How to bind DataGridColumn.Visibility? - silverlight

I have an issue similar to the following post:
Silverlight DataGridTextColumn Binding Visibility
I need to have a Column within a Silverlight DataGrid be visibile/collapsed based on a value within a ViewModel. To accomplish this I am attempting to Bind the Visibility property to a ViewModel. However I soon discovered that the Visibility property is not a DependencyProperty, therefore it cannot be bound.
To solve this, I attempted to subclass my own DataGridTextColumn. With this new class, I have created a DependencyProperty, which ultimately pushes the changes to the DataGridTextColumn.Visibility property. This works well, if I don't databind. The moment I databind to my new property, it fails, with a AG_E_PARSER_BAD_PROPERTY_VALUE exception.
public class MyDataGridTextColumn : DataGridTextColumn
{
#region public Visibility MyVisibility
public static readonly DependencyProperty MyVisibilityProperty =
DependencyProperty.Register("MyVisibility", typeof(Visibility), typeof(MyDataGridTextColumn), new PropertyMetadata(Visibility.Visible, OnMyVisibilityPropertyChanged));
private static void OnMyVisibilityPropertyChanged(DependencyObject d, DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs e)
{
var #this = d as MyDataGridTextColumn;
if (#this != null)
{
#this.OnMyVisibilityChanged((Visibility)e.OldValue, (Visibility)e.NewValue);
}
}
private void OnMyVisibilityChanged(Visibility oldValue, Visibility newValue)
{
Visibility = newValue;
}
public Visibility MyVisibility
{
get { return (Visibility)GetValue(MyVisibilityProperty); }
set { SetValue(MyVisibilityProperty, value); }
}
#endregion public Visibility MyVisibility
}
Here is a small snippet of the XAML.
<DataGrid ....>
<DataGrid.Columns>
<MyDataGridTextColumn Header="User Name"
Foreground="#FFFFFFFF"
Binding="{Binding User.UserName}"
MinWidth="150"
CanUserSort="True"
CanUserResize="False"
CanUserReorder="True"
MyVisibility="{Binding Converter={StaticResource BoolToVisibilityConverter}, Path=ShouldShowUser}"/>
<DataGridTextColumn .../>
</DataGrid.Columns>
</DataGrid>
A couple important facts.
The Converter is indeed defined above in the local resources.
The Converter is correct, it is used many other places in the solution.
If I replace the {Binding} syntax for the MyVisibility property with "Collapsed" the Column does in fact disappear.
If I create a new DependencyProperty (i.e. string Foo), and bind to it I receive the AG_E_PARSER_BAD_PROPERTY_VALUE exception too.
Does anybody have any ideas as to why this isn't working?

Here's the solution I've come up with using a little hack.
First, you need to inherit from DataGrid.
public class DataGridEx : DataGrid
{
public IEnumerable<string> HiddenColumns
{
get { return (IEnumerable<string>)GetValue(HiddenColumnsProperty); }
set { SetValue(HiddenColumnsProperty, value); }
}
public static readonly DependencyProperty HiddenColumnsProperty =
DependencyProperty.Register ("HiddenColumns",
typeof (IEnumerable<string>),
typeof (DataGridEx),
new PropertyMetadata (HiddenColumnsChanged));
private static void HiddenColumnsChanged(object sender,
DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs args)
{
var dg = sender as DataGrid;
if (dg==null || args.NewValue == args.OldValue)
return;
var hiddenColumns = (IEnumerable<string>)args.NewValue;
foreach (var column in dg.Columns)
{
if (hiddenColumns.Contains ((string)column.GetValue (NameProperty)))
column.Visibility = Visibility.Collapsed;
else
column.Visibility = Visibility.Visible;
}
}
}
The DataGridEx class adds a new DP for hiding columns based on the x:Name of a DataGridColumn and its descendants.
To use in your XAML:
<my:DataGridEx x:Name="uiData"
DataContext="{Binding SomeDataContextFromTheVM}"
ItemsSource="{Binding Whatever}"
HiddenColumns="{Binding HiddenColumns}">
<sdk:DataGridTextColumn x:Name="uiDataCountOfItems">
Header="Count"
Binding={Binding CountOfItems}"
</sdk:DataGridTextColumn>
</my:DataGridEx>
You need to add these to your ViewModel or whatever data context you use.
private IEnumerable<string> _hiddenColumns;
public IEnumerable<string> HiddenColumns
{
get { return _hiddenColumns; }
private set
{
if (value == _hiddenColumns)
return;
_hiddenColumns = value;
PropertyChanged (this, new PropertyChangedEventArgs("HiddenColumns"));
}
}
public void SomeWhereInYourCode ()
{
HiddenColumns = new List<string> {"uiDataCountOfItems"};
}
To unhide, you only need to remove the corresponding name from the list or recreate it without the unhidden name.

