Looking through the standard WPF commands, such as copy/paste, they seem to all work using one button and act on a textbox.
My question: how do I use commands when I have one button, but I need data to be set in two separate controls(a textbox and a combobox). If the user has written text in textbox, but not selected a combobox value, then CanExecute should fail. This applies if combobox has been set, but not the textbox.
In my case specifically, all these controls are wrapped in a tabitem. As well, I have another tab with only a textbox and a button. I want it to have the same functionality as the first tab, except, instead of checking for the combobox value, it should detect that there is no combobox and pass in a default 'null object' value instead.
The Execute method should call a method in my viewmodel and pass in values from the combobox and textbox. As well, each tab should pass in another unique static value; i think i can handle this using commandparameter though.
How do I make this work? Do I make the parent tab that commandtarget and directly reference its children controls in the can/execute methods?
You need to implement CanExecute method that checks both TextBox databinding value and ComboBox.SelectedItem databinding value.
Take example from your question.
Your TextBox.Text should be databinding to your ViewModel
And as well as your ComboBox.
So your ViewModel should have two Properties:
public string TextBoxCurrentText {get { ...}set {...}}
public string ComboBoxCurrentSelected {get { ...}set {...}}
Then in both Setter, you would do your YourCommmand.RaiseCanExecuteChanged();
So it will execute your CanExecute code piece to determines can your Button be click.
Which can be:
bool YourCommandCanExecute()
{
//Just example
if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(TextBoxCurrentText) && !string.IsNullOrEmpty(ComboBoxCurrentSelected))
return true;
return false;
}
I've a text box in that i added a event TextChanged but it doesn't giving me all the data i entered in that text box it neglecting last character but i want all chars what i enter in the text box so how can i do this one please help me.
The TextChanged event gives you all the character:
TextBox currentTextBox = sender as TextBox;
string fullText = CurrentTextBox.Text;
Are you sure your not in like a PreviewKeyDownEvent or any other Preview Events. All of these events neglect the last input
Make an extended TextBox class and handle the KeyUp event to force an update to the text property binding after each key stroke.
public class MyWPFTextBox: TextBox
{
public MyWPFTextBox(): base()
{ KeyUp += new KeyEventHandler(MyWPFTextBox_KeyUp); }
private void MyWPFTextBox_KeyUp(object sender, System.Windows.Input.KeyEventArgs e)
{
BindingExpression BE = GetBindingExpression(TextBox.TextProperty);
if (BE != null)
BE.UpdateSource();
}
}
you should look at the PreviewTextInput event.
you also should take a look at mvvm pattern, binding and UpdateSourceTrigger=PropertyChanged. there you do not need events at all, you get your information via binding.
I saw this example - Binding.UpdateSourceTrigger Property
in the example the UpdateSourceTrigger set to Explicit and then in the view code he call to UpdateSource of the TextBox name.
But if i use the MVVM dp i dont want to have names to my controls and source properties are in the VM and not in the view so what is the right way to bind controls to VM properties and set the UpdateSourceTrigger to explicit?
I want to do this because in my case its ShowDialog window and I want that the source will update only if the user click "ok"
Thanks in advance!
If you are using MVVM truely then your OK button click must be handled by some Command. This command must be coming from your ViewModel. The Expliticly bound properties must be coming from your ViewModel again. So whats stopping you.
Do not use Explicit binding but use OneWay binding.
In you button, bind a command and bind a command parameter to the OneWay bound Dependency property.
In your Command's Execute handler (which must be some method from your ViewModel), change the ViewModel's property with the parameter coming.
Raise the NotifyPropertyChanged for that property from your ViewModel.
E.g.
Assume I need to update a TextBox's Text back into my model on OK button click.
So for that I have a EmployeeViewModel class that has EmployeeName property in it. The property is has a getter and a setter. The setter raises property changed notification. The view model also has another property of type ICommand named SaveNameCommand that return a command for me to execute.
EmployeeViewModel is the data context type of my view. Myview has a TextBox (named as x:Name="EmployeeNameTxBx") OneWay bound to the EmployeeName and a Button as OK. I bind Button.Command property to EmployeeViewModel.SaveNameCommand property and Button.CommandParameter is bound to EmployeeNameTxBx.Text property.
