How to handle the SelectionChanged event of ComboBox with MVVM in wpf? - wpf

Question

How to raise / handle the SelectionChanged event of WPF's ComboBox using the MVVM pattern?
Explain in detail please I am new to WPF.
What I want, is to do some operations when the ComboBox item selection changed. How can I achieve it, in an MVVM way?

Answer 1

MVVM solution:
Bind the ItemsSource and SelectedItem properties of the ComboBox to properties in your ViewModel:
<ComboBox ItemsSource="{Binding MyItems}" SelectedItem="{Binding MySelectedItem}"/>
In MainViewModel.cs:
public ObservableCollection<string> MyItems { get; set; }
private string _mySelectedItem;
public string MySelectedItem
{
get { return _mySelectedItem; }
set
{
// Some logic here
_mySelectedItem = value;
}
}
Code-behind solution:
If you don't want to use MVVM, you can add use this:
<ComboBox SelectionChanged="ComboBox_SelectionChanged" />
And add this in MainWindow.xaml.cs:
private void ComboBox_SelectionChanged(object sender, SelectionChangedEventArgs e)
{
// Some logic here
}

Answer 2

I'm a big fan of this method.
xmlns:i="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/2010/interactivity"
<ComboBox Grid.Column="2" DisplayMemberPath="Data.name" ItemsSource="{Binding Model.Regions}" SelectedItem="{Binding Model.SelectedRegion}">
<i:Interaction.Triggers>
<i:EventTrigger EventName="SelectionChanged">
<i:InvokeCommandAction Command="{Binding RegionChangedCmd}" />
</i:EventTrigger>
</i:Interaction.Triggers>
</ComboBox>

Answer 3

Your ViewModel needs to implement INotifyPropertyChanged.
public class MyViewModel : INotifyPropertyChanged
{
private string _mySelectedItem;
public string MySelectedItem
{
get
{
return _mySelectedItem;
}
set
{
if (_mySelectedItem != value)
{
_mySelectedItem = value;
// Perform any pre-notification process here.
if (null != PropertyChanged)
{
PropertyChanged(this, new PropertyChangedEventArgs("MySelectedItem"));
}
}
}
}
}
The previously posted XAML is correct:
<ComboBox ItemsSource="{Binding MyItems}" SelectedItem="{Binding MySelectedItem}"/>

Answer 4

Just an enhancement of this solution which exists above, In case you are using Prism Library (if not, then stop reading now, there is nothing for you)
I really like this solution and I think it is better than any other solution, I just want to make a small enhancement to that solution provided by the Prism Library.
that solution is using
<i:InvokeCommandAction Command="{Binding RegionChangedCmd}" />
notice the i: before the InvokeCommandAction. It means that the InvokeCommandAction class exists in the xmlns:i="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/2010/interactivity" namespace. This is good and fine, but notice that the Prism library has exactly the same class with the same name InvokeCommandAction. It just exists in another namespace, in the xmlns:prism="http://prismlibrary.com/" namespace.
So actually you can replace the following XAML
<i:InvokeCommandAction Command="{Binding RegionChangedCmd}" />
with this XAML
<prism:InvokeCommandAction Command="{Binding RegionChangedCmd}" />
OK, we can do this, what is the benefit?
To notice the benefit, write the following command in the ViewModel
public ICommand RegionChangedCmd { get; }
public ViewModelConstructor()
{
RegionChangedCmd = new DelegateCommand<SelectionChangedEventArgs>(RegionChangedCmdExecuted);
}
public void RegionChangedCmdExecuted(SelectionChangedEventArgs e)
{
// e parameter is null if you use <i:InvokeCommandAction>
// e parameter is NOT null if you use <prism:InvokeCommandAction>
}
e parameter is null if you use <i:InvokeCommandAction>
e parameter is NOT null if you use <prism:InvokeCommandAction>

Answer 5

As first let's make things clear - you can not change event rather you can subscribe to.
Since you've not provided any information regarding where from you want to handle selection changes I will assume most common scenario - handling in the underlying ViewModel. According to MVVM ViewModel should not know anything about View so you can not subscribe directly from ViewModel to the event of a View's control. But you can bind a property of ViewModel to either SelectedItem or SelectedIndex so it would trigger whilst selection changes.
<ComboBox
SelectedIndex="{Binding SelectedIndexPropertyName}"
... />
There are other solutions doing handling in code behind of a View by accessing a ViewModel via view.DataContext but I would suggest avoid such practice, this are work around cases.