I have another solution to this problem that uses an approach similar to the "Binding" property that you find on DataGridTextColumn. Since the column classes are DependencyObjects, you can't directly databind to them, BUT if you add a reference to a FrameworkElement that implements INotifyPropertyChanged you can pass a databinding through to the element, and then use a dependency property to notify the Column that the databinding has changed.
One thing to note is that having the binding on the Column itself instead of the Grid will probably mean that you will want to use a DataContextProxy to get access to the field that you want to bind the Visibility to (the column binding will default to the scope of the ItemSource).
using System;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Windows;
using System.Windows.Controls;
using System.Windows.Data;
namespace XYZ.Controls
{
public class ExtendedDataGridTextColumn : DataGridTextColumn
{
private readonly Notifier _e;
private Binding _visibilityBinding;
public Binding VisibilityBinding
{
get { return _visibilityBinding; }
set
{
_visibilityBinding = value;
_e.SetBinding(Notifier.MyVisibilityProperty, _visibilityBinding);
}
}
public ExtendedDataGridTextColumn()
{
_e = new Notifier();
_e.PropertyChanged += ToggleVisibility;
}
private void ToggleVisibility(object sender, PropertyChangedEventArgs e)
{
if (e.PropertyName == "Visibility")
this.Visibility = _e.MyVisibility;
}
//Notifier class is just used to pass the property changed event back to the column container Dependency Object, leaving it as a private inner class for now
private class Notifier : FrameworkElement, INotifyPropertyChanged
{
public event PropertyChangedEventHandler PropertyChanged;
public Visibility MyVisibility
{
get { return (Visibility)GetValue(MyVisibilityProperty); }
private set { SetValue(MyVisibilityProperty, value); }
}
public static readonly DependencyProperty MyVisibilityProperty = DependencyProperty.Register("MyVisibility", typeof(Visibility), typeof(Notifier), new PropertyMetadata(MyVisibilityChanged));
private static void MyVisibilityChanged(DependencyObject d, DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs e)
{
var n = d as Notifier;
if (n != null)
{
n.MyVisibility = (Visibility) e.NewValue;
n.PropertyChanged(n, new PropertyChangedEventArgs("Visibility"));
}
}
}
}
}

The datagrid column inherits from DependencyObject instead of FrameworkElement. In WPF this would be no big deal... but in silverlight you can only bind to FrameworkElement objects. So you get the descriptive error message of AG_E_PARSER_BAD_PROPERTY_VALUE when you try.

I don't know how much this will help, but I've run into the lack of dependency property problem with data grid columns myself in my latest project. What I did to get around it, was to create an event in the grid column view model, then when the grid is being assembled in the client, use a closure to subscribe the grid column to the column view model. My particular problem was around width. It starts with the view model class for the grid column, which looks something like this pseudo-code:
public delegate void ColumnResizedEvent(double width);
public class GridColumnViewModel : ViewModelBase
{
public event ColumnResizedEvent ColumnResized;
public void Resize(double newContainerWidth)
{
// some crazy custom sizing calculations -- don't ask...
ResizeColumn(newWidth);
}
public void ResizeColumn(double width)
{
var handler = ColumnResized;
if (handler != null)
handler(width);
}
}
Then there's the code that assembles the grid:
public class CustomGrid
{
public CustomGrid(GridViewModel viewModel)
{
// some stuff that parses control metadata out of the view model.
// viewModel.Columns is a collection of GridColumnViewModels from above.
foreach(var column in viewModel.Columns)
{
var gridCol = new DataGridTextColumn( ... );
column.ColumnResized += delegate(double width) { gridCol.Width = new DataGridLength(width); };
}
}
}
When the datagrid is resized in the application, the resize event is picked up and calls the resize method on the viewmodel the grid is bound to. This in turn calls the resize method of each grid column view model. The grid column view model then raises the ColumnResized event, which the data grid text column is subscribed to, and it's width is updated.
I realise this isn't directly solving your problem, but it was a way I could "bind" a view model to a data grid column when there are no dependency properties on it. The closure is a simple construct that nicely encapsulates the behaviour I wanted, and is quite understandable to someone coming along behind me. I think it's not too hard to imagine how it could be modified to cope with visibility changing. You could even wire the event handler up in the load event of the page/user control.

