I'm diving into WPF, coming from a Winforms background where I used groupboxes to show and hide "panels" depending on what menu options were clicked. This was a bit of a nightmare at designtime having multiple overlapping groupboxes.
Does WPF solve this problem? Is the groupbox still the way to go? Or are there better solutions?
The WPF GroupBox has a property on it called 'Visibility' (inherited from UIElement) which can be controlled in a View Model via binding.
This Xaml fragment shows a GroupBox's visibility being bound to a property called 'MyGroupBoxVisibility'...
<Grid>
<GroupBox Header="This and that" Visibility="{Binding MyGroupBoxVisibility}" Background="Plum"/>
</Grid>
A sample View Model which contains the 'MyGroupBoxVisibility' is...
public class ViewModel : INotifyPropertyChanged
{
public ViewModel()
{
HideTheGroupBox();
}
private void ShowTheGroupBox()
{
MyGroupBoxVisibility = Visibility.Visible;
}
private void HideTheGroupBox()
{
MyGroupBoxVisibility = Visibility.Collapsed;
}
private Visibility _myGroupBoxVisibility;
public Visibility MyGroupBoxVisibility
{
[DebuggerStepThrough]
get { return _myGroupBoxVisibility; }
[DebuggerStepThrough]
set
{
if (value != _myGroupBoxVisibility)
{
_myGroupBoxVisibility = value;
OnPropertyChanged("MyGroupBoxVisibility");
}
}
}
#region INotifyPropertyChanged Implementation
public event PropertyChangedEventHandler PropertyChanged;
protected virtual void OnPropertyChanged(string name)
{
var handler = System.Threading.Interlocked.CompareExchange(ref PropertyChanged, null, null);
if (handler != null)
{
handler(this, new PropertyChangedEventArgs(name));
}
}
#endregion
}
This sample has two methods in it which toggle the visibility back and forth. You can use this technique to transfer your WinForms stuff into WPF and also keep it within MVVM.
ETA: Note that it's vital to understand the difference between Collapsed and Hidden visibilities. Please see http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.windows.visibility(v=vs.110).aspx for an explanation
Related
I am using MVVM in a WPF application with C# and got a problem binding a ComboBox correctly.
This is my ComboBox line in the XAML:
<ComboBox ItemsSource="{Binding Repository.Models}" SelectedValue="{Binding Repository.SelectedModel}" DisplayMemberPath="Name"></ComboBox>
This is the interesting part of my Repository:
class Repository : INotifyPropertyChanged
{
//init MVVM pattern
public event PropertyChangedEventHandler PropertyChanged;
private void NotifyPropertyChanged(string propertyName)
{
if (PropertyChanged != null)
{
PropertyChanged(this, new PropertyChangedEventArgs(propertyName));
}
}
private ObservableCollection<Model> _models;
public ObservableCollection<Model> Models
{
get
{
return _models;
}
set
{
_models = value;
NotifyPropertyChanged("Models");
}
}
private Model _selectedModel;
public Model SelectedModel
{
get
{
return _selectedModel;
}
set
{
_selectedModel = value;
NotifyPropertyChanged("SelectedModel");
}
}
This is the interesting part of my Model class:
abstract class Model : INotifyPropertyChanged
{
//init MVVM pattern
public event PropertyChangedEventHandler PropertyChanged;
private void NotifyPropertyChanged(string propertyName)
{
if (PropertyChanged != null)
{
PropertyChanged(this, new PropertyChangedEventArgs(propertyName));
}
}
private string _name;
public string Name
{
get
{
return _name;
}
set
{
_name = value;
NotifyPropertyChanged("Name");
}
}
So when I select/change different items of the combobox a DataGrid that is binded to Repository.SelectedModel.Parameters does update just as i want it to.
Because of that I know, that the binding does work!
When I restart the application and debug into my Repository, I see that there is a SelectedModel (deserialised on startup) but the ComboBox stays blank. The DataGrid though does show the right data.
So the binding itself does work, but the binding to the ComboBoxLabel somehow fails.
I tried a lot of things like switching between SelectedItem and SelectedValue, between Binding and Binding Path, between IsSynchronizedWithCurrentItem true and false, but nothing worked so far.