<StackPanel>
<TextBox x:Name="EmployeeNameTxBx"
Text="{Binding EmployeeName, Mode=OneWay}" />
<Button Content="OK"
Command="{Binding SaveNameCommand}"
CommandParameter="{Bidning Text, ElementName=EmployeeNameTxBx}" />
</StackPanel>
Inside my EmployeeViewModel I have OnSaveNameCommandExecute(object param) method to execute my SaveNameCommand.
In this perform this code...
var text = (string)param;
this.EmployeeName = text;
This way ONLY OK button click, updates the TextBox's text back into EmployeeName property of the model.
EDIT
Looking at your comments below, I see that you are trying to implement Validation on a UI. Now this changes things a little bit.
IDataErrorInfo and related validation works ONLY IF your input controls (such as TextBoxes) are TwoWay bound. Yes thats how it is intended. So now you may ask "Does this mean the whole concept of NOT ALLOWING invalid data to pass to model is futile in MVVM if we use IDataErrorInfo"?
Not actually!
See MVVM does not enforce a rule that ONLY valid data should come back. It accept invalid data and that is how IDataErrorInfo works and raises error notfications. The point is ViewModel is a mere softcopy of your View so it can be dirty. What it should make sure is that this dirtiness is not committed to your external interfaces such as services or data base.
Such invalid data flow should be restricted by the ViewModel by testing the invalid data. And that data will come if we have TwoWay binding enabled. So considering that you are implementing IDataErrorInfo then you need to have TwoWay bindings which is perfectly allowed in MVVM.
Approach 1:
What if I wan to explicitly validate certain items on the UI on button click?
For this use a delayed validation trick. In your ViewModel have a flag called isValidating. Set it false by default.
In your IDataErrorInfo.this property skip the validation by checking isValidating flag...
string IDataErrorInfo.this[string columnName]
{
get
{
if (!isValidating) return string.Empty;
string result = string.Empty;
bool value = false;
if (columnName == "EmployeeName")
{
if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(AccountType))
{
result = "EmployeeName cannot be empty!";
value = true;
}
}
return result;
}
}
Then in your OK command executed handler, check employee name and then raise property change notification events for the same property ...
private void OnSaveNameCommandExecute(object param)
{
isValidating = true;
this.NotifyPropertyChanged("EmployeeName");
isValidating = false;
}
This triggers the validation ONLY when you click OK. Remember that EmployeeName will HAVE to contain invalid data for the validation to work.
Approach 2:
What if I want to explicitly update bindings without TwoWay mode in MVVM?
Then you will have to use Attached Behavior. The behavior will attach to the OK button and will accept list of all items that need their bindings refreshed.
<Button Content="OK">
<local:SpecialBindingBehavior.DependentControls>
<MultiBinding Converter="{StaticResource ListMaker}">
<Binding ElementName="EmployeeNameTxBx" />
<Binding ElementName="EmployeeSalaryTxBx" />
....
<MultiBinding>
</local:SpecialBindingBehavior.DependentControls>
</Button>
The ListMaker is a IMultiValueConverter that simply converts values into a list...
Convert(object[] values, ...)
{
return values.ToList();
}
In your SpecialBindingBehavior have a DependentControls property changed handler...
private static void OnDependentControlsChanged(
DependencyObject depObj,
DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs e)
{
var button = sender as Button;
if (button != null && e.NewValue is IList)
{
button.Click
+= new RoutedEventHandler(
(object s, RoutedEventArgs args) =>
{
foreach(var element in (IList)e.NewValue)
{
var bndExp
= ((TextBox)element).GetBindingExpression(
((TextBox)element).Textproperty);
bndExp.UpdateSource();
}
});
}
}
But I will still suggest you use my previous pure MVVM based **Approach 1.
This is an old question but still I want to provide an alternative approach for other users who stumble upon this question...
