I've got a ListBox on a window with some other components.
When I change the Visibility of these other components, the ListBox fires its SelectionChanged event with the new selectedIndex = 0. That's very undesirable. (It doesn't happen if you insert breakpoints, or, presumably, Sleeps).
I want a reliable event that only fires when the user actually changes the ListBox selection, not when WPF merely changes the window layout.
Does such a thing exist, or for something more robust should I just build my own control from scratch using buttons?
for something more robust
If you want a robust application, you need a robust design.
If you're working with WPF, You need to leave behind the traditional event-based approach and understand and embrace The WPF Mentality.
I want to know when a user uses the mouse or keyboard to change the
listbox selection
Instead of handling events, putting a bunch of code behind, and hoping that the complexities of the Visual Tree will allow that to work, simply use proper DataBinding:
<ListBox ItemsSource="{Binding SomeCollection}"
SelectedItem="{Binding SelectedItem}"/>
to a proper ViewModel:
public class MyViewModel
{
public ObservableCollection<MyClass> SomeCollection {get;set;}
public MyClass SelectedItem {get;set;} //Don't forget INotifyPropertyChanged
}
See how I'm not handling any events or putting any code behind. The Visual tree can do whatever it wants and raise as many events, and my code will still work.
Also see how this approach is much cleaner because it allows a true separation between UI and data.
I could go on forever about the advantages of proper MVVM, but I'm too lazy right now. Let me know if you need further help.
Related
I'm using MVVM Pattern (with MVVM Light) to build my XAML app (win8). I have a ListView, which is bound to a property of my ViewModel. I also have a button that triggers an operation on that ViewModel, which updates that property (which results in updating the ListView). The button uses commanding to execute the operation on the ViewModel. So far so good.
The problem is that after the list is refreshed I need to perform an operation that strictly belongs to my View, not to the ViewModel. It should scroll the list to a specific item. How to trigger that operation? Should I use a specific ListView event?
Using an EventHandler and the ScrollIntoView(Object) method you can achieve what you want without using references of the View inside the ViewMovel and respecting MVVM pattern.
Create an event in your ViewModel like this:
public event EventHandler ScrollListView;
In your View add a callback to scroll the ListView when the property is updated:
ViewModel vm;
vm.ScrollListView += (sender, e) =>
{
var specificItem = **some item**;
MyListView.SelectedItem = specificItem;
MyListView.UpdateLayout();
MyListView.ScrollIntoView(MyListView.SelectedItem);
};
Then in your ViewModel when you update that property and want to scroll the ListView:
if (this.ScrollListView != null)
{
this.ScrollListView(this, EventArgs.Empty);
}
This is how I usually do with some tweaks for each case of course.
The ViewModel is there to decouple the UI Code from the UI Design (E.g. XAML). [Separation of Concerns of Designer and Developer, Automated testing of UI Code, etc]
Ideally the code-behind file of the View will be empty (except the call to InitializeComponent) and all UI logic and state will be handled by the ViewModel. However, in practice there might be some specific UI manipulation that cannot be handled by data-binding alone and you will need to resort to code. Such code should be placed in the code-behind.
In your case, the logic for (a) when and (b) which item to scroll to must be in the ViewModel (not in the View). Only any additional logic required to perform the actual scrolling in the ListView will be in the View code-behind.
Yes, an event would be the ideal way to do this, to avoid having any references to the View inside the ViewModel. I would recommend however to create a custom event in the ViewModel (e.g. OnFirstItemInViewChanged with arguments the item to scroll to) and in the View code-behind register to this event and just call ListView.ScrollIntoView(item).
Note:
WinForms DataGridView had a property FirstDisplayedScrollingRowIndex. If there was something similar in WPF ListView, you could solve this by binding this property to a ViewModel property, therefore leaving the code-behind completely clean.
i am kind of new to mvvm and i understand the basic concpects.
now i have a question:
i have two different viewmodels, which will be attached together on another wpf gui.
in one viewmodel, there is a button and a checkbox; ("left sided control")
now the "trick":
on the other viewmodel there is a checkbox, too. ("right sided control")
now: if the button was hit, then on the other viewmodel should be checked if the checkbox is set, too.
basicly i would do it with an event or a "signal", but the thing is, if the checkbox on the "right sided control" is checked, it needs a value from the "left sided".
the implemenation would be done by an event, and if so: how can i pass parameters??
as i am new to that mvvm i don't know exactly what i am really looking for and which solution would be "state of the art" and "mvvm"-style.
have a look at http://www.galasoft.ch/mvvm/, it has a Messenger class that i think it's exactly what you need
Firstly the UI interaction sounds a little complicated - it might be worth reviewing your UI interaction - could that be simplifed? Assuming not (i.e complexe UI need is real):
It sounds like left side view model (LVM) depends on a property of right side view model (RVM). So is it possible to setup that relationship in your view model properties i.e. Can LVM be setup to hold a ref to RVM and that the property that is bound to the check box itselft checks the dependant property on RVM? Then your command (bound on LVM) just has to check a proerty of LVM.