Do you see my mistake?
Thanks in advance!
EDIT
Here is the interesting part of my MainWindowViewModel:
class MainWindowViewModel : INotifyPropertyChanged
{
//init MVVM pattern
public event PropertyChangedEventHandler PropertyChanged;
private void NotifyPropertyChanged(string propertyName)
{
if (PropertyChanged != null)
{
PropertyChanged(this, new PropertyChangedEventArgs(propertyName));
}
}
private Repository _repository;
public Repository Repository
{
get
{
return _repository;
}
set
{
_repository = value;
NotifyPropertyChanged("Repository");
}
}
And here is my App.xaml.cs where I init my DataContext:
//init point of app
public partial class App : Application
{
private MainWindowViewModel mainWindowViewModel;
//gets fired as the app starts
protected override void OnStartup(StartupEventArgs e)
{
//create the ViewModel
mainWindowViewModel = new MainWindowViewModel();
//create the mainWindow
var mainWindow = new MainWindow();
mainWindow.DataContext = mainWindowViewModel;
//show the mainWindow
mainWindow.Show();
}
When I restart the application and debug into my Repository, I see that there is a SelectedModel (deserialised on startup) but the ComboBox stays blank. The DataGrid though does show the right data.
Looks like the deserialization is the problem.
You have a selected item which was deserialized. That means that a new Model instance was created which has a Name of whatever, and Properties that are whatever. And you have a list of Model instances in an ObservableCollection<Model> which are displayed in a ComboBox.
And you assure us that at least sometimes, you have ComboBox.SelectedItem bound to SelectedModel, though for some reason the code in your question binds ComboBox.SelectedValue instead. That's not going to work. Here's how ComboBox.SelectedValue would be used:
<ComboBox
ItemsSource="{Binding Repository.Models}"
SelectedValuePath="Name"
SelectedValue="{Binding SelectedModelName}"
/>
...and you would have to have a String SelectedModelName { get; set; } property on your viewmodel. The Name property of the selected Model would be assigned to that by the ComboBox when the selection changed. But you don't have SelectedModelName, and you don't want it, so forget about SelectedValue.
Back to SelectedItem. The ComboBox gets the value of SelectedModel from the binding, and tries to find that exact object in its list of Items. Since that exact object is not in that list, it selects nothing. There is probably an item in Repository.Models that has the same name and has identical Properties, but it is not the same actual instance of the Model class. ComboBox doesn't look for an identical twin of the value in SelectedItem; it looks for the same object.
SelectedModel.Properties works in the DataGrid because the DataGrid doesn't know or care what's in Models. You give it a collection, it's good.
So: If you want to deserialize a SelectedModel and have it mean anything, what you need to do is go ahead and deserialize, but then find the equivalent item in Repository.Models (same Name, same Properties), and assign that actual object instance to SelectedModel.
You may be tempted to overload Model.Equals(). Don't. I've done that to solve the same problem. The resulting behavior is not expected in C# and will bite you, hard, and when you least expect it, because you are invisibly altering behavior that happens in framework code. I've spent days tracking down bugs I created that way, and I'll never do it to myself again.
Try SelectedItem instead of SelectedValue in ComboBox.
I have a listbox that is bound to a list of custom objects. I can get the listbox items to display correctly using the ListBox.ItemTemplate in xaml. The custom objects for the listbox are all of the same base class outlined below.