In my viewmodels, I do not expose the model properties directly in the get/set Property methods. I use internal variables for all the properties. Then I bind all the properties two-way. So I can do all the validation as "usual" because only the internal variables are changed. In the view model constructor, I have the model object as parameter and I set the internal variables to the values of my model. Now when I click on the "Save" Button (-> Save Command fires in my view model fires) and there are no errors, I set all the properties of my model to the values of the correspondng internal variable. If I click on the "Canel/Undo"-Button (-> Cancel-Command in my view model fires), I set the internal variables to the values of my untouched model (using the setters of the view model properties so that NotifyPropertyChanged is called and the view shows the changes=old values).
Yet another approach would be to implement Memento-Support in the model, so before you start editing you call a function in the model to save the current values, and if you cancel editing you call a function to restore those values...that way you would have the undo/cancel support everywhere an not just in one view model...
I've implemented both methods in different projects and both work fine, it depends on the requirements of the project...
I have a WPF window for editing database information, which is represented using an Entity Framework object. When the user closes the window, I'd like to notice in the Closing event whether the information has changed and show a message box offering to save the changes to the database.
Unfortunately, changes to the currently focused edit aren't assigned to the binding source until the edit loses focus, which happens at some point after the Closing event has been processed.
Ideally, there would be a routine which commits all changes in the view hierarchy that I could call before checking to see if my entity has been modified. I've also looked for information on programmatically clearing the focus in the control with focus, but can't figure out how to do it.
My question is, how is this typically handled?
In WPF you can change a Binding to update the source on modification, rather than on losing the focus. This is done by setting the UpdateSourceTrigger property to PropertyChanged:
Value="{Binding Path=MyProperty, UpdateSourceTrigger=PropertyChanged}"
This should get you pretty close:
private void Window_Closing(object sender, System.ComponentModel.CancelEventArgs e)
{
ForceDataValidation();
}
private static void ForceDataValidation()
{
TextBox textBox = Keyboard.FocusedElement as TextBox;
if (textBox != null)
{
BindingExpression be = textBox.GetBindingExpression(TextBox.TextProperty);
if (be != null && !textBox.IsReadOnly && textBox.IsEnabled)
{
be.UpdateSource();
}
}
}
Maybe you need to remove the focus from the current element
private void Window_Closing(object sender, System.ComponentModel.CancelEventArgs e)
{
FocusManager.SetFocusedElement(this, null);
}
Assuming that there is more than one control in the tab sequence, the following solution appears to be complete and general (just cut-and-paste)...
Control currentControl = System.Windows.Input.Keyboard.FocusedElement as Control;
if (currentControl != null)
{
// Force focus away from the current control to update its binding source.
currentControl.MoveFocus(new TraversalRequest(FocusNavigationDirection.Next));
currentControl.Focus();
}
Also look at the sugestions in this post
The easiest way is to set the focus somewhere.
You can set the focus back immediately, but setting the focus anywhere will trigger the LostFocus-Event on any type of control and make it update its stuff:
IInputElement x = System.Windows.Input.Keyboard.FocusedElement;
DummyField.Focus();
x.Focus();
Another way would be to get the focused element, get the binding element from the focused element, and trigger the update manually. An example for TextBox and ComboBox (you would need to add any control type you need to support):
TextBox t = Keyboard.FocusedElement as TextBox;
if ((t != null) && (t.GetBindingExpression(TextBox.TextProperty) != null))
t.GetBindingExpression(TextBox.TextProperty).UpdateSource();
ComboBox c = Keyboard.FocusedElement as ComboBox;
if ((c != null) && (c.GetBindingExpression(ComboBox.TextProperty) != null))
c.GetBindingExpression(ComboBox.TextProperty).UpdateSource();
In my WPF application, I have a number of databound TextBoxes. The UpdateSourceTrigger for these bindings is LostFocus. The object is saved using the File menu. The problem I have is that it is possible to enter a new value into a TextBox, select Save from the File menu, and never persist the new value (the one visible in the TextBox) because accessing the menu does not remove focus from the TextBox. How can I fix this? Is there some way to force all the controls in a page to databind?
#palehorse: Good point. Unfortunately, I need to use LostFocus as my UpdateSourceTrigger in order to support the type of validation I want.
