How to handle attached properties events? - wpf

Question

I created an expander style that contains a checkbox in its header. The checkbox state is bound to an attached property:
<Style TargetType="{x:Type Expander}" x:Key="MyCheckboxExpander">
<Setter Property="Template">
<Setter.Value>
<ControlTemplate TargetType="{x:Type Expander}">
(...)
<CheckBox x:Name="ExpanderHeaderChk" VerticalAlignment="Center" Margin="4,0,0,2"
IsChecked="{Binding RelativeSource={RelativeSource TemplatedParent}, Path=(my:AP.IsChecked)}" />
(...)
I my view, inside the expander I have a stackpanel with a ComboBox.
Whenever the user checks the expander's checkbox, I wan't that the combobox gets the first item selected, on the oher hand whenever the user unchecks it, I wan't that the selecteditem of the combobox be null.
How can I accomplish this? I'm following the MVVM pattern, but since this is more a matter of the view, I'm open to code-behind suggestions.

Answer 1

Well, I think your design is not optimal. You see, you are trying to change the semantics of the Expander. The real expander doesn't have the semantics with additional checkbox, so the control you are creating is not an Expander any more.
I would suggest that you switch to a user control (or maybe a custom control, look at your semantics), and expose the needed event in your control's class. The XAML for the user control should be perhaps an expander with a checkbox.
Edit: example with UserControl (not tested)
(XAML)
<UserControl x:Class="namespace:MyCheckboxExpander">
<Expander>
...
<Checkbox x:Name="cb"/>
...
</Expander>
</UserControl>
(code-behind)
public class MyCheckboxExpander : UserControl
{
MyCheckboxExpander()
{
InitializeComponent();
cb.Check += OnCheck;
}
void OnCheck(object sender, whatever2 args)
{
if (CheckboxTriggered != null)
CheckboxTriggered(new EventArgs<whatever>);
}
public event EventArgs<whatever> CheckboxTriggered;
}

Answer 2

WPF is so powerfull framework, that you can solve you problem just using next style for Expander:
<Style x:Key="myExpanderStyle" TargetType="{x:Type Expander}">
<Setter Property="Template">
<Setter.Value>
<ControlTemplate TargetType="{x:Type Expander}">
<StackPanel>
<CheckBox x:Name="PART_CheckBox" IsChecked="{Binding IsExpanded, RelativeSource={RelativeSource TemplatedParent}, Mode=TwoWay}" />
<ComboBox x:Name="PART_ComboBox" ItemsSource="{TemplateBinding Content}" />
</StackPanel>
<ControlTemplate.Triggers>
<Trigger Property="IsExpanded" Value="True">
<Setter TargetName="PART_ComboBox" Property="SelectedIndex" Value="0"/>
</Trigger>
</ControlTemplate.Triggers>
</ControlTemplate>
</Setter.Value>
</Setter>
</Style>
SAMPLE:
<Expander Style="{StaticResource myExpanderStyle}">
<x:Array Type="sys:String">
<sys:String>1</sys:String>
<sys:String>2</sys:String>
<sys:String>3</sys:String>
</x:Array>
</Expander>
Just XAML! I like XAML declarativity.
But from MVVM perspective, this approach has one disadvantage - I can't cover this case with unit tests. So, I would prefer:
create view model with properties: IsChecked(bound to CheckBox),
SelectedItem(bound to ComboBox) and Source(ItemsSource for ComboBox) -
abstration of my real view without any references on controls;
write a logic in view model that set or unset SelectedItem depending
on IsChecked property;
cover that logic with unit test (yep, you can
even start with this point, if you like test first approach).

Answer 3

I followed the suggestion provided by #Baboon and I created a custom control with a routed event named CheckedChanged, this way I can access it through the view's xaml and code-behind:
[TemplatePart(Name = "PART_Expander", Type = typeof(Expander))]
[TemplatePart(Name = "PART_CheckBox", Type = typeof(CheckBox))]
public class MyCustomExpander : Expander
{
static MyCustomExpander()
{
DefaultStyleKeyProperty.OverrideMetadata(typeof(MyCustomExpander), new FrameworkPropertyMetadata(typeof(MyCustomExpander)));
}
public bool IsChecked
{
get { return (bool)GetValue(IsCheckedProperty); }
set { SetValue(IsCheckedProperty, value); }
}
public static readonly DependencyProperty IsCheckedProperty =
DependencyProperty.Register("IsChecked", typeof(bool), typeof(MyCustomExpander),
new UIPropertyMetadata(false));
#region Events
private CheckBox chkExpander = new CheckBox();
public CheckBox ChkExpander { get { return chkExpander; } private set { chkExpander = value; } }
public static readonly RoutedEvent CheckedChangedEvent = EventManager.RegisterRoutedEvent("ExtraButtonClick",
RoutingStrategy.Bubble,
typeof(RoutedEventHandler),
typeof(MyCustomExpander));
public event RoutedEventHandler CheckedChanged
{
add { AddHandler(CheckedChangedEvent, value); }
remove { RemoveHandler(CheckedChangedEvent, value); }
}
void OnCheckedChanged(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
RaiseEvent(new RoutedEventArgs(CheckedChangedEvent, this));
}
public override void OnApplyTemplate()
{
base.OnApplyTemplate();
CheckBox chk = base.GetTemplateChild("PART_CheckBox") as CheckBox;
if (chk != null)
{
chk.Checked += new RoutedEventHandler(OnCheckedChanged);
chk.Unchecked += new RoutedEventHandler(OnCheckedChanged);
}
}
#endregion
}
I want to thank to #Baboon and #Vlad for their help.