public class HomeViewMenuItem : UIElement
{
private Uri _uri;
private IRegionManager _manager;
public HomeViewMenuItem(string text, Uri uri, IRegionManager manager)
{
this.PreviewMouseDown += HomeViewMenuItem_PreviewMouseDown;
this.PreviewKeyDown += HomeViewMenuItem_PreviewKeyDown;
_manager = manager;
Text = text;
_uri = uri;
ClickCommand = new DelegateCommand(this.Click, this.CanClick);
}
void HomeViewMenuItem_PreviewKeyDown(object sender, System.Windows.Input.KeyEventArgs e)
{
if (e.Key == System.Windows.Input.Key.Enter)
{
e.Handled = true;
this.ClickCommand.Execute();
}
}
void HomeViewMenuItem_PreviewMouseDown(object sender, System.Windows.Input.MouseButtonEventArgs e)
{
e.Handled = true;
this.ClickCommand.Execute();
}
private void Click()
{
_manager.Regions[RegionNames.MainRegion].RequestNavigate(_uri);
}
private bool CanClick()
{
return true;
}
public DelegateCommand ClickCommand { get; set; }
public string Text { get; set; }
}
The problem I am having is the HomeViewMenuItem_PreviewKeyDown method is not getting called. I believe this is because the method is getting called on the ListBoxItem itself first and getting handled there. I was able to verify this by obtaining a reference to the ListBoxItem object through listBox.ItemContainerGenerator.ContainerFromIndex(0) after the ItemContainerGenerator status changes to ContainersGenerated and adding an event handler there. This event handler correctly fired. Normally this would be an ok solution on a small project but I plan on having more listboxes with the same sort of functionality and would like to have a simpler/better solution. Is there a way that I can get my base class previewkeydown method to work?
The only solution I could think of is to have the base class inherit from ListBoxItem instead of UIElement then get the ListBox to create my items instead of ListBoxItems. But I dont think that is really possible without creating my own ListBox implementation.
You seem to be somewhat confused. In WPF, we create data items and declare DataTemplates to define what those items should look like in the UI. Our data items do not extend UI classes. If you have to handle the PreviewKeyDown event, then attach a handler to the UI element in the DataTemplate instead:
<DataTemplate>
<Grid PreviewKeyDown="HomeViewMenuItem_PreviewKeyDown">
...
</Grid>
</DataTemplate>
I have the following simple WPF-app:
<Window x:Class="TabControlOutOfRangeException.MainWindow"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
Title="MainWindow" Height="350" Width="525">
<TabControl ItemsSource="{Binding ItemsSource}"
SelectedIndex="{Binding SelectedIndex, IsAsync=True}" />
</Window>
with following simple code-behind:
using System.Collections.Generic;
namespace TabControlOutOfRangeException
{
public partial class MainWindow
{
public List<string> ItemsSource { get; private set; }
public int SelectedIndex { get; set; }
public MainWindow()
{
InitializeComponent();
ItemsSource = new List<string>{"Foo", "Bar", "FooBar"};
DataContext = this;
}
}
}
When I click on the second tab ("Bar"), nothing is displayed. When I click again on any tab, I get an IndexOutOfRangeException. Setting IsAsync to False, the TabControl works.
Unfortunately, I have the requirement to query the user a "Save changes?" question when he leaves the current tab. So I wanted to set the SelectedIndex back to the old value within the set-property. Obviously this doesn't work. What am I doing wrong?
Update
I've subclassed the TabControl with the evil hack and it works for me. Here is the code of MainWindow.xaml:
<Window x:Class="TabControlOutOfRangeException.MainWindow"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
xmlns:TabControlOutOfRangeException="clr-namespace:TabControlOutOfRangeException" Title="MainWindow" Height="350" Width="525">
<Grid>
<TabControlOutOfRangeException:PreventChangingTabsTabControl
ItemsSource="{Binding ItemsSource}"
SelectedIndex="{Binding SelectedIndex}"
CanChangeTab="{Binding CanChangeTab}" Margin="0,0,0,51" />
<CheckBox Content="CanChangeTab" IsChecked="{Binding CanChangeTab}" Margin="0,287,0,0" />
</Grid>
</Window>
And here MainWindow.xaml.cs:
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.ComponentModel;
namespace TabControlOutOfRangeException
{
public partial class MainWindow : INotifyPropertyChanged
{
public int SelectedIndex { get; set; }
public List<string> ItemsSource { get; private set; }
public MainWindow()
{
InitializeComponent();
ItemsSource = new List<string> { "Foo", "Bar", "FooBar" };
DataContext = this;
}
private bool _canChangeTab;
public bool CanChangeTab
{
get { return _canChangeTab; }
set
{
_canChangeTab = value;
OnPropertyChanged("CanChangeTab");
}
}
public event PropertyChangedEventHandler PropertyChanged;
private void OnPropertyChanged(string property)
{
var handler = PropertyChanged;
if (handler != null)
handler(this, new PropertyChangedEventArgs(property));
}
}
}
And finally the subclassed TabControl:
using System;
using System.Windows;
using System.Windows.Controls;
namespace TabControlOutOfRangeException
{
public class PreventChangingTabsTabControl : TabControl
{
private int _previousTab;
public PreventChangingTabsTabControl()
{
SelectionChanged += (s, e) =>
{
if (!CanChangeTab)
{
e.Handled = true;
SelectedIndex = _previousTab;
}
else
_previousTab = SelectedIndex;
};
}
public static readonly DependencyProperty CanChangeTabProperty = DependencyProperty.Register(
"CanChangeTab",
typeof(Boolean),
typeof(PreventChangingTabsTabControl)
);
public bool CanChangeTab
{
get { return (bool)GetValue(CanChangeTabProperty); }
set { SetValue(CanChangeTabProperty, value); }
}
}
}
I'd consider a redesign of that window instead of introducing a heap of new problems by just trial-and-erroring on the "IsAsync" property of the binding.
