There are 3 UserControls under a MainWindow. Each control have it's own Save Button. The Mainwindow has a SaveAll button.
The MainWindow has a ContentControl and the content property is binded to the VM. At runtime on ButtonClickCommand, the View is instantiated and assigned to the Content Property.
This SaveAll button will internally call methods associated with UserControls Save button. As such, SaveAll doesn't have it's own Method.
This has to be implemented by DependencyProperty.
I had once seen this scenario implemented in a Business App, but somehow missed the concept behind it.
I can't get what was the logic behind this, but it's a very useful thing.
Now I have to implement this, but i'm missing a small thing, I dont know.
I hope the scenario is clear.
Please help me in this scenario, with code.
Thanks,
VJ
Since you mentioned MVVM, here's what you might be looking for. Mind you, this will be a lot cleaner and easier if you use an MVVM framework such as Caliburn, but for this sample, its just vanilla MVVM:
public class MainViewModel
{
public MainViewModel()
{
ViewOneModel = new SubViewModel();
ViewTwoModel = new SubViewModel();
Children = new List<SubViewModel>(new[] { ViewOneModel, ViewTwoModel });
}
public void SaveAll()
{
foreach(var child in Children)
{
child.Save();
}
}
public IList<SubViewModel> Children { get; private set; }
public SubViewModel ViewOneModel { get; set; }
public SubViewModel ViewTwoModel { get; set; }
}
public class SubViewModel
{
public void Save()
{
}
}
and on the UI you basically have subviews (UserControls) composed in your main view:
<StackPanel>
<Button Width="100" Height="20" Content="Save All" />
<local:ViewOne DataContext="{Binding ViewOneModel}" />
<local:ViewTwo DataContext="{Binding ViewTwoModel}" />
</StackPanel>
You just need to bind the save methods to your buttons using an ICommand interface (preferably RelayCommand instance).
Imho in this scenario there is no need for RoutedEvents. The way I would solve it:
There is a Main-ViewModel that exposes 3 properties with the Sub-ViewModels.
The MainViewModel is the Datacontext for the window, and the subviewmodels bound to the datacontext of the 3 usercontrols.
The sub vm's are exposing a property with a Save-Command. This command is bound to the save buttons in the usercontrols.
The main vm is exposing a property with a saveall-command, which is bound to the SaveAll button.
In the handler of the save all command you are then iterating over the sub-vm's and call save on them.
Related
The application I'm currently writing is using MVVM with the ViewModel-first pattern. I have XAML similar to the following:
<ContentControl Content="{Binding FooViewModel.BarViewModel.View, Mode=OneWay}"/>
Every VM is a DependencyObject. Every property is a DependencyProperty. Depending upon the state of the application, the value of the BarViewModel property of the FooViewModel can change, thus changing the value of the View property. Unfortunately when this happens, the new view is not displayed, and the old one remains.
This is extremely frustrating. I thought that if any part of a path expression changed, the binding would update, but that doesn't appear to be the case. When I've used shallower path expressions, such as FooViewModel.View and I've changed the value of the FooViewModel property, that has updated the ContentControl to which it's bound, but not in this case.
If your solution is that I abandon ViewModel-first, that is not an option, though I appreciate your advice. I must get this working as is.
CLARIFICATION
This is a question about data binding, and not about MVVM or how to implement it. You can safely ignore the MVVM aspects of this if it helps you to think about the problem, or if you have a different idea about how MVVM should be implemented. This is a large, existing project in which the MVVM design pattern cannot be changed. (It is far too late for that.)
So, with that said, the correct question to be answering is the following:
Given a binding path expression in which every element is a DependencyProperty and the final property is a view bound to a ContentControl, why does a change in a property in the middle of the path not cause the binding to update?
Although I would expect this to work, there are several problems with your approach.
Firstly, your view models should not use DependencyObject or DependencyProperty, this ties them in to WPF. They should instead implement INotifyPropertyChanged. This makes your view models reusable in other presentation technologies such as Silverlight.
Secondly, your view models shouldn't have references to your views, so you shouldn't require a View property on your view models.
I would seriously consider using an MVVM framework for view composition - Caliburn.Micro, for example, makes view model first development extremely straightforward, and already provides a view model base class which implements INotifyPropertyChanged, and a mechanism for building view compositions with conventions.