#dmo: I had thought of that. It seems, however, like a really inelegant solution for a relatively simple problem. Also, it requires that there be some control on the page which is is always visible to receive the focus. My application is tabbed, however, so no such control readily presents itself.
#Nidonocu: The fact that using the menu did not move focus from the TextBox confused me as well. That is, however, the behavior I am seeing. The following simple example demonstrates my problem:
<Window x:Class="WpfApplication2.Window1"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
Title="Window1" Height="300" Width="300">
<Window.Resources>
<ObjectDataProvider x:Key="MyItemProvider" />
</Window.Resources>
<DockPanel LastChildFill="True">
<Menu DockPanel.Dock="Top">
<MenuItem Header="File">
<MenuItem Header="Save" Click="MenuItem_Click" />
</MenuItem>
</Menu>
<StackPanel DataContext="{Binding Source={StaticResource MyItemProvider}}">
<Label Content="Enter some text and then File > Save:" />
<TextBox Text="{Binding ValueA}" />
<TextBox Text="{Binding ValueB}" />
</StackPanel>
</DockPanel>
</Window>
using System;
using System.Text;
using System.Windows;
using System.Windows.Data;
namespace WpfApplication2
{
public partial class Window1 : Window
{
public MyItem Item
{
get { return (FindResource("MyItemProvider") as ObjectDataProvider).ObjectInstance as MyItem; }
set { (FindResource("MyItemProvider") as ObjectDataProvider).ObjectInstance = value; }
}
public Window1()
{
InitializeComponent();
Item = new MyItem();
}
private void MenuItem_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
MessageBox.Show(string.Format("At the time of saving, the values in the TextBoxes are:\n'{0}'\nand\n'{1}'", Item.ValueA, Item.ValueB));
}
}
public class MyItem
{
public string ValueA { get; set; }
public string ValueB { get; set; }
}
}
I found that removing the menu items that are scope depended from the FocusScope of the menu causes the textbox to lose focus correctly. I wouldn't think this applies to ALL items in Menu, but certainly for a save or validate action.
<Menu FocusManager.IsFocusScope="False" >
Assuming that there is more than one control in the tab sequence, the following solution appears to be complete and general (just cut-and-paste)...
Control currentControl = System.Windows.Input.Keyboard.FocusedElement as Control;
if (currentControl != null)
{
// Force focus away from the current control to update its binding source.
currentControl.MoveFocus(new TraversalRequest(FocusNavigationDirection.Next));
currentControl.Focus();
}
This is a UGLY hack but should also work
TextBox focusedTextBox = Keyboard.FocusedElement as TextBox;
if (focusedTextBox != null)
{
focusedTextBox.GetBindingExpression(TextBox.TextProperty).UpdateSource();
}
This code checks if a TextBox has focus... If 1 is found... update the binding source!
Suppose you have a TextBox in a window, and a ToolBar with a Save button in it. Assume the TextBox’s Text property is bound to a property on a business object, and the binding’s UpdateSourceTrigger property is set to the default value of LostFocus, meaning that the bound value is pushed back to the business object property when the TextBox loses input focus. Also, assume that the ToolBar’s Save button has its Command property set to ApplicationCommands.Save command.
In that situation, if you edit the TextBox and click the Save button with the mouse, there is a problem. When clicking on a Button in a ToolBar, the TextBox does not lose focus. Since the TextBox’s LostFocus event does not fire, the Text property binding does not update the source property of the business object.
Obviously you should not validate and save an object if the most recently edited value in the UI has not yet been pushed into the object. This is the exact problem Karl had worked around, by writing code in his window that manually looked for a TextBox with focus and updated the source of the data binding. His solution worked fine, but it got me thinking about a generic solution that would also be useful outside of this particular scenario. Enter CommandGroup…
Taken from Josh Smith’s CodeProject article about CommandGroup
Simple solution is update the Xaml code as shown below
<StackPanel DataContext="{Binding Source={StaticResource MyItemProvider}}">
<Label Content="Enter some text and then File > Save:" />
<TextBox Text="{Binding ValueA, UpdateSourceTrigger=PropertyChanged}" />
<TextBox Text="{Binding ValueB, UpdateSourceTrigger=PropertyChanged}" />
</StackPanel>
I've run into this issue and the best solution I've found was to change the focusable value of the button (or any other component such as MenuItem) to true:
<Button Focusable="True" Command="{Binding CustomSaveCommand}"/>
The reason it works, is because it forces the button to get focused before it invokes the command and therefore makes the TextBox or any other UIElement for that matter to loose their focus and raise lost focus event which invokes the binding to be changed.