I am not sure if a tab control will allow this level of control you seek. You could try to catch the event when someone tries to change the selected item, but you would not be able to cancel it out. There is a way however, see Option 4 if you dont want to read the other suggestions.
Option 1: The custom control
I would consider writing a bit of custom code that mimics the functionality of an item container. Its easy to achieve your desired behaviour this way. Just bind a command to the buttons (or whatever control you wish the user to click on), and return CanExecute with false if there are still changes to be submitted - or ask your user whatever you want when it gets executed, and only change the content displayed (ie your custom "TabItem") if desired.
Option 2: Preventing the user by disabling the tabs
Another way would be to bind the "IsEnabled" property of each of the tabitems to a dependency property on your viewmodel, that controls which of them is available to the user. Like, you know that the first page still needs work, just disable all the other ones meanwhile. But be aware that right now you are not creating any TabItems - your content are just plain strings.
public List<TabItem> ItemsSource { get; private set; }
....
ItemsSource = new List<TabItem> { new TabItem() { Header = "Foo", Content = "Foo" }, new TabItem() { Header = "Bar", Content = "Bar" }, new TabItem() { Header = "FooBar", Content = "FooBar" } };
Since you don't want to prevent the user doing something but rather would like to ask to save the changes, i'd go for the custom control route. Still there is option 3.
Option 3: Popup window
Use a popup window and ask to save changes if the user is finished with changing whatever is on that page and clicks on the "Close" button (rather than the "Save" button that should also reside on the same page ;) )
Option 4: Check on StackOverflow
Actually i did that for you, and here is a solution another user has found for the exact same problem: WPF Tab Control Prevent Tab Change
The reason why i didnt post that up-front was that i personally wouldnt do it that way because, man do i HATE applications that do this.
Here you go.
Try actually implementing the SelectedIndex
namespace TabControlOutOfRangeException
{
public partial class MainWindow
{
public List<string> ItemsSource { get; private set; }
private int selectedIndex
public int SelectedIndex {
get { return selectedIndex; }
set { selecectedIndex = value; } }
public MainWindow()
{
InitializeComponent();
ItemsSource = new List<string>{"Foo", "Bar", "FooBar"};
DataContext = this;
}
}
}
If you want to be able to affect the TabControl the binding needs to be two-way, i.e. your code-behind needs to be able to notify the view that the property changed, for that you should implement INotifyPropertyChanged in your window, e.g.
public partial class MainWindow : INotifyPropertyChanged
private int _selectedIndex;
public int SelectedIndex
{
get { return _selectedIndex; }
set
{
if (_selectedIndex != value)
{
_selectedIndex = value;
OnPropertyChanged("SelectedIndex");
}
}
}
public event PropertyChangedEventHandler PropertyChanged;
protected virtual void OnPropertyChanged(string propertyName)
{
if (this.PropertyChanged != null)
{
this.PropertyChanged(this, new PropertyChangedEventArgs(propertyName));
}
}
Async bindings are usually for properties which have a long-running getter, with e.g. a database query, you should not need this here.
