Can I use UnityContainer in View's codebehind when I want to write good MVVM program?
this.DataContext = uc.Resolve<MainViewModel>();
If you're asking if you can, yes.
If you're asking if you should, the answer is still yes.
ServiceLocator is an anti-pattern, you shouldn't be using it. The reason it's an anti-pattern is because it allows for objects to be resolved inside a class at any time, reducing the usefulness of your DI and making your code harder to unit test.
My suggestion would be to do one of the following:
a) Inject the viewmodel into the view through it's constructor. Resolve the view using Unity so that it resolves all the views dependencies (the view model) for you.
So:
public partial class View:UserControl,IViewFoo
{
public View(IViewModel viewModel)
{
DataContext=viewModel;
}
var view=_container.Resolve();
}
b)
Use an attached property to inject the viewmodel into the DataContext for you. MEFEDMVVM and MVVMLite both do this (look them up on Codeplex)
c)
Follow a convention-based approach where the viewmodel gets assigned to the view based on them having compatible names (MainView.cs and MainViewModel.cs). Caliburn Micro does this and is very nice to use. This can also be found on CodePlex.
Related
My Projects are
student.shell.client
student.views
student.viewModels
Modules.student
student.views has student.viewModels reference, in stuent.views used ViewModelLocator.AutoWireViewModel= true, its not resolving the view model. Is this is not a good practise to have views and view models in different project.
How to wireup views and view models here?
Yes, you can have your ViewModels in a separate assembly, you just have to tell the ViewModelLocator about the new rules to use to find them. In this blog you can see how to change the conventions to use your own convention:
http://brianlagunas.com/getting-started-prisms-new-viewmodellocator/
Very easy!
BTW #R. Richards, Prism uses DI when resolving the VMs automatically and all dependencies will be resolved with no issues and without injecting into the View ctor. This way, the View project will not have to even reference the ViewModel project. As long as all the assemblies are loaded into the AppDomain, it will just work.
Do you really need separate assemblies for the views and view models? Likely not. If you want to use the view model locator, then the easiest way is for them to be in the same project/assembly.
Either that, or new up the view models in the views code behind. This will work okay if your view models don't have any dependencies. Some frown on this because the coupling between the view and view model is rather tight.
public partial class StudentView : UserControl
{
public StudentView()
{
InitializeComponent();
DataContext = new StudentViewModel();
}
}
Or, you can have the IoC container provide the view model in the views contructor.
public partial class StudentView : UserControl
{
public StudentView(StudentViewModel viewModel)
{
InitializeComponent();
DataContext = viewModel;
}
}
This second option (IoC) is a better option given the fact that your view models will likely have dependencies that the container can provide, too.
Hope this helps.
I need to send notification from ViewModel to View in MVVM WPF application. In most cases it will be simple MessageBox on View side. Is it unacceptable violation of MVVM pattern to use types like System.Windows.MessageBoxResult or System.Windows.MessageBoxImage in ViewModel (in this case VM must reference UI-specific libraries)?
I need to pass title, message and notification type from VM and by creating custom enumerations I am in fact copying existing functionality from .NET Framework.
You don't need notification mechanism. That's one option. Another is using simple service class:
public class ViewModel
{
IDialogService _dialogService; //ctor injection or use service locator
public void CommandExecute()
{
_dialogService.ShowMessageBox(...);
}
}
public interface IDialogService
{
bool? ShowMessageBox(params....);
}
public class DialogService : IDialogService
{
public bool? ShowDialog(params...)
{
MessageBox.Show(params...);
}
}
I find this approach more straightforward, easier to understand and easier to debug. Messaging may easily turn into memory leak and in this case I don't see any benefit over my approach.
EDIT:
Will you use custom enum in ShowMessageBox parameters, or will you use
System.Windows.MessageBoxImage?
First of all, ViewModels belong to presentation layer. It is OK to use enums like System.Windows.MessageBoxImage in ViewModel.