In case you are using bounded command (as I was pointing to in my example), John Smith's great solution won't fit very well since you can't bind StaticExtension into bounded property (nor DP).
Have you tried setting the UpdateSourceTrigger to PropertyChanged? Alternatively, you could call the UpdateSOurce() method, but that seems like a bit overkill and defeats the purpose of TwoWay databinding.
Could you set the focus somewhere else just before saving?
You can do this by calling focus() on a UI element.
You could focus on whatever element invokes the "save". If your trigger is LostFocus then you have to move the focus somewhere. Save has the advantage that it isn't modified and would make sense to the user.
Since I noticed this issue is still a pain in the ass to solve on a very generic way, I tried various solutions.
Eventually one that worked out for me:
Whenever the need is there that UI changes must be validated and updated to its sources (Check for changes upon closeing a window, performing Save operations, ...), I call a validation function which does various things:
- make sure a focused element (like textbox, combobox, ...) loses its focus which will trigger default updatesource behavior
- validate any controls within the tree of the DependencyObject which is given to the validation function
- set focus back to the original focused element
The function itself returns true if everything is in order (validation is succesful) -> your original action (closeing with optional asking confirmation, saveing, ...) can continue. Otherwise the function will return false and your action cannot continue because there are validation errors on one or more elements (with the help of a generic ErrorTemplate on the elements).
The code (validation functionality is based on the article Detecting WPF Validation Errors):
public static class Validator
{
private static Dictionary<String, List<DependencyProperty>> gdicCachedDependencyProperties = new Dictionary<String, List<DependencyProperty>>();
public static Boolean IsValid(DependencyObject Parent)
{
// Move focus and reset it to update bindings which or otherwise not processed until losefocus
IInputElement lfocusedElement = Keyboard.FocusedElement;
if (lfocusedElement != null && lfocusedElement is UIElement)
{
// Move to previous AND to next InputElement (if your next InputElement is a menu, focus will not be lost -> therefor move in both directions)
(lfocusedElement as UIElement).MoveFocus(new TraversalRequest(FocusNavigationDirection.Previous));
(lfocusedElement as UIElement).MoveFocus(new TraversalRequest(FocusNavigationDirection.Next));
Keyboard.ClearFocus();
}
if (Parent as UIElement == null || (Parent as UIElement).Visibility != Visibility.Visible)
return true;
// Validate all the bindings on the parent
Boolean lblnIsValid = true;
foreach (DependencyProperty aDependencyProperty in GetAllDependencyProperties(Parent))
{
if (BindingOperations.IsDataBound(Parent, aDependencyProperty))
{
// Get the binding expression base. This way all kinds of bindings (MultiBinding, PropertyBinding, ...) can be updated
BindingExpressionBase lbindingExpressionBase = BindingOperations.GetBindingExpressionBase(Parent, aDependencyProperty);
if (lbindingExpressionBase != null)
{
lbindingExpressionBase.ValidateWithoutUpdate();
if (lbindingExpressionBase.HasError)
lblnIsValid = false;
}
}
}
if (Parent is Visual || Parent is Visual3D)
{
// Fetch the visual children (in case of templated content, the LogicalTreeHelper will return no childs)
Int32 lintVisualChildCount = VisualTreeHelper.GetChildrenCount(Parent);
for (Int32 lintVisualChildIndex = 0; lintVisualChildIndex < lintVisualChildCount; lintVisualChildIndex++)
if (!IsValid(VisualTreeHelper.GetChild(Parent, lintVisualChildIndex)))
lblnIsValid = false;
}
if (lfocusedElement != null)
lfocusedElement.Focus();
return lblnIsValid;
}
public static List<DependencyProperty> GetAllDependencyProperties(DependencyObject DependencyObject)
{
Type ltype = DependencyObject.GetType();
if (gdicCachedDependencyProperties.ContainsKey(ltype.FullName))
return gdicCachedDependencyProperties[ltype.FullName];
List<DependencyProperty> llstDependencyProperties = new List<DependencyProperty>();
List<FieldInfo> llstFieldInfos = ltype.GetFields(BindingFlags.Public | BindingFlags.FlattenHierarchy | BindingFlags.Instance | BindingFlags.Static).Where(Field => Field.FieldType == typeof(DependencyProperty)).ToList();
foreach (FieldInfo aFieldInfo in llstFieldInfos)
llstDependencyProperties.Add(aFieldInfo.GetValue(null) as DependencyProperty);
gdicCachedDependencyProperties.Add(ltype.FullName, llstDependencyProperties);
return llstDependencyProperties;
}
}
The easiest way is to set the focus somewhere.