Chris Mancini,
you do not create binding to "Binding" property of data grid column. Well, you write "{Binding User.UserName}", but it doesn't create binding, because (as zachary said) datagrid column doesn't inherit from FrameworkElement and hasn't SetBinding method.
So expression "{Binding User.UserName}" simply creates Binding object and assign it to Binding property of column (this property is type of Binding).
Then datagrid column while generates cells content (GenerateElement - protected method) uses this Binding object to set binding on generated elements (e.g. on Text property of generated TextBlock) which are FrameworkElements

GreatTall1's solution is great, but it need to bit change to make it work.
var n = d as Notifier;
if (n != null)
{
//Assign value in the callback will break the binding.
//n.MyVisibility = (Visibility)e.NewValue;
n.PropertyChanged(n, new PropertyChangedEventArgs("Visibility"));
}

Note that the problem isn't just as simple as 'Visibility' not being a dependency property. In a DataGrid the columns aren't part of the visual 'tree' so you can't use AncestorType even in WPF (or Silverlight 5).
Here's a couple WPF related links (please comment if any of these work for Silverlight - sorry I don't have time to test now)
Has a really nice explanation of the problem and failures of certain solutions (and a clever solution):
http://tomlev2.wordpress.com/2011/03/21/wpf-how-to-bind-to-data-when-the-datacontext-is-not-inherited/
And a couple StackOverflow questions:
WPF Hide DataGridColumn via a binding
Binding Visible property of a DataGridColumn in WPF DataGrid

This works on a data grid template column:
public class ExtendedDataGridColumn : DataGridTemplateColumn
{
public static readonly DependencyProperty VisibilityProperty = DependencyProperty.Register("Visibility", typeof(Visibility), typeof(DataGridTemplateColumn), new PropertyMetadata(Visibility.Visible, VisibilityChanged));
public new Visibility Visibility
{
get { return (Visibility)GetValue(VisibilityProperty); }
set { SetValue(VisibilityProperty, value); }
}
private static void VisibilityChanged(DependencyObject d, DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs e)
{
if ((DataGridTemplateColumn)d != null)
{
((DataGridTemplateColumn)d).Visibility = (Visibility)e.NewValue;
}
}
}

From your MyDataGridTextColumn class, you could get the surrounding DataGrid.
Then you get your ViewModel out of the DataContext of the DataGrid and add a handler to the PropertyChanged event of your ViewModel. In the handler you just check for the property name and its value and change the Visibility of the Column accordingly.
Its not quite the best solution, but it should work ;)

Related

Incomplete display of items in combobox wpf c#

I'm using wpf c# and Entity Framework
I have a DataGrid on that show data from database
when users click on datagrid that row will show items in ComboBox (Load on of columns in combobox)
but problem is combobox doesn't show Normal list
Code CS Behind :
DENAF1399Entities dbms = new DENAF1399Entities();
private void Window_Loaded(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
var qre = dbms.Database.SqlQuery<Q_View>("SELECT * FROM Q_View");
datagrid1.ItemsSource = qre.ToList();
}
private void datagrid1_MouseLeftButtonUp(object sender, MouseButtonEventArgs e)
{
Q_View QVkala = datagrid1.SelectedItem as Q_View;
if (QVkala != null)
{
combobox1.ItemsSource = QVkala.NAMES;
}
}
I tried
-Change Fonts of combobox
-use new combobox
but didn't work
please help me
Edit during formation: It just became obvious to me what's going on. Q_View.NAMES is a string, and by setting combobox1.ItemsSource to that property, it's identifying the individual items as characters in the string (as string is an IEnumerable<char>).
If what you want in the combo box is what's in each of the columns of the selected item, then the way to do that is like this:
private void datagrid1_MouseLeftButtonUp(object sender, MouseButtonEventArgs e)
{
Q_View QVkala = datagrid1.SelectedItem as Q_View;
if (QVkala != null)
{
object[] items = { QVkala.CODE, QVkala.NAME, QVkala.NAMES, QVkala.TOZIH } //etc whatever properties you want to project into this
combobox1.ItemsSource = items;
}
}
ORIGINAL WORK ON AN ANSWER
At first glance it looks like your data is transposed, but altogether it looks like you aren't using WPF or Entity Framework like you really could be using them. WPF was made for MVVM design and Entity Framework was made for treating tables like collections of objects. Not knowing much else about your application, here's how I'd get started:
First, I'd move basically everything except what's auto-generated out of MainWindow.xaml.cs, and start a new separate class. (Note: may have compiler errors as this is completely off the cuff)
public class MainWindowViewModel : INotifyPropertyChanged
{
public event PropertyChangedEventHandler PropertyChanged; //MainWindow.xaml will hook into this
public ObservableCollection<Q_View> Q_Views { get; private set; }
private Q_View selectedQView;
public Q_View SelectedQView
{
get => selectedQView;
set
{
if(value != selectedQView)
{
selectedQView = value;
PropertyChanged?.Invoke("SelectedQView");
}
}
}
}
And then in MainWindow.xaml.cs, the only change from what's generated would be the constructor (there's another way to do this even without changing the code-behind but I'll not get into it here since I'm not as xaml-adept as I am with C#)
public class MainWindow : Window
{
public MainWindow()
{
DataContext = new MainWindowViewModel();
InitializeComponent(); //that's auto-generated
}
}
And finally, the xaml for your DataGrid. Edit it like this:
<DataGrid Name="QViewDataGrid" AutoGenerateColumns="False" ItemsSource="{Binding Q_Views}" SelectedItem="{Binding SelectedQView}">
<DataGrid.Columns>
<DataGridTextColumn Header="CODE" Binding="{Binding Path="CODE"}"> //and so forth with more columns
</DataGrid.Columns>
</DataGrid>
ComboBox will have a similar syntax for binding an ItemsSource and SelectedItem. Doing this enables you to avoid having event handlers and dealing with boiler plate for updating so many things.