In MVVM, ViewModels are separated from Views because of following reasons:
ViewModels expose data and logic from Model in such way that is easily consumable from Views (e.g DataBinding)
ViewModels are easier testable
ViewModels provides better design time support (Blendability, test data)
ViewModels separates application logic from the actual presentation markup which makes it easier to understand (readbility)
Does using enum like System.Windows.MessageBoxImage breaks any of the points above? The answer is no.
If you wanted to reuse IDialogService and your ViewModels on multiple platforms, for example WPF, UWP and Xamarin, then you need to create your own enum, because it may not exist on all platforms. The golden rule is: don't add another layer of abstraction if you don't need it.
You could have the view implement an interface, say INotificationService and then pass the view to the view model constructor. That won't violate MVVM, and you will still be able to bind the view model to the view using the DataContext property on the view.
I decided to keep ViewModel as clean of UI (View) stuff as possible, so I will create custom enumeration inspired by MessageBox and tailored exactly to my needs.
Can someone give me a quick summary of what a ViewModelLocator is, how it works, and what the pros/cons are for using it compared to DataTemplates?
I have tried finding info on Google but there seems to be many different implementations of it and no striaght list as to what it is and the pros/cons of using it.
Intro
In MVVM the usual practice is to have the Views find their ViewModels by resolving them from a dependency injection (DI) container. This happens automatically when the container is asked to provide (resolve) an instance of the View class. The container injects the ViewModel into the View by calling a constructor of the View which accepts a ViewModel parameter; this scheme is called inversion of control (IoC).
Benefits of DI
The main benefit here is that the container can be configured at run time with instructions on how to resolve the types that we request from it. This allows for greater testability by instructing it to resolve the types (Views and ViewModels) we use when our application actually runs, but instructing it differently when running the unit tests for the application. In the latter case the application will not even have a UI (it's not running; just the tests are) so the container will resolve mocks in place of the "normal" types used when the application runs.
Problems stemming from DI
So far we have seen that the DI approach allows easy testability for the application by adding an abstraction layer over the creation of application components. There is one problem with this approach: it doesn't play well with visual designers such as Microsoft Expression Blend.
The problem is that in both normal application runs and unit test runs, someone has to set up the container with instructions on what types to resolve; additionally, someone has to ask the container to resolve the Views so that the ViewModels can be injected into them.
However, in design time there is no code of ours running. The designer attempts to use reflection to create instances of our Views, which means that:
If the View constructor requires a ViewModel instance the designer won't be able to instantiate the View at all -- it will error out in some controlled manner
If the View has a parameterless constructor the View will be instantiated, but its DataContext will be null so we 'll get an "empty" view in the designer -- which is not very useful
Enter ViewModelLocator
The ViewModelLocator is an additional abstraction used like this:
The View itself instantiates a ViewModelLocator as part of its resources and databinds its DataContext to the ViewModel property of the locator
The locator somehow detects if we are in design mode
If not in design mode, the locator returns a ViewModel that it resolves from the DI container, as explained above
If in design mode, the locator returns a fixed "dummy" ViewModel using its own logic (remember: there is no container in design time!); this ViewModel typically comes prepopulated with dummy data
Of course this means that the View must have a parameterless constructor to begin with (otherwise the designer won't be able to instantiate it).
Summary
ViewModelLocator is an idiom that lets you keep the benefits of DI in your MVVM application while also allowing your code to play well with visual designers. This is sometimes called the "blendability" of your application (referring to Expression Blend).
After digesting the above, see a practical example here.
Finally, using data templates is not an alternative to using ViewModelLocator, but an alternative to using explicit View/ViewModel pairs for parts of your UI. Often you may find that there's no need to define a View for a ViewModel because you can use a data template instead.