In case you want to to change the selectedIndex in the setter itself, then to get it updated on UI, you have to raise the property changed in an async manner like this -
public partial class MainWindow : INotifyPropertyChanged
private int _selectedIndex;
public int SelectedIndex
{
get { return _selectedIndex; }
set
{
if (_selectedIndex != value)
{
_selectedIndex = value;
OnPropertyChangedAsAsync("SelectedIndex");
}
}
}
public event PropertyChangedEventHandler PropertyChanged;
protected virtual void OnPropertyChanged(string propertyName)
{
if (this.PropertyChanged != null)
{
this.PropertyChanged(this, new PropertyChangedEventArgs(propertyName));
}
}
protected virtual void OnPropertyChangedAsAsync(string propertyName)
{
Dispatcher.CurrentDispatcher.BeginInvoke((Action)delegate { OnPropertyChanged(propertyName); }, DispatcherPriority.Render, null);
}
I would like to use a progressbar in a simple way. I have a query that is run to return data to a grid when a user clicks a button. I would like to start the progressbar when the button is clicked and stop the progressbar when the data is returned to the grid.
I just want the progressbar to continue on (IsIndeterminate="True") to show that there is actually something happening.
Is there any way to bind the start and stop of the progressbar to properties or commands in my view model?
Thanks for any thoughts.
Use the IsIndeterminate property as your property to bind against a property on your ViewModel; mine is titled IsBusy in this example.
public partial class Window1 : Window
{
public MyViewModel _viewModel = new MyViewModel();
public Window1()
{
InitializeComponent();
this.DataContext = _viewModel;
}
private void Button_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
//this would be a command in your ViewModel, making life easy
_viewModel.IsBusy = !_viewModel.IsBusy;
}
}
public class MyViewModel : INotifyPropertyChanged
{
private bool _isBusy = false;
public bool IsBusy
{
get
{
return _isBusy;
}
set
{
_isBusy = value;
PropertyChangedEventHandler handler = PropertyChanged;
if(handler != null)
handler(this, new PropertyChangedEventArgs("IsBusy"));
}
}
#region INotifyPropertyChanged Members
public event PropertyChangedEventHandler PropertyChanged;
#endregion
}
The XAML is in this instance uses a click event handler for the Button; however in your instance you would simply bind your action which will start your processing to the command on your ViewModel.
<Grid>
<ProgressBar Width="100" Height="25" IsIndeterminate="{Binding IsBusy}"></ProgressBar>
<Button VerticalAlignment="Bottom" Click="Button_Click" Width="100" Height="25" Content="On/Off"/>
</Grid>
As you begin work and end work modifying the IsBusy property on your ViewModel will then start and stop the indeterminate behavior, providing the active/not-active visual appearance you are after.
You could expose a property that you then use to trigger the visibility of the ProgressBar, but you're better off using a control that encompasses a progress bar and exposes a property that turns it on/off. For example, the BusyIndicator in the Extended WPF Toolkit.
Scenario: In a Silverlight 4 MVVM project, we have a ListBox control containing items, the selected item is two-way-bound to the appropriate property in the ViewModel. Another control (for example reasons, I've stripped it down to a single TextBox) is data bound to the selected item's content. The value should update on leave/focus lost.
Problem: When the value in the TextBox is changed and we leave that TextBox by pressing the Tab key, everything works as desired - the value is updated. However, if the user clicks on a different item in the ListBox, then the SelectedItem setter is fired before the content of TextBox setter is fired, leaving no chance to handle the user input.
You can see in debugger, when adding breakpoints to the property setters, that the new ListView selection is applied first, before the TextBox update is processed.
Desired behavior: We need to know that the currently selected item was modified before the user has selected another item. It's not desired to have a custom update trigger which would notify on each key press (we know that's possible).
Can you help?
