainWindow" ..... />
If you rather not name your window, you can use the RelativeSource FindAncestor binding like this:
<wpfApplication6:MyUserControl1 MyTextProperty="{Binding Text, RelativeSource={RelativeSource FindAncestor, AncestorType=Window}}"/>
In both ways, you are asking to find the property named 'Text' in the DataContext of the window.

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