An example implementation of #Jon's answer
I have a view model locator class. Each property is going to be an instance of the view model that I'm going to allocate on my view. I can check if the code is running in design mode or not using DesignerProperties.GetIsInDesignMode. This allows me to use a mock model during designing time and the real object when I'm running the application.
public class ViewModelLocator
{
private DependencyObject dummy = new DependencyObject();
public IMainViewModel MainViewModel
{
get
{
if (IsInDesignMode())
{
return new MockMainViewModel();
}
return MyIoC.Container.GetExportedValue<IMainViewModel>();
}
}
// returns true if editing .xaml file in VS for example
private bool IsInDesignMode()
{
return DesignerProperties.GetIsInDesignMode(dummy);
}
}
And to use it I can add my locator to App.xaml resources:
xmlns:core="clr-namespace:MyViewModelLocatorNamespace"
<Application.Resources>
<core:ViewModelLocator x:Key="ViewModelLocator" />
</Application.Resources>
And then to wire up your view (ex: MainView.xaml) to your viewmodel:
<Window ...
DataContext="{Binding Path=MainViewModel, Source={StaticResource ViewModelLocator}}">
I don't understand why the other answers of this question wrap around the Designer.
The purpose of the View Model Locator is to allow your View to instantiate this (yes, View Model Locator = View First):
public void MyWindowViewModel(IService someService)
{
}
instead of just this:
public void MyWindowViewModel()
{
}
by declaring this:
DataContext="{Binding MainWindowModel, Source={StaticResource ViewModelLocator}}"
Where ViewModelLocator is class, which references a IoC and that's how it solves the MainWindowModel property it exposes.
It has nothing to do with providing Mock view models to your view. If you want that, just do
d:DataContext="{d:DesignInstance MockViewModels:MockMainWindowModel, IsDesignTimeCreatable=True}"
The View Model Locator is a wrapper around some (any) Inversion of Control container, such as Unity for example.
Refer to:
How to handle dependency injection in a WPF/MVVM application
http://blog.qmatteoq.com/the-mvvm-pattern-dependency-injection/
I have been reading about MVVM pattern from various sources like MSDN:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/dd419663.aspx
In that article it says: Unlike the Presenter in MVP, a ViewModel does not need a reference to a view.
If the View (XAML) assumes it's DataContext is the ViewModel then where in the code is the following line:
view.DataContext = viewModel;
The ViewModel doesn't know anything about the view so it cannot set the datacontext. If I give the ViewModel the reference do I break the MVVM pattern? My other choice is to have some kind of Builder or extra Presenter whose only job is to wire the whole thing (wait for the loaded event of the View, set the DataContext).
I know different view's can share the same DataContext (e.g. set the DataContext only for the mainwindow and others will see it) but in many cases that is not possible at all nor even feasible.
This is a great question that has many answers. It all depends on how you want to architect your application. For instance, I use dependency injection to create my IViewModel, which in turn creates my IView and my IViewModel runs an IView.SetViewModel(this) on the constructor.
Other people may wish to use a more Blendable method by setting the DataContext in the Xaml:
<UserControl.DataContext>
<ns:CrazyViewModel />
</UserControl.DataContext>
Sometimes the DataContext can be implied so it is set by the framework, like in the instance of a DataTemplate used by an ItemsControl. This is also pretty common in desktop WPF because it supports typed DataTemplates.
So there really isn't a wrong way to set the DataContext, just as long as what you have separates concerns, is maintainable and is also easily testable.
Shawn Wildermuth has a great post about whether the View or ViewModel comes first:
http://wildermuth.com/2009/05/22/Which_came_first_the_View_or_the_Model
I like, and use, his marriage concept where a 3rd party class creates both the view and viewmodel, and then associates the two. It's worked well for me.
I use MVVM a lot in with Prism. In Prism I use Unity for dependecy injection. Therefore I have an interface for every class registered with Unity including the View.
The IView interface has a method like this:
void SetViewModel(object viewModel);
The ViewModel calls this method at the end of its constructor, passing itself as a parameter:
public ViewModel(IView view, ...)