Code (a very simple example):
ViewModel
public abstract class ViewModelBase : INotifyPropertyChanged
{
public event PropertyChangedEventHandler PropertyChanged;
protected void OnPropertyChanged(string propertyName)
{
var handler = PropertyChanged;
if (handler != null)
handler(this, new PropertyChangedEventArgs(propertyName));
}
}
public class ItemViewModel : ViewModelBase
{
private string _content;
public ItemViewModel(string initContent)
{
_content = initContent;
}
public string Content
{
get
{
return _content;
}
set
{
if (_content != value)
{
_content = value;
OnPropertyChanged("Content");
}
}
}
}
public class MainViewModel : ViewModelBase
{
private ObservableCollection<ItemViewModel> _items =
new ObservableCollection<ItemViewModel>();
private ItemViewModel _selectedViewModel;
public ObservableCollection<ItemViewModel> Items
{
get
{
return _items;
}
}
public ItemViewModel SelectedItem
{
get
{
return _selectedViewModel;
}
set
{
if (_selectedViewModel != value)
{
_selectedViewModel = value;
OnPropertyChanged("SelectedItem");
}
}
}
}
XAML
<Grid x:Name="LayoutRoot" Background="White">
<ListBox Height="100"
HorizontalAlignment="Left"
Margin="12,12,0,0"
VerticalAlignment="Top"
ItemsSource="{Binding Items}"
SelectedItem="{Binding SelectedItem, Mode=TwoWay}"
DisplayMemberPath="Content"
Width="220" />
<TextBox Height="23"
HorizontalAlignment="Left"
Margin="12,118,0,0"
Text="{Binding SelectedItem.Content, Mode=TwoWay}"
VerticalAlignment="Top"
Width="220" />
</Grid>
XAML Code Behind
public MvvmTestView()
{
InitializeComponent();
Loaded += new RoutedEventHandler(MvvmTestView_Loaded);
}
void MvvmTestView_Loaded(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
MainViewModel viewModel = new MainViewModel();
viewModel.Items.Add(new ItemViewModel("Hello StackOverflow"));
viewModel.Items.Add(new ItemViewModel("Thanks to Community"));
DataContext = viewModel;
}
UPDATE 1
I present a self designed solution for you to check out, which will be probably be the accepted one, I still want to encourage you to make comments and give your hints. Thanks.
You could add a behavior to your textbox to updated the binding every time the text is changed in the textbox. Maybe this solved your problems.
Here´s the code for the Behavior class:
public class UpdateTextBindingOnPropertyChanged : Behavior<TextBox> {
// Fields
private BindingExpression expression;
// Methods
protected override void OnAttached() {
base.OnAttached();
this.expression = base.AssociatedObject.GetBindingExpression(TextBox.TextProperty);
base.AssociatedObject.TextChanged+= OnTextChanged;
}
protected override void OnDetaching() {
base.OnDetaching();
base.AssociatedObject.TextChanged-= OnTextChanged;
this.expression = null;
}
private void OnTextChanged(object sender, EventArgs args) {
this.expression.UpdateSource();
}
}
Heres the XAML:
xmlns:i="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/2010/interactivity"
xmlns:local="Namespace of the class where UpdateTextBindingOnPropertyChanged is defined"
<TextBox Text="{Binding SelectedItem.Content, Mode=TwoWay}">
<i:Interaction.Behaviors>
<local:UpdateTextBindingOnPropertyChanged />
</i:Interaction.Behaviors>
</TextBox >
This is one solution we currently came up with. It has the advantage that it separates different tasks to the appropriate layer. For example, the View enforces an update of the binding, while the ViewModel tells the View to do so. Another advantage is that its handled synchronously, which would for example allow to check the content right before switching away, and the call-stack remains unchanged without raising "External Code" (Going over Dispatcher or even DispatcherTimer would do so) which is better for maintenance and flow control. A disadvantage is the new Event which has to be bound and handled (and finally unbound. I present an anonymous handler only for example reasons).
How to get there?