I.e. you can have a conductor view model which has an ActiveItem property, and you simply place a ContentControl on your view with the same name as the property:
<ContentControl x:Name="ActiveItem" />
You can use the ActivateItem() method to change the current active item.
Caliburn.Micro also has a host of other features, such as being able to place a Button control with x:Name="Save" on your view, and your Save method on your view model will automatically be invoked when the button is clicked.
Every VM is a DependencyObject. Every property is a
DependencyProperty.
why? a viewmodel should be a simple class with INotifyPropertyChanged and the Properties should be simple properties.
and if you want your different viewmodel be rendered in a different way - you should use DataTemplate.
<Window>
<Window.Resources>
<DataTemplate DataType="{x:Type local:MyViewModelA}>
<MyViewA/>
</DataTemplate>
<DataTemplate DataType="{x:Type local:MyViewModelB}>
<MyViewB/>
</DataTemplate>
</Windows.Resources>
<Grid>
<ContentControl Content="{Binding MyActualVM}"/>
</Grid>
</Window>
EDIT: btw you always bind to the last Property: FooViewModel.BarViewModel.View --> so the INotifyPropertyChanged (if raised) just work for the .View
EDIT2: another approach could be to get the BindingExpression of your content control and call.
System.Windows.Data.BindingExpression expr = //get it from your contentcontrol
expr.UpdateTarget();
EDIT3: and a simple mvvm way - just use INotifyPropertyChanged
public partial class MainWindow : Window
{
public MainWindow()
{
InitializeComponent();
this.MyFooVM = new FooVM();
this.MyFooVM.MyBarVM = new BarVM(){View = "erster"};
this.DataContext = this;
}
public FooVM MyFooVM { get; set; }
private void Button_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
this.MyFooVM.MyBarVM = new BarVM(){View = "zweiter"};
}
}
public class INPC : INotifyPropertyChanged
{
#region Implementation of INotifyPropertyChanged
public event PropertyChangedEventHandler PropertyChanged;
protected void OnPropChanged(string property)
{
var handler = PropertyChanged;
if(handler != null)
handler(this, new PropertyChangedEventArgs(property));
}
#endregion
}
public class FooVM:INPC
{
private BarVM _myBarVm;
public BarVM MyBarVM
{
get { return _myBarVm; }
set { _myBarVm = value;OnPropChanged("MyBarVM"); }
}
}
public class BarVM : INPC
{
private string _view;
public string View
{
get { return _view; }
set { _view = value;OnPropChanged("View"); }
}
}
I’m in the process of learning the Prism framework and I’ve come along way already. But I was wondering about how to create toolbars (and context menus) where each module can register their own buttons.
For this example I want all buttons to reside in the same ToolBar control which is located in my Shell. The ToolBars ItemsSource binds to a ToolBarItems property of type ObservableCollection<FrameworkElement> in the view model. Elements can be added to this collection using a ToolBarRegistry service. This is the ViewModel:
public class ShellViewModel
{
private IToolBarRegistry _toolBarRegistry;
private ObservableCollection<FrameworkElement> _toolBarItems;
public ShellViewModel()
{
_toolBarItems = new ObservableCollection<FrameworkElement>();
_toolBarRegistry = new ToolBarRegistry(this);
}
public ObservableCollection<FrameworkElement> ToolBarItems
{
get { return _toolBarItems; }
}
}
Note that the collection of type FrameworkElement will be refactored to be of a more concrete type if this turns out to be the correct solution.
My ToolBarRegistry has a method to register image buttons:
public void RegisterImageButton(string imageSource, ICommand command)
{
var icon = new BitmapImage(new Uri(imageSource));
var img = new Image();
img.Source = icon;
img.Width = 16;
var btn = new Button();
btn.Content = img;
btn.Command = command;
_shellViewModel.ToolBarItems.Add(btn);
}
I call this method from my OrderModule and the buttons show up correctly. So far so good.
The problem is how I can control when these buttons should be removed again. If I navigate to a view in another module (and sometimes another view in the same module), I want these module-specific buttons to be hidden again.
Do you have any suggestions on how to do this? Am I approaching this problem the wrong way, or can I modify what I already have? How did you solve this problem?