{
...
this._view=view;
this._view.SetViewModel(this);
}
In the View.xaml.cs the IView interface is implemented. This will be the only code I add to the codebehind of the view:
public partial class View:UserControl, IView
{
public View()
{
...
}
public SetViewModel(object viewModel)
{
this.DataContext = viewModel;
}
}
As for my own usage, the ViewModel doesn't know the View, or any interface on the View. And most of time, the View doesn't know its ViewModel, even if it is less important. The VM is just transprted by the DataContext.
This ensures that the VM and V will remain highly independant. Links are established thoughout bindings, commanding, Behaviors, Triggers & so on. Even if VM is often highly related to a given view, I try to make it as generic as possible, so that I can switch the corresponding View, and / or adapt the View behavior without needing to update the VM, except if the architectural link between V and M is impacted !
When implementing the ViewModel in a Model-View-ViewModel architecture WPF application there seem to be two major choices how to make it databindable. I have seen implementations that use DependencyProperty for properties the View is going to bind against and I have seen the ViewModel implementing INotifyPropertyChanged instead.
My question is when should I prefer one over the other? Are there any performance differences? Is it really a good idea to give the ViewModel dependencies to WPF? What else do I need to consider when make the design decision?
Kent wrote an interesting blog about this topic: View Models: POCOs versus DependencyObjects.
Short summary:
DependencyObjects are not marked as
serializable
The DependencyObject class overrides and seals the Equals() and
GetHashCode() methods
A DependencyObject has thread affinity – it can only be accessed
on the thread on which it was
created
I prefer the POCO approach. A base class for PresentationModel (aka ViewModel) which implements INotifyPropertyChanged interface can be found here: http://compositeextensions.codeplex.com
According to the WPF performance guide, DependencyObjects definitely perform better than POCOs that implement INotifyPropertyChanged:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb613546.aspx
The choice is totally based on your business logic and UI abstraction level. If you dont want a good separation then DP will work for you.
DependencyProperties will be applicable mainly at the VisualElements level so it won't be good idea if we create lot of DPs for each of our business requirements. Also there is a greater cost for DP than a INotifyPropertyChanged. When you design a WPF/Silverlight try to design UI and ViewModel totally separate so that at any point of time we can change the Layout and UI controls (Based on theme and Styles)
Refer this post also - https://stackoverflow.com/questions/275098/what-applications-could-i-study-to-understand-datamodel-view-viewmodel . The link has a lot of reference to Model-View-ViewModel pattern, which is very relevant to this discussion.
From an expressiveness standpoint, I thoroughly enjoy using dependency properties and cringe at the thought of INotifyPropertyChanged. Apart from the string property names and possible memory leaks due to event subscription, INotifyPropertyChanged is a much more explicit mechanism.
Dependency properties imply "when this, do that" using easily-understood static metadata. It is a declarative approach that gets my vote for elegance.
Dependency properties are intended to supports binding (as a target) on UI elements not as a source to data binding, this is where INotifyProperty comes in. From a pure point of view you shouldn't use DP on a ViewModels.
"In order to be the source of a binding, a property does not need to be a dependency property; you can use any CLR property as a binding source. However, in order to be the target of a binding, the property must be a dependency property. For a one-way or two-way binding to be effective, the source property must support change notifications that propagate to the binding system and thus the target. For custom CLR binding sources, this means that the property must support INotifyPropertyChanged. Collections should support INotifyCollectionChanged."
All dependency objects cannot be serialised (This could hamper the use of ViewModels and DTO (POCO)'s.
There are differences between DP within Silverlight compared to WPF.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc221408(v=VS.95).aspx
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc903933(VS.95).aspx
INotifyPropertyChanged when used also gives you the ability to add more logic in the code of your getters and setter of your properties.