You can set the focus back immediately, but setting the focus anywhere will trigger the LostFocus-Event on any type of control and make it update its stuff:
IInputElement x = System.Windows.Input.Keyboard.FocusedElement;
DummyField.Focus();
x.Focus();
Another way would be to get the focused element, get the binding element from the focused element, and trigger the update manually. An example for TextBox and ComboBox (you would need to add any control type you need to support):
TextBox t = Keyboard.FocusedElement as TextBox;
if ((t != null) && (t.GetBindingExpression(TextBox.TextProperty) != null))
t.GetBindingExpression(TextBox.TextProperty).UpdateSource();
ComboBox c = Keyboard.FocusedElement as ComboBox;
if ((c != null) && (c.GetBindingExpression(ComboBox.TextProperty) != null))
c.GetBindingExpression(ComboBox.TextProperty).UpdateSource();
What do you think about this? I believe I've figured out a way to make it a bit more generic using reflection. I really didn't like the idea of maintaining a list like some of the other examples.
var currentControl = System.Windows.Input.Keyboard.FocusedElement;
if (currentControl != null)
{
Type type = currentControl.GetType();
if (type.GetMethod("MoveFocus") != null && type.GetMethod("Focus") != null)
{
try
{
type.GetMethod("MoveFocus").Invoke(currentControl, new object[] { new TraversalRequest(FocusNavigationDirection.Next) });
type.GetMethod("Focus").Invoke(currentControl, null);
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
throw new Exception("Unable to handle unknown type: " + type.Name, ex);
}
}
}
See any problems with that?
Using BindingGroup will help to understand and mitigate this kind of problem.
Sometimes we consider to apply MVVM model against WPF data bindings.
For example, we consider about mail's subject property:
<TextBox x:Name="SubjectTextBox" Text="{Binding Subject}" />
TextBox SubjectTextBox is on side of View.
The bound property like ViewModel.Subject will belong to ViewModel.
The problem is that changes remain to View in this case.
When we close the WPF window, WPF TextBox won't loose focus on window close.
It means data binding won't perform writing back, and then changes are lost silently.
Introducing of BindingGroup helps to control whether we should apply changes: from View to ViewModel.
BindingGroup.CommitEdit(); will ensure apply changes of direction View → ViewModel
BindingGroup.CancelEdit(); will ensure to discard changes on View.
If you don't call neither, changes are lost silently!
In the following sample, we attach RibbonWindow_Closing event handler so that we can deal with this case of problem.
XAML:
<R:RibbonWindow Closing="RibbonWindow_Closing" ...>
<FrameworkElement.BindingGroup>
<BindingGroup />
</FrameworkElement.BindingGroup>
...
</R:RibbonWindow>
C#
private void RibbonWindow_Closing(object sender, CancelEventArgs e) {
e.Cancel = !NeedSave();
}
bool NeedSave() {
if (!BindingGroup.CommitEdit()) {
// There may be validation error.
return false; // changes this to true to allow closing.
}
// Insert your business code to check modifications.
// return true; if Saved/DontSave/NotChanged
// return false; if Cancel
}
It should work.