How can I bind to a non ObservableCollection?

Is there a way to bind directly to a Collection in the model and manually tell WPF that the binding needs refreshing without having to create an ObservableCollection for it in the viewmodel?
<ListBox ItemsSource="{Binding Position.PossibleMoves}">
...
</ListBox>
Position is my model, part of a chess library, and PossibleMoves is a Collection within it. I do not want to implement INotifyProperty changed or put ObservableCollections in a stand alone optimized library.
I want to avoid copying PossibleMoves into an ObservableCollection every time the position is updated. The data binding works on initialization but it would be handy if I could also refresh the binding at will inside the viewmodel.
Calling OnNotifyPropertyChanged("Position.PossibleMoves") from the viewmodel doesn't work because the reference to the collection itself does not change.
You can do this by using an attached behavior to bind a handler to an event that gets triggered in the view model. You can't bind directly to events though so you have to wrap them in a class like so:
public class Refresher
{
public delegate void RefreshDelegate();
public event RefreshDelegate Refresh;
public void DoRefresh()
{
if (this.Refresh != null)
this.Refresh();
}
}
Now add an instance of that to your view model:
public class MyViewModel
{
public IList<string> Items { get; set; }
private Refresher _Refresher = new Refresher();
public Refresher Refresher {get {return this._Refresher;}}
}
Next create an attached behavior that registers a delegate instance with that event and forces the listbox to refresh its binding:
public static class RefreshBehavior
{
public static readonly DependencyProperty RefresherProperty = DependencyProperty.RegisterAttached(
"Refresher",
typeof(Refresher),
typeof(RefreshBehavior),
new PropertyMetadata(null, OnRefresherChange));
public static void SetRefresher(DependencyObject source, Refresher value)
{
source.SetValue(RefresherProperty, value);
}
public static Refresher GetRefresher(DependencyObject source)
{
return (Refresher)source.GetValue(RefresherProperty);
}
private static void OnRefresherChange(DependencyObject d, DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs e)
{
Refresher.RefreshDelegate handler = () =>
{
var listBox = d as ListBox;
listBox.Items.Refresh();
};
if (e.NewValue != null)
(e.NewValue as Refresher).Refresh += handler;
if (e.OldValue != null)
(e.OldValue as Refresher).Refresh -= handler;
}
}
And finally attach it to your listbox in the xaml:
<ListBox ItemsSource="{Binding Items}"
local:RefreshBehavior.Refresher="{Binding Refresher}"/>
That's it. Call Refresher.DoRefresh() in your view model and it will force a listbox update.
This works but it's really hammering a square peg into a round hole. If I were you I'd do everything I could to try and do proper collection changed notification in your view model. I understand you wanting to keep ObservableCollection out of your model but there are ways to proxy change notification automatically (e.g. Castle DynamicProxy).
You need to NotifyPropertyChange for the PossibleMoves from inside the Position class or make a property that delegates to the Position.PossibleMoves and notify that one.