You need to use some Event Aggregator (for example from Prism library) for such stuff. Here is an c# pseudocode example of how to do it using Prism's Event Aggregator:
In your RVM:
_eventAggregator.GetEvent<LeftCBCheckedEvent>()
.Subscribe(SaveStateOfLeftCBLocally);
...
private void SaveStateOfLeftCBLocally(bool isLeftCBChecked)
{
_isLeftCBChecked = isLeftCBChecked;
}
In your LVM:
public bool IsLeftCBChecked {get; set;}
...
_eventAggregator.GetEvent<LeftCBCheckedEvent>().Publish(IsLeftCBChecked);
Event definition:
public class LeftCBCheckedEvent : CompositePresentationEvent<bool>{}
So when that button is pressed you'll already know the state of your left check box. And I strongly recommend to check Prism, it's a great library for composite applications, I think it can add a big value to your project.
I'm working on PRISM application with modules, MVVM and so on. I understand PRISM pretty good now and I understand value of MVVM. All those things good to deliver business value which comes from testability, "uniformity" and so on.
But now I'm stuck with certain interaction issues. I already spent hours and hours trying to see how I set focus in Silverlight via MVVM. All this additional behaviors, attached properties, triggers. It just seems like bunch of junk code with MVVM being root cause.
For example, I need to create Lookup control which is basically textbox with button and popup window. This control itself needs lot of focus control, it needs to overlay view over parent (popups) and so on. It seems to be pretty easy to create it with code-behind, stick it into separate library and move on. My business forms will use this control inside my nice MVVM PRISM.
So, question is.. Is it justified to use code-behind in isolated islands like controls and keep MVVM and TDD for actual code that brings business value?
Is there line where you say "MVVM is not going to be used here" ?
I see absolutely nothing wrong with using Code Behind providing that the code is related to view-specific properties, such as setting Focus. Your ViewModel should never need to know about or care who or what has focus, since that is a View-Specific concept.
Usually I build UserControls in two ways: they are either built for a specific Model or ViewModel, or they are meant to be generic and have their values provided by whoever calls them.
In the case of the former, such as if I wanted a SearchResultsPopup, I would build the UserControl expecting to have something like a SearchResultsViewModel as the DataContext.
For example, my UserControl would expect to find the following properties on it's DataContext, and would use them in bindings to build the View.
ObservableCollection<SearchResult> Results
SearchResult SelectedResult
bool IsOpen
ICommand OkCommand
ICommand CancelCommand
I could then use the UserControl like this:
<local:SearchResultsPopup DataContext="{Binding MySearchResultsVM}" />
In the later situation, where I am creating something generic which can be used by any Model or ViewModel, I would use custom Dependency Properties to provide my UserControl with the values it needs to bind to.
So in this example, I would have DependencyProperties for
bool IsOpen
ICommand OkCommand
ICommand CancelCommand
And my XAML would look something like this:
<local:GenericPopup local:GenericPopup.IsOpen="{Binding IsPopupOpen}"
local:GenericPopup.SaveCommand="{Binding SavePopupCommand}"
local:GenericPopup.CancelCommand="{Binding HidePopupCommand}">
<local:MySearchResultsView ... />
</local:GenericPopup>
In summary, your UserControl is either a reflection of your ViewModel (meaning it becomes a View), or it is provided values by the View. The ViewModel doesn't care either way.
I want to use WPF with MVVM pattern in my project, but i am confused about some points regarding MVVM pattern. Please help me to clarify these points.
I am using DataTemplate for ViewModel, but i want specific control to be keyboard focused.
How can i focus specific control after ICommand Executed.
How can i move focus to not validated control.
Is there any way to separate DataTemplate depending on ViewModel property value.
How can i validate all controls before ICommand
Is there any other better approach to ask any confirmation from ViewModel with MessageBox
Regards,
Mitan
I highly suggest you have a look at caliburn (or caliburn.micro) which exposes different UImanager interfaces so your viewmodel can do such things without losing unit testability.
To set the foucs on control use codebehind. MVVM doesn't say don't not use codebehind.
Write a method on code behind to set the focus and call this method from view model.