I would not insert Button instances in the ObservableCollection. Think about this approach instead:
Create ViewModel for the toolbar buttons
class ToolBarButtonViewModel : INotifyPropertyChanged
{
// INotifyPropertyChanged implementation to be provided by you
public string ImageSource { get; set; }
public ICommand Command { get; set; }
public bool IsVisible { get; set; }
}
Then of course change the type of ToolBarItems to a collection of these.
In your ShellView, add a DataTemplate for ToolBarButtonViewModel and bind the ItemsSource of whatever your toolbar control is to the collection of ViewModels, for example:
<DataTemplate>
<Button Command="{Binding Command}">
<Button.Content>
<Image Source="{Binding ImageSource}" />
</Button.Content>
</Button>
</DataTemplate>
You can now bind Button.Visibility to IsVisible with a BooleanToVisibilityConverter to solve your immediate problem.
As an added bonus, you can also:
Change the visual appearance of the toolbar buttons entirely from XAML
Bind any property of the visual tree for a toolbar button to corresponding properties on the ToolBarButtonViewModel
Update
The mechanism for enabling/disabling buttons depends on specifics of your application. There are many options -- here are a few (keep this chart in mind while reading):
Implement INavigationAware in your Views or ViewModels and enable/disable buttons as required
Attach handlers to the events of IRegionNavigationService of the region(s) of interest and have the handlers enable or disable buttons
Route all navigation through your own code (CustomNavigationService) and decide what to do inside it
I was thinking about doing this instead defining lot's of DataTemplates. This would mean that if I had a collection of things the ItemsControl itself would have a XAML class and the objects would have one too.
This is something that already happens when the objects are proper ViewModels containing models and logic but if it's just a Command for example. A dynamic group of commands perhaps.
Pros: I could use the designer to help me define the look of the object as I don't have blend and it would be easier to find and change those parts if needed.
Cons: More XAML classes.
Would you talk me into this or out of this.
EXAMPLE
I have buttons all around the app so I define a ButtonViewModel which has a display name and a ICommand Property. I would also define a DataTemplate or UserControl for this object which would basically be a button with Command binding and text/content binding to the display name. I could also define it's look and such.
Then in ViewModels that should include buttons I would add these buttons as part of the class and bind to them inside the view.
public class ButtonViewModel : ViewModelBase
{
private string _displayName;
public string DisplayName
{
get
{
return _displayName;
}
set
{
_displayName = value;
RaisePropertyChanged("DisplayName");
}
}
private ICommand _command;
public ICommand command
{
get
{
return _command;
}
protected set
{
_command = value;
RaisePropertyChanged("Command");
}
}
public ButtonViewModel(ICommand command, string displayName)
{
Command = command;
DisplayName = displayName;
}
}
ViewModel using the ButtonViewModel
public class SomeViewModel : ViewModelBase
{
//some functionality
//It could be done as a collection or just seperate ButtonViewModel properties
public ObservableCollection<ButtonViewModel> Buttons { get; set; }
//Somewhere where it makes sense, here in the constructer for the heck of it
public SomeViewModel()
{
Buttons.Add(new ButtonViewModel(new RelayCommand(Save, canSave), "Save"));
Buttons.Add(new ButtonViewModel(new RelayCommand(Edit, canEdit), "Edit"));
Buttons.Add(new ButtonViewModel(new RelayCommand(New, canAddNew), "New"));
}
}
The buttons view:
<UserControl x:Class="WpfApplication1.ButtonView"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
Height="60" Width="90">
<Button Command="{Binding Path=Command}" Content="{Binding Path=DisplayName}">
<!-- Some really cool design for your button -->
</Button>
</UserControl>
You could also define a specific ItemsControl to hold a collection of buttons, even going so far as to define a ViewModel for said itemscontrol.
I once learned that if you can encapsulate some item in a class you should. Is this just crazy talk?
I'm not quite sure what you're asking, but it sounds as if you are taking a view first approach, which can get very complex in everything but the simplest of apps. Have you considered using an MVVM framework such as Caliburn.Micro?
Using a view model first approach, you can instantiate your view model, and then use Caliburn.Micro to locate your view (via convention), and automatically bind the two up.
Caliburn.Micro will also do view composition, so for example, if you have a collection of view models on your parent view model, and you expose that collection from a property with the same name as a ListBox on your view, then Caliburn.Micro will automatically use the corresponding view for each item in the collection, and bind up each items view model with the view.