DependencyProperty getter/setter not being called

I am trying to create a Custom control derived from a standard Grid.
I added a ObservableCollection as a DependencyProperty of the Custom control. However, the get/set of it is never reached. Can I have some guidelines in creating a DependencyProperty that works correctly with and ObservableCollection?
public class MyGrid : Grid
{
public ObservableCollection<string> Items
{
get
{
return (ObservableCollection<string>)GetValue(ItemsProperty);
}
set
{
SetValue(ItemsProperty, value);
}
}
public static DependencyProperty ItemsProperty =
DependencyProperty.Register("Items", typeof(ObservableCollection<string>),
typeof(MyGrid), new UIPropertyMetadata(null, OnItemsChanged));
}
I would suggest not to use ObservableCollection as the type of an Items dependency property.
The reason for having an ObservableCollection here (I guess) is to enable the UserControl to attach a CollectionChanged handler when the property value is assigned. But ObservableCollection is too specific.
The approach in WPF (e.g. in ItemsControl.ItemsSource) is to define a very basic interface type (like IEnumerable) and when the property is assigned a value, find out if the value collection implements certain more specific interfaces. This would at least be INotifyCollectionChanged here, but the collection might also implement ICollectionView and INotifyPropertyChanged. All these interfaces wouldn't be mandatory and that would enable your dependency property to bind to all sorts of collections, starting with a plain array up to a complex ItemCollection.
Your OnItemsChanged property change callback would then look like this:
private static void OnItemsChanged(DependencyObject obj, DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs e)
{
MyGrid grid = obj as MyGrid;
if (grid != null)
{
var oldCollectionChanged = e.OldValue as INotifyCollectionChanged;
var newCollectionChanged = e.NewValue as INotifyCollectionChanged;
if (oldCollectionChanged != null)
{
oldCollectionChanged.CollectionChanged -= grid.OnItemsCollectionChanged;
}
if (newCollectionChanged != null)
{
newCollectionChanged.CollectionChanged += grid.OnItemsCollectionChanged;
// in addition to adding a CollectionChanged handler
// any already existing collection elements should be processed here
}
}
}
private void OnItemsCollectionChanged(object sender, NotifyCollectionChangedEventArgs e)
{
// handle collection changes here
}
The WPF binding mechanism may bypass your standard CLR property and go directly to the dependency property accessors (GetValue and SetValue).
That is why logic should not be placed inside of the CLR property, but instead inside a changed handler.
Also the ObservableCollection<string> will never be set because when you use collection properties from XAML, like the following:
<local:MyGrid>
<local:MyGrid.Items>
<sys:String>First Item</sys:String>
<sys:String>Second Item</sys:String>
</local:MyGrid.Items>
</local:MyGrid>
It is actually calling a get on Items and then calling Add for each of the elements.

WPF MvvM DataGrid Dynamic Columns

I am searching about how to create the columns of the DataGrid from the ToolKit dynamic in MvvM way. But looks like it is impossible !
Is there some one that had to do the samething ?
there is no need to create a usercontrol or another control that comes from DataGrid, I just want to set de ItemSource of the grid to my custom object and in some point I want to define the columns of the grid in runtime dynamic based in the kind of the object.
Is that possible ?
cheers
I'm going to preface this by saying it maybe isn't the best solution to be doing and may not work in some situations but you can give it a try and see if it will work for what you want. I just whipped this up so it may have some bugs in it. Its still going to involve some code, but it keeps your model from knowing about you view.
What you need to do is create an extension property that will allow you to bind the Columns property on the DataGrid. Here is an example that I put together.
using System.Collections.ObjectModel;
using System.Collections.Specialized;
using System.Windows;
using System.Windows.Controls;
public static class DataGridExtension
{
public static ObservableCollection<DataGridColumn> GetColumns(DependencyObject obj)
{
return (ObservableCollection<DataGridColumn>)obj.GetValue(ColumnsProperty);
}
public static void SetColumns(DependencyObject obj, ObservableCollection<DataGridColumn> value)
{
obj.SetValue(ColumnsProperty, value);
}
public static readonly DependencyProperty ColumnsProperty =
DependencyProperty.RegisterAttached("Columns",
typeof(ObservableCollection<DataGridColumn>),
typeof(DataGridExtension),
new UIPropertyMetadata (new ObservableCollection<DataGridColumn>(),
OnDataGridColumnsPropertyChanged));
private static void OnDataGridColumnsPropertyChanged(
DependencyObject d,
DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs e)
{
if (d.GetType() == typeof(DataGrid))
{
DataGrid myGrid = d as DataGrid;
ObservableCollection<DataGridColumn> Columns =
(ObservableCollection<DataGridColumn>)e.NewValue;
if(Columns != null)
{
myGrid.Columns.Clear();
if (Columns != null && Columns.Count > 0)
{
foreach (DataGridColumn dataGridColumn in Columns)
{
myGrid.Columns.Add(dataGridColumn);
}
}
Columns.CollectionChanged += delegate(object sender,
NotifyCollectionChangedEventArgs args)
{
if(args.NewItems != null)
{
foreach (DataGridColumn column
in args.NewItems.Cast<DataGridColumn>())
{
myGrid.Columns.Add(column);
}
}
if(args.OldItems != null)
{
foreach (DataGridColumn column
in args.OldItems.Cast<DataGridColumn>())
{
myGrid.Columns.Remove(column);
}
}
};
}
}
}
}
Then you attach it to you DataGrid like this (Where columns is the an ObservableCollection property on your view model)
<Controls:DataGrid AutoGenerateColumns="False"
DataGridExtension.Columns="{Binding Columns}" />
I'm not sure how well it is going to respond if you start adding and remove columns, but it seems to work from my basic testing. Good Luck!
Having a similar problem, I did not want to add another dependency property.
My workaround was to organise the data to display in the DataGrid in a DataTable and bind the DataGrid ItemSource property to this DataTable (with of course AutoGenerateColumns set to true).
It works well, DataGrids seem happy with DataTable as source.
I would like to extend the previous example (answer) the ability to subscribe and unsubscribe on event CollectionChanged. Link on my answer in related theme.

