I implemented some generic CustomControls in WPF, for instance an AutoCompleteTextBox.
Now, I'd like to implement a generic ViewModel library, in order to perform the databind of these controls.
Now I defined one attached property named CDataSource, that specifies the source of the data to bind within the control.
My question is : Is it possible, that the CustomControl passes to the ViewModel the CDataSource value? In this way the ViewModel may populate the control on the basis of the CDataSource property.
Thanks in advance
This seems like a strange request to me. You don't want any dependency on your view model from within your custom control. Instead, you would normally have a dependency property on your custom control which is the ItemsSource, and then you would set the value of this from your view in XAML.
This is how the AutoCompleteBox included in the WPF Toolkit operates.
Related
I'm getting a little confused about how to layout my code in MVVM - if I have a UserControl with a corresponding VM class, how should other controls consume my UserControl?
Should consumers bind directly to the VM or should I duplicate only a subset of these properties I want to actually be used as DependencyProperties of the UserControl?
For that matter, should the UserControl's VM be injected into the UserControl's code-behind or should the VM of any control that uses this UserControl contain it as a dependency and bind it to the UserControl instead?
Just to make it clear: Suppose I have a ListBox in a UserControl and use it in a Window that is already implemented with MVVM. But I'm confused about the implementation of the UserControl VM and the corresponding bindings.
I would think the ideal solution would be to expose the SelectedItems of the ListBox via dependency properties in the UserControl, and then the Window which uses the UserControl would bind to these.
Or should the Window's VM have a reference to the VM as a property, have it injected and bind directly to the properties on that instead?
Should dependency properties only be defined in UserControls or can / should they be defined in the VM?
I'm thinking the Window would bind, from within the XAML of the Window, either via
{Binding ElementName=myUserControl, Path=SelectedItems}
or
{Binding Path=MyViewModel.SelectedItems}
It just seems to make more sense to do it via the former, since the latter requires that the View knows about another VM?
> how should other controls consume my UserControl?
Via exposed dependancy properties on the usercontrol only.
>Should consumers bind directly to the VM or should I duplicate only a subset of these properties I want to actually be used as DependencyProperties of the UserControl?
Each control should be a stand alone entity, there shouldn't be any secret handshake (either to or from) to use the control. Think of the design like you are Microsoft and many different users will use your controls. So answer #1 is just as relevant; think a stand alone entity.
>I would think the ideal solution would be to expose the SelectedItems of the ListBox via dependency properties in the UserControl, and then the Window which uses the UserControl would bind to these.
The window which hosts your controls will have a View Model which contains a Observable list of data items. That will hold the data which the user control(s) will bind via their dependency properties. THink of it as a producer pattern with many consumers. The consumers are the controls. Whether the controls have VMs or not is immaterial to the running of the main program; for each control is its own island.
Keep in mind when working with WPF and MVVM that your View layer is merely a user-friendly way of drawing your Models and ViewModels, and that your View is not actually your application. Your View actually has to know the basics about your data layer so it can define how to draw it.
So if your application needs to display a list of Items and maintain a SelectedItem, than that should be in your ViewModel or Model somewhere, not in the actual View layer.
Typically for me UserControls are one of two things:
Either a standalone UserControl that can be used anywhere without a specific DataContext, and that expose DependencyProperties for any control-specific values. Examples are things like a Calendar control or a Popup control
<local:MyUserControl Items="{Binding SomeItemList}"
SelectedItem="{Binding SomeItem}" />
Or they are a UserControl that is meant to be used with a specific ViewModel only. This is far more common for me. The ViewModel is a property somewhere in the data layer, and I usually have an implicit DataTemplate in the application somewhere to tell WPF to use that UserControl anytime it needs to render that specific ViewModel
<DataTemplate DataType="{x:Type local:SomeViewModel}">
<local:MyUserControl />
</DataTemplate>
<ContentPresenter Content="{Binding SomeViewModelProperty}" />
Also, at no time should you set the DataContext of a UserControl from inside the UserControl itself, because the UI layer is only meant to be a UI representation of your data layer (your Models/ViewModels), and by setting the data layer from inside the UserControl you are making it so that the UserControl cannot be used to draw any other data object.
I have an application that uses Caliburn.Micro. My View contains a user control which contains e.g. a tab control. I want to be able to access that tab control from the outer ViewModel to select a particular tab. Is it possible?
Thanks.
The standard MVVM way is to have the TabControls SelectedItem property bound to a property on your viewModel.
<TabControl ItemsSource="{Binding PropertyToYourViews}"
SelectedItem="{Binding PropertyToYourSelectedView}">
</TabControl>
If you do it this way your ViewModel does not have to know about the existence of the TabControl.
The next step is dependant on your implementation. Your outer ViewModel could simply keep a reference to the child viewModels SelectedView property and access it directly however,
If you want to keep your ViewModels decoupled then you will need to implement some sort of notification system. I'm not sure of the specifics of Caliburn.Micro but most MVVM frameworks offer some kind of solution for this.
Implementation would depend on exactly how you have it set up, but you can bind a variable in your view model to the SelectedItem of the TabControl
I have a UserControl without Content, because the control which should be shown inside of the UserControl is created at runtime. I would like to solve this like follows, but don't know how to implement it:
Create a Control-variable in the ViewModel
Set it at runtime when the content is created
Bind a content property (inside the UserControl) to that variable
The problem is, that I don't know how to bind to the control-variable.
Why just not to use ContentControl instead of UserControl and provide Content in runtime by introducing a DataTemplateSelector which able to provide right DataTemplate in runtime?
You can encapsulate your Content-area controls in DataTemplates and select appropriate one in runtime.
I'm creating a WPF custom control as an auto learning exercise. My control has a ListView inside the template. I wanto my control user be able on defining the needed columns in his own Xaml, but I did not get the strategy on how to pass the columns to the inner listview since binding with FindAncestor complain that "Columns" is not a DependencyProperty.
Wekk the questions are:
How to achieve bind a property from xaml to the template when it is not a DP
Correct my design: I think there is something wrong: if someone would change completely my template, how should I let him use the Column collection ?
why not inherit from ListView directly? Then you have all the properties you need for the ListView and can also add you own properties to the class.
Then you can apply a custom Style to your control to make it look like you want. (Here you have a basic ListView Style that you can use and expand to your needs)
Sometimes binding to a property that is not a dependency property can be solved using the Binding Mode OneWayToSource
Have you tried that?
HI Can any one suggest me how bind viewmodel to a usercontrol..
Also please share different way of doing that..
I have added viewmodel and view into my xaml file in namespace and in the user control resource tag.. i have defined a data template with data type as the viewmodel wh i have wrote.. inside that i have added my view (i mean the same usercontrol ih which im editing now is it possible -- please let me know).. I have used content control with content={Binding}.. and contenttemplate as a datatemplate.. in that i have reffered the property which i want to bind from viewmodel).. but its not binding as such..
My query is different ways of binding viewmodel to view in UserControlLibrary Project ?
Sdry's right, you can also set the DataContext property of your view to your ViewModel.
Also, here's a WPF databinding cheat sheet that will likely come in handy: http://www.nbdtech.com/Free/WpfBinding.pdf
Set the datacontext of your view, with an instance of your viewmodel. Throughout your view you can then bind to the properties of your viewmodel with "Path" in the binding.