You can also use different views over the same view model, and Actions are used to invoke verbs on your view models from view controls, rather than commanding, which allows for much richer imagining of UIs.
I have a window with 3 textboxes in a grid -this is my view- and I have Save button to add a new user to my user list with the datas from the textboxes.
I want to use a relay command to do this on my viewmodel class but I am quite confused with how to make the bindings. I hope it's clear enough. Any ideas, or examples will be helpful.
thanks in advance.
You should have a ViewModel something like the following :
class UserViewModel
{
public String Name { get; set; }
public String Password { get; set; }
public String Email { get; set; }
public RelayCommand AddUserCommand { get; set; }
public UserViewModel()
{
AddUserCommand = new RelayCommand(AddUser);
}
void AddUser(object parameter)
{
// Code to add user here.
}
}
And you can use it like following :
<StackPanel>
<TextBox Text="{Binding Name}"></TextBox>
<TextBox Text="{Binding Password}"></TextBox>
<TextBox Text="{Binding Email}"></TextBox>
<Button Command="{Binding AddUserCommand}">Add</Button>
</StackPanel>
To make this work, put following code in your UserControl/Control/Window's constructor :
DataContext = new UserViewModel();
I presume that you read Josh Smith article: WPF Apps With The Model-View-ViewModel Design Pattern. If you didn't, then read it first, and then download code, because example is very similar to your problem.
Did you created an instance of the ViewModel and putted this instance in the DataContext of your view or stackpanel?
example:
UserViewModel viewModel = new UserViewModel();
UserWindow view = new UserWindow();
view.DataContext = viewModel;
view.Show();
There are several options on coupling the View and the Viewmodel:
Create the View and ViewModel and set the ViewModel to the DataContext property (code above)
Create the ViewModel in the constructor of the View and fill the DataContext property with it
Create a Resource in your view of the type of your ViewModel and fill the DataContext property in XAML
I prefer the first option because you can combine the Views and Viewmodels as you like at runtime.
Hopefully this is a helpfull answer.
I was wondering if in WPF you are able to get the actual instances of the datatemplate objects. For example in the following situation:
<UserControl>
<UserControl.Resources>
<DataTemplate x:Key="MyTemplate">
<CustomControl ></CustomControl>
</DataTemplate>
</UserControl.Resources>
<ListBox DataTemplate="{StaticResource MyTemplate}"></ListBox>
</UserControl>
Assume that CustomControl has a CustomEvent and a public CustomMethod. I want to access that event and the public method in the user control. Is this possible? How would I be able to do this? Thanks in advance for any help.
Cheers,
Nilu
You need to find the ContentPresenter holding the ListBox (by navigating the VisualTree) and then use
myDataTemplate.FindName("myCustomControl", myListBox);
There is an example on MSDN: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb613579.aspx.
I don't see the ItemsSource databinding on the ListBox, so I'm assuming you left it out. If you bind to something like an ObservableCollection<> then each item in the ListBox will have it's own ViewModel class. You may have public methods on those as much as you like.
If you want an event in the custom control to be handled, handle it in code-behind in the lowest level you can, in this case in the code-behind of the UserControl.
Then, in each ViewModel have an ICommand instance (or a routed command if that suits your purpose). In the UserControl you have a DataContext which you can cast to the type of your ViewModel. So the event handler can access the ViewModel and execute Commands.
Here is Josh Smith's article on Routed Commands which you might find interesting
In this article on Apps with MVVM architecture, Josh described custom ICommands
(This is pseudo-code)
class ViewModelType {
public void DoSomething() { /* ... */ }
public ICommand DoSomethingCommand { get; set; }
public string Property { get; set; }
}
class CodeBehind {
public void EventHandler(object, args) {
(DataContext as ViewModelType).DoSomethingElseCommand.Execute();
}
}
You can create an object which attaches to the CustomControl and interacts with it.
This blogpost here illustrated some useful concepts that we can expand upon: ICommand for Silverlight with Attached Behaviors
So instead of attaching to the click event of a button (which in WPF already has a command anyways) you can create a class which attaches to your custom control.
Following the pattern in the referenced blog post you would end up with:
<CustomControl
MyNamespace:CustomControlCommand.EventCommand=
"{Binding Path=CommandHandler}" />
This would give you access to the events of the CustomControl by turning them into commands.