WPF ComboBox SelectedItem Set to Null on TabControl Switch

I've got a simple problem in my WPF application which has me banging my head on the table. I have a TabControl, where every TabItem is a View generated for a ViewModel using a DataTemplate similar to this:
<DataTemplate DataType="{x:Type vm:FooViewModel}">
<vw:FooView/>
</DataTemplate>
FooView contains a ComboBox:
<ComboBox ItemsSource="{Binding Path=BarList}" DisplayMemberPath="Name" SelectedItem="{Binding Path=SelectedBar}"/>
and FooViewModel contains a simple Property: public Bar SelectedBar { get; set; }. My problem is that when I set the value for my ComboBox, change to another tab, then change back, the ComboBox is empty again. If I set a breakpoint on the setter for my property, I see that the property is assigned to null when I switch to another tab.
From what I understand, when a tab is switched, it is removed from the VisualTree - but why is it setting my ViewModel's property to null? This is making it very difficult for me to hold persistent state, and checking value != null does not seem like the right solution. Can anyone shed some like on this situation?
Edit: The call stack at the setter breakpoint only shows [External Code] - no hints there.
We just ran into the same problem. We found a blog entry describing the problem. It looks like it is a BUG in WPF and there is a workaround:
Specify the SelectedItem binding before the ItemsSource binding and the problem should be gone.
blog article
TLDR;
Change:
<ComboBox ItemsSource="{Binding Countries, Mode=OneWay}"
SelectedItem="{Binding SelectedCountry}"
DisplayMemberPath="Name" >
</ComboBox>
To:
<ComboBox SelectedItem="{Binding SelectedCountry}"
ItemsSource="{Binding Countries, Mode=OneWay}"
DisplayMemberPath="Name" >
</ComboBox>
My app is using avalondock & prims and had that exact problem. I has same thought with BSG, when we switched tab or document content in MVVM app, the controls as listview+box, combobox is removed from VisualTree. I bugged and saw most data of them was reset to null such as itemssource, selecteditem, .. but selectedboxitem was still hold current value.
A approach is in model, check its value is null then return like this:
private Employee _selectedEmployee;
public Employee SelectedEmployee
{
get { return _selectedEmployee; }
set
{
if (_selectedEmployee == value ||
IsAdding ||
(value == null && Employees.Count > 0))
{
return;
}
_selectedEmployee = value;
OnPropertyChanged(() => SelectedEmployee);
}
But this approach can only solve quite good in first binding level. i mean,
how we go if want to bind SelectedEmployee.Office to combobox, do same is not good
if check in propertyChanged event of SelectedEmployee model.
Basically, we dont want its value is reset null, keep its pre-value. I found a new solution
consistently. By using attached property, i created KeepSelection a-Pro, bool type, for Selector controls, thus supply all its inherited suck as listview, combobox...
public class SelectorBehavior
{
public static bool GetKeepSelection(DependencyObject obj)
{
return (bool)obj.GetValue(KeepSelectionProperty);
}
public static void SetKeepSelection(DependencyObject obj, bool value)
{
obj.SetValue(KeepSelectionProperty, value);
}
// Using a DependencyProperty as the backing store for KeepSelection. This enables animation, styling, binding, etc...
public static readonly DependencyProperty KeepSelectionProperty =
DependencyProperty.RegisterAttached("KeepSelection", typeof(bool), typeof(SelectorBehavior),
new UIPropertyMetadata(false, new PropertyChangedCallback(onKeepSelectionChanged)));
static void onKeepSelectionChanged(DependencyObject d, DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs e)
{
var selector = d as Selector;
var value = (bool)e.NewValue;
if (value)
{
selector.SelectionChanged += selector_SelectionChanged;
}
else
{
selector.SelectionChanged -= selector_SelectionChanged;
}
}
static void selector_SelectionChanged(object sender, SelectionChangedEventArgs e)
{
var selector = sender as Selector;
if (e.RemovedItems.Count > 0)
{
var deselectedItem = e.RemovedItems[0];
if (selector.SelectedItem == null)
{