Example
public interface IView
{
void setFoucs();
}
//Code Behind
public class MyWindow : Window, IView
{
public void SetFoucs()
{
MyControl.Focus();
}
}
public class ViewModel
{
public IView _view { get; set; }
public ViewModel(IView view)
{
_view = view;
}
public void SomeMethod()
{
_view.SetFocus();
}
}
For question no 4 - I think your are looking to selecte specific datatemplate based on your some logic. To achieve this use DataTemplateSelector class.
http://www.switchonthecode.com/tutorials/wpf-tutorial-how-to-use-a-datatemplateselector
Question 1:
Not clear what you mean/want. Generally the TabIndex controls the focus flow in your application, with silverlight it is however not as easy to configure as in windows forms. Silverlight also does a good job at setting the tab sequence automatically.
However, you should note that all controls inheriting from Control receive, by default, the focus. This incudes some controls that may be used as a container for other controls (e.g. ContentControl). This behaviour might lead to some unwanted effects. Use the IsTabStop property to remove these controls from the tab order.
Question 2:
Well, it depends on how decoupled you want your application (the more decoupled the better). #pchajer's approach is one way of doing it, however it couples the view to the view model and this - although abstracted via an interface - is IMHO not a good idea for the following reasons:
Usually the view model is pulled from a locator in order to allow for blendability. Now if I have to use code behind to pass the View to the ViewModel this might break it. Better would be if it could be injected into the ViewModel via a constructor parameter and this would then break the locator.
The code becomes less testable as it now depends on the view. To make it testable you need to inject an implementaion of IView into the ViewModel, and this breaks the locator again.
Therefore, I would advise you to use Messaging to send a message to your view once the Command is complete. Then you can set the focus in the message handler. However, be aware that your might have to use the Dispatcher as the message handler could run in a separate thread.
Question 3:
You could capture the BindingValidationError on the control and then set the focus. Again be aware of possible threading issues.
Question 4:
Not sure, but if you mean that you want to use different DataTemplates based on whether a property has a certain value or not a TemplateSelector might help you. See http://www.switchonthecode.com/tutorials/wpf-tutorial-how-to-use-a-datatemplateselector.
Question 5:
The controls are validated when the property change event is fired, usually on the lost focus event. Your Model/ViewModel can implement IDataError to do the validation, and your can access this value from the CanExecute method associated with your command. However, you should try to keep the code in the CanExecute method as quick as possible as this method is called quite frequently.
Question 6:
You can implement your own Window that provides a custom layout. However, using the message box is a lot simpler. Again you should think of using messaging or a dialog service (e.g. http://blog.roboblob.com/2010/01/19/modal-dialogs-with-mvvm-and-silverlight-4/) to decouple your View and ViewModel. In fact there is even a DialogMessage in MVVMLight.
I am following the M-V-VM pattern for my WPF UI. I would like to hook up a command to the TextChanged event of a TextBox to a command that is in my ViewModel class. The only way I can conceive of completing this task is to inherit from the TextBox control, and implement ICommandSource. I can then instruct the command to be fired from the TextChanged event. This seems to be too much work for something which appears to be so simple.
Is there an easier way (than subclassing the TextBox and implementing ICommandSource) to hook up the TextChanged event to my ViewModel class?
First off, you've surely considered two-way data binding to your viewmodel, with an UpdateSourceTrigger of PropertyChanged? That way the property setter of the property you bind to will be called every time the text is changed?
If that's not enough, then I would tackle this problem using Attached Behaviours. On Julian Dominguez’s Blog you'll find an article about how to do something very similar in Silverlight, which should be easily adaptable to WPF.
Basically, in a static class (called, say TextBoxBehaviours) you define an Attached Property called (perhaps) TextChangedCommand of type ICommand. Hook up an OnPropertyChanged handler for that property, and within the handler, check that the property is being set on a TextBox; if it is, add a handler to the TextChanged event on the textbox that will call the command specified in the property.
Then, assuming your viewmodel has been assigned to the DataContext of your View, you would use it like:
<TextBox
x:Name="MyTextBox"
TextBoxBehaviours.TextChangedCommand="{Binding ViewModelTextChangedCommand}" />
Using the event binding and command method might not be the right thing to use.
What exactly will this command do?
You might want to consider using a Databinding to a string field in your VM. This way you can make a call to a command or function from there rather than having the UI care at all.
<TextBox Text="{Binding WorldName}"/>
....
public string WorldName
{
get
{
return WorldData.Name;
}
set
{
WorldData.Name = value;
OnPropertyChanged("WorldName");
// CallYourCustomFunctionHere();
}
}
Can you not just handle the TextChanged event and execute the command from there?
private void _textBox_TextChanged(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
MyCommand.Execute(null);
}
The alternative, as you say, is to create a TextBox that acts as a command source, but that does seem like overkill unless it's something you're planning on sharing and leveraging in many places.