DependencyProperty example:
public static DependencyProperty NameProperty = DependencyProperty.Register( "Name", typeof( String), typeof( Customer ) );
public String Name
{
set { SetValue( NameProperty, value ); }
get { return ( String ) GetValue( NameProperty ); }
}
In your getter and setter --- all you can do is simply call SetValue and GetValue respectively, b/c in other parts of the framework the getter/setter is not called, instead it directly calls SetValue, GetValue, so your property logic wouldnt reliably be executed.
With INotifyPropertyChanged, define an event:
public event PropertyChangedEventHandler PropertyChanged;
And then simply have any logic anywhere in your code, then call:
// ...
// Something cool...
// ...
if( this.PropertyChanged != null )
{
PropertyChanged( this, new PropertyChangedEventArgs( "Name" ) );
}
// More cool stuff that will reliably happen...
This could be in a getter/setter, or anywhere else.
Is it really a good idea to give the ViewModel dependencies to WPF?
.NET 4.0 will have System.Xaml.dll, so you won't have to take a dependency on an arbitrary framework to utilize it. See Rob Relyea's post about his PDC session.
My take
XAML is a language for describing objects, and WPF is a framework whose described objects are UI elements.
Their relationship is similar to C#, a language for describing logic, and .NET, a framework which implements particular kinds of logic.
XAML's purpose is declarative object graphs. The W*F technologies are great candidates for this paradigm, but XAML exists independently of them.
XAML and the entire dependency system were implemented as separate stacks for WF and WPF, probably to leverage the experience of different teams without creating a dependency (no pun intended) between them.
I too had to consider this decision recently.
I found that the INotifyPropertyChanged mechanism suited my needs better because it allowed me to glue my GUI to an existing business logic framework without duplicating state. The framework I was using had its own observer pattern and it was easy to forward one level of notification on to the next. I simply had a class which implemented the observer interface from my business logic framework and the INotifyPropertyChanged interface.
With DP you cannot define the backend that stores the state yourself. I would have had to let .net cache a copy of every item of state I was binding to. This seemed like an unnecessary overhead - my state is large and complicated.
So here I found INotifyPropertyChanged better for exposing properties from business logic to GUI.
That being said where I needed a custom GUI widget to expose a property and for changes to that property to affect other GUI widgets DP proved the simple solution.
So there I found DP useful for GUI to GUI notification.
Dependency properties are the glue of custom control creation. If you are interested in using Intelli-sense to show your properties in the properties window at XAML design time you must use Dependency properties. INPC will never show a property in the property window at design time.
It seems that Dependency Properties should be used in controls that you create such as Buttons. To use properties in XAML and use all the WPF features, those properties must Dependency Properties.
However, your ViewModel is better off using INotifyPropertyChanged. Using INotifyPropertyChanged will give you the ability to have getter/setter logic if you need to.
I recommend checking out Josh Smith's version of a base class for a ViewModel that already implements INotifyPropertyChanged:
http://joshsmithonwpf.wordpress.com/2007/08/29/a-base-class-which-implements-inotifypropertychanged/
I think this is an excellent example of how to do a ViewModel.
I think DependencyProperty and INotifyPropertyChanged are used for two different things in Binding : the first for enabling a property to be a target of a binding and receive the input from another property (use {Binding ...} to set the property), the last when you want the value of a property to be used as the source of a binding (name in the Binding Path Expression).
So the choice is merely technical.
I prefer a more direct approach, which I blogged about in Presentation Model Without INotifyPropertyChanged. Using an alternative to data binding, you can bind directly to CLR properties without any bookkeeping code. You just write plain-old .NET code in your View Model, and it gets updated when your Data Model changes.
There is only one thing why to prefer a DependencyObject - Binding will work better. Just try an example with a ListBox and TextBox, populate list with data from INotifyPropertyChanged property vs. DependencyProperty and edit current item from TextBox...
If you want to expose properties to other controls you must use Dependency properties... But good luck because they take a while to figure out...