selector.SelectedItem = deselectedItem;
e.Handled = true;
}
}
}
}
Final, i use this approach simply in xaml:
<ComboBox lsControl:SelectorBehavior.KeepSelection="true"
ItemsSource="{Binding Offices}"
SelectedItem="{Binding SelectedEmployee.Office}"
SelectedValuePath="Id"
DisplayMemberPath="Name"></ComboBox>
But, selecteditem will never null if selector's itemssource has items. It may affect
some special context.
Hope that helps.
Happy conding! :D
longsam
I had this same problem when scrolling through a virtualizing DataGrid that contains ComboBoxes. Using IsSynchronizedWithCurrentItem did not work, nor did changing the order of the SelectedItem and ItemsSource bindings. But here is an ugly hack that seems to work:
First, give your ComboBox an x:Name. This should be in the XAML for a control with a single ComboBox. For example:
<ComboBox x:Name="mComboBox" SelectedItem="{Binding SelectedTarget.WritableData, Mode=TwoWay}">
Then add these two event handlers in your codebehind:
using System.Windows.Controls;
using System.Windows;
namespace SATS.FileParsing.UserLogic
{
public partial class VariableTargetSelector : UserControl
{
public VariableTargetSelector()
{
InitializeComponent();
mComboBox.DataContextChanged += mComboBox_DataContextChanged;
mComboBox.SelectionChanged += mComboBox_SelectionChanged;
}
/// <summary>
/// Without this, if you grab the scrollbar and frantically scroll around, some ComboBoxes get their SelectedItem set to null.
/// Don't ask me why.
/// </summary>
void mComboBox_DataContextChanged(object sender, DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs e)
{
mComboBox.GetBindingExpression(ComboBox.SelectedItemProperty).UpdateTarget();
}
/// <summary>
/// Without this, picking a new item in the dropdown does not update IVariablePair.SelectedTarget.WritableData.
/// Don't ask me why.
/// </summary>
void mComboBox_SelectionChanged(object sender, SelectionChangedEventArgs e)
{
mComboBox.GetBindingExpression(ComboBox.SelectedItemProperty).UpdateSource();
}
}
}
Generally, I use SelectedValue instead of SelectedItem. If I need the object associated with the SelectedValue then I add a lookup field containing this to the target object (as I use T4 templates to gen my viewmodels this tends to be in a partial class). If you use a nullable property to store the SelectedValue then you will experience the problem described above, however if binding the SelectedValue to a non-nullable value (such as an int) then the WPF binding engine will discard the null value as being inappropriate for the target.
Edit:
Below stuff works (I hope...); I developed it because I followed the SelectedItems route described on the MVVM Lite page. However - why do I want to rely on SelectedItems? Adding an IsSelected property to my Items (as shown here) automatically preserves selected items (short of the mentioned cavet in above link). In the end, much easier!
Inital Post:
ok - that was a piece of work; I've a multi-column ListView with SelectionMode="Extension", which makes the whole thing fairly complex. My starting point is invoking tabItems from workspaces similar as describe here.
I made sure that in my ViewModel, I know when a tab item (workspace) is active. (This is a bit similar to here) - of course, somebody needs initalize SelectedWorkspace first.
private Int32 _selectedWorkspace;
public Int32 SelectedWorkspace {
get { return _selectedWorkspace; }
set {
_selectedWorkspace = value;
base.OnPropertyChanged("SelectedWorkspace");
}
}
protected Int32 _thisWorkspaceIdx = -1;
protected Int32 _oldSelectedWorkspace = -1;
public void OnSelectedWorkspaceChanged(object sender, PropertyChangedEventArgs e) {
if (e.PropertyName == "SelectedWorkspace") {
if (_oldSelectedWorkspace >= 0) {
Workspaces[_oldSelectedWorkpace].OnIsActivatedChanged(false);
}
Workspaces[SelectedWorkspace].OnIsActivatedChanged(true);
_oldSelectedWorkspace = SelectedWorkspace;
}
}
protected bool _isActive = false;
protected virtual void OnIsActivatedChanged(bool isActive) {
_isActive = isActive;
}