In ViewModelBase, implement a new ForceBindingUpdate event:
public abstract class ViewModelBase : INotifyPropertyChanged
{
// ----- leave everything from original code ------
public event EventHandler ForceBindingUpdate;
protected void OnForceBindingUpdate()
{
var handler = ForceBindingUpdate;
if (handler != null)
handler(this, EventArgs.Empty);
}
}
In MainViewModel, update the setter of the SelectedItem property:
set // of SelectedItem Property
{
if (_selectedViewModel != value)
{
// Ensure Data Update - the new part
OnForceBindingUpdate();
// Old stuff
_selectedViewModel = value;
OnPropertyChanged("SelectedItem");
}
}
Update the MvvmTestView Code Behind to implement the new event:
void MvvmTestView_Loaded(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
// remains unchanged
Mvvm.MainViewModel viewModel = new Mvvm.MainViewModel();
viewModel.Items.Add(new Mvvm.ItemViewModel("Hello StackOverflow"));
viewModel.Items.Add(new Mvvm.ItemViewModel("Thanks to Community"));
// Ensure Data Update by rebinding the content property - the new part
viewModel.ForceBindingUpdate += (s, a) =>
{
var expr = ContentTextBox.GetBindingExpression(TextBox.TextProperty);
expr.UpdateSource();
};
// remains unchanged
DataContext = viewModel;
}
Last but not least, the minimal XAML Update: Give the TextBox a name by adding x:Name="ContentTextBox" Attribute to the TextBoxs XAML.
Done.
Actually, I don't know if this is the cleanest solution, but it gets close to what we had in mind.
Maybe you could handle TextBox LostFocus then (instead of listening to every key press)?
Other idea would be to keep a proxy property on the ViewModel instead of directly binding to SelectedItem.Content and writing some code to make sure the item is updated.
Solution №1
public class LazyTextBox: TextBox
{
//bind to that property instead..
public string LazyText
{
get { return (string)GetValue(LazyTextProperty); }
set { SetValue(LazyTextProperty, value); }
}
public static readonly DependencyProperty LazyTextProperty =
DependencyProperty.Register("LazyText", typeof(string), typeof(LazyTextBox),
new PropertyMetadata(null));
//call this method when it's really nessasary...
public void EnsureThatLazyTextEqualText()
{
if (this.Text != this.LazyText)
{
this.LazyText = this.Text;
}
}
}
Solution №2 (works as magic :) )
public class MainViewModel : ViewModelBase
{
private ObservableCollection<ItemViewModel> _items =
new ObservableCollection<ItemViewModel>();
private ItemViewModel _selectedViewModel;
public ObservableCollection<ItemViewModel> Items { get { return _items; } }
public ItemViewModel SelectedItem
{
get { return _selectedViewModel; }
set
{
if (_selectedViewModel != value)
{
if (SelectedItem != null)
{
SelectedItem.Content = SelectedItem.Content;
}
_selectedViewModel = value;
// A little delay make no harm :)
var t = new DispatcherTimer();
t.Interval = TimeSpan.FromSeconds(0.1);
t.Tick += new EventHandler(t_Tick);
t.Start();
}
}
}
void t_Tick(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
OnPropertyChanged("SelectedItem");
(sender as DispatcherTimer).Stop();
}
}
I know that in MVVM we do not want to put code in code behind. But in this instance it hurts nothing as it is entirely maintained in the UI and SOP is maintained.
By putting a ghost element to take focus we can swap the focus back in forth forcing
the text box to commit its contents. So in the code behind we take care of the focus wiggle.
But yet we still are using a relay command Update Command to execute the save. So the order is good as the Click event fires wiggling the view. And then the relay command UpdateCommand will fire and the textbox is committed and ready for update.
<MenuItem Header="_Save"
Command="{Binding UpdateCommand}" Click="MenuItem_Click">
</MenuItem>
private void MenuItem_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
UIElement elem = Keyboard.FocusedElement as UIElement;
Keyboard.Focus(ghost);
Keyboard.Focus(elem);
}
Solution #3
public abstract class ViewModelBase : INotifyPropertyChanged
{
private List<string> _propNameList = new List<string>();
public event PropertyChangedEventHandler PropertyChanged;
protected void OnPropertyChanged(string propertyName)
{
var handler = PropertyChanged;
if (handler != null)
_propNameList.Add(propertyName);
var t = new DispatcherTimer();
t.Interval = TimeSpan.FromSeconds(0);
t.Tick += new EventHandler(t_Tick);
t.Start();
}
void t_Tick(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
if (_propNameList.Count > 0)
{
var handler = PropertyChanged;
if (handler != null)
handler(this, new PropertyChangedEventArgs(_propNameList[0]));
_propNameList.Remove(_propNameList[0]);
}
}
}
PS: it's the same timer.. but this solution is more generic..