This allowed me to update the ViewModel selected items only if the tab item (workspace) was actually active. Hence, my ViewModel selected items list is preserved even as the tab item clears the ListView.SelectedItems. In the ViewModel:
if (_isActive) {
// ... update ViewModel selected items, referred below as vm.selectedItems
}
Last, when the tabItem got re-enabled, I hooked up to the 'Loaded' event and restored the SelectedItems. This is done in the code-behind of the View. (Note that whilst my ListView has multiple columns, one serves as a key, the others are for information only. the ViewModel selectedItems list only keeps the key. Else, the comparison below would be more complex):
private void myList_Loaded(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e) {
myViewModel vm = DataContext as myViewModel;
if (vm.selectedItems.Count > 0) {
foreach (string myKey in vm.selectedItems) {
foreach (var item in myList.Items) {
MyViewModel.MyItem i = item as MyViewModel.MyItem;
if (i.Key == myKey) {
myList.SelectedItems.Add(item);
}
}
}
}
}
if you suing async selection in WPF then remove it IsSynchronizedWithCurrentItem="True" from for the ComboBox, please refer to the document about IsSynchronizedWithCurrentItem:
<ComboBox
Name="tmpName"
Grid.Row="10"
Width="250"
Text="Best Match Position List"
HorizontalAlignment="Left"
Margin="14,0,0,0"
SelectedItem="{Binding Path=selectedSurceList,Mode=TwoWay}"
ItemsSource="{Binding Path=abcList}"
DisplayMemberPath="Name"
SelectedValuePath="Code"
IsEnabled="{Binding ElementName=UserBestMatchYesRadioBtn,Path=IsChecked}">
</ComboBox>
also takecare the binding
first use SelectedItem
then ItemsSource
ref:
http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/vstudio/en-US/fb8a8ad2-83c1-43df-b3c9-61353979d3d7/comboboxselectedvalue-is-lost-when-itemssource-is-updated?forum=wpf
http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/c9e62ad7-926e-4612-8b0c-cc75fbd160fd/bug-in-wpf-combobox-data-binding
I solve my problem using the above
I once had a similar problem. It seems that the combobox looses the selected item in VisibilityChanged event. Workarround is to clear the binding before this occurs, and reset it when coming back. You can also try to set the Binding to Mode=TwoWay
Hope that this helps
Jan
I had the same problem and solved it with the following method attached to the Combobox DataContextChanged-Event:
private void myCombobox_DataContextChanged(object sender, DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs e)
{
if (sender is FrameworkElement && e.NewValue == null)
((FrameworkElement)sender).DataContext = e.OldValue;
}
So everytime you want to remove the datacontext from the combobox, the old datacontext will be set again.
Everytime you change the active Tab of your TabControl, the Combobox will removed from your VisualTree and added if you go back to the one with your combobox. If the combo box is removed from the VisualTree, also the DataContext is set to null.
Or you use a class, which have implemented such feature:
public class MyCombobox : ComboBox
{
public MyCombobox()
{
this.DataContextChanged += MyCombobox_DataContextChanged;
}
void MyCombobox_DataContextChanged(object sender, System.Windows.DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs e)
{
if (sender is FrameworkElement && e.NewValue == null)
((FrameworkElement)sender).DataContext = e.OldValue;
}
public void SetDataContextExplicit(object dataContext)
{
lock(this.DataContext)
{
this.DataContextChanged -= MyCombobox_DataContextChanged;
this.DataContext = dataContext;
this.DataContextChanged += MyCombobox_DataContextChanged;
}
}
}
I think the problem may be that you arent telling the Combo box when to bind back to the source. Try this:
<ComboBox ItemsSource="{Binding Path=BarList}" DisplayMemberPath="Name" SelectedItem="{Binding Path=SelectedBar, UpdateSourceTrigger=PropertyChanged}"/
You can use the MVVM framework Catel and the catel:TabControl element there this problem is already solved.
Just don't allow your ViewModel's property to be changed if value becomes null.
public Bar SelectedBar
{
get { return barSelected; }
set { if (value != null) SetProperty(ref barSelected, value); }
}
That's it.

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