I have an ICollectionView, called RepozitorijumWrapper which should display my entities based on six fields. The fields are two TextBox and four DateTimePicker elements. Basically, every time any of those elements change (even by a number/letter) I want the list to update.
My DateTimePicker and TextBox elements are bound to DateTime and string properties, that have the RepozitorijumWrapper.Refresh() code in their setter. When I tested my application, the filter did work, but only once you left the field. After that I tried calling the Refresh() method from the controller, or rather using the TextChanged event for the TextBox elements, and the ValueChanged for the DateTimePickers. This changed nothing. The filter does work, but it isn't refreshed the way I'd like it to refresh.
Since my code is pretty much six copies of the same thing, with changed names and types, I'll only paste one instance of each relevant part of code.
Here's the property:
public string SifraTima
{
get {return sifraTima;}
set
{
if(!sifraTima.Equals(value))
{
sifraTima = value;
RepozitorijumWrapper.Refresh();
}
}
}
Here's the XAML for that property:
<TextBox x:Name="txtSifraTima" Grid.Column="1" Grid.Row="2" Margin="3,3,30,3" Text="{Binding Path=SifraTima}" TextChanged="txtSifraTima_TextChanged" />
Here's the event handler:
private void txtSifraTima_TextChanged(object sender, TextChangedEventArgs e)
{
presenter.RepozitorijumWrapper.Refresh();
}
Here's my ICollectionView, created in the constructor of my presenter class:
RepozitorijumWrapper = CollectionViewSource.GetDefaultView(rezervacije.Kolekcija);
RepozitorijumWrapper.Filter = itm =>
((Rezervacija)itm).SifraTerena.Contains(SifraTerena) &&
((Rezervacija)itm).SifraTima.Contains(SifraTima) &&
((Rezervacija)itm).VremeZauzimanja <= VremeZauzimanjaDo &&
((Rezervacija)itm).VremeZauzimanja >= VremeZauzimanjaOd &&
((Rezervacija)itm).VremeOslobadjanja <= VremeOslobadjanjaDo &&
((Rezervacija)itm).VremeOslobadjanja >= VremeOslobadjanjaOd;
Your binding on the Text property of the TextBox is set to only update the property after the focus is lost by default. To change that behavior, you can specify a value for UpdateSourceTrigger like so:
Text="{Binding Path=SifraTima, UpdateSourceTrigger=PropertyChanged}"
MSDN has more information on UpdateSourceTrigger
I am having the hardest time figuring out a way to solve a problem I am having with databinding on a slider and a textbox.
The setup:
the current value of the slider is displayed inside of the textbox. When the user drags the slider the value is reflected inside the textbox. The user can choose to drag the slider and release to the value he chooses, click anywhere on the slider track to set the value or enter the value manually in the texbox. In the last case, the value entered in the textbox should update the slider position.
The texbox is two way bound to a datacontext property while the slider is one way bound to the same property. When the user slides or click on the slider tracker, I use the dragcompleted event of the slider to notify the datacontext of the modification. When the user clicks on the tracker on the other hand I use the OnValueChanged event of the slider to notify the datacontext (and use a flag to ensure the OnValueChanged was not triggered by a slider move)
The problem: The OnValueChanged event fires even when initializing the slider value with the binding value so I cannot figure out whether the value is actually coming from the user or the binding.
Could you please suggest maybe and alternative way to do the binding to ensure we can distinguish between user update and binding udpates for the slider?
Thnak you!
UPDATE Sorry I forgot to mention why I am not binding directly both slider and textbox two ways like the below answers suggest. The update to the data context value is supposed to trigger a call to a backend server and retrieve data from a database. The problem is that when the user drags the slider it constantly fires updates. I go around the problem by only relying to the actual onValueChanged event to call the DoWhatever method. I hope that's a bit clearer. Sorry for omitting this...
I quickly put together the sample below for you to give it a try.
The xaml:
<Window x:Class="SliderIssue.MainWindow"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
Title="MainWindow" Height="350" Width="525">
<Grid HorizontalAlignment="Center"
VerticalAlignment="Center">
<Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<ColumnDefinition/>
<ColumnDefinition/>
</Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<Slider Name="slider" VerticalAlignment="Top"
ValueChanged="slider_ValueChanged"
Thumb.DragStarted="slider_DragStarted"
Thumb.DragCompleted="slider_DragCompleted"
Value="{Binding Count}"
Width="200"
Minimum="0"
Maximum="100"/>
<TextBox VerticalAlignment="Top"
HorizontalAlignment="Left"
Grid.Column="1"
Width="100"
Text="{Binding Count,Mode=TwoWay,UpdateSourceTrigger=LostFocus}"
Height="25"/>
</Grid>
The code behind:
using System.Windows;
namespace SliderIssue
{
/// <summary>
/// Interaction logic for MainWindow.xaml
/// </summary>
public partial class MainWindow : Window
{
private bool _dragStarted;
public MainWindow()
{
InitializeComponent();
var item = new Item();
DataContext = item;
}
private void slider_ValueChanged(object sender, RoutedPropertyChangedEventArgs<double> e)
{
if (!_dragStarted)
{
var item = (Item)DataContext;
item.DoWhatever(e.NewValue);
}
}
private void slider_DragStarted(object sender, System.Windows.Controls.Primitives.DragStartedEventArgs e)
{
_dragStarted = true;
}
private void slider_DragCompleted(object sender, System.Windows.Controls.Primitives.DragCompletedEventArgs e)
{
_dragStarted = false;
var item = (Item) DataContext;
item.DoWhatever(slider.Value);
}
}
}
A simple data class:
using System.ComponentModel;
namespace SliderIssue
{
public class Item : INotifyPropertyChanged
{
private int _count = 50;
public int Count
{
get { return _count; }
set
{
if (_count != value)
{
_count = value;
DoWhatever(_count);
OnPropertyChanged("Count");
}
}
}
public void DoWhatever(double value)
{
//do something with value
//and blablabla
}
public event PropertyChangedEventHandler PropertyChanged;
protected void OnPropertyChanged(string property)
{
if (PropertyChanged != null)
{
PropertyChanged(this, new PropertyChangedEventArgs(property));
}
}
}
}
UPDATE
OK, now I see why you were trying to do it like that. I have a couple of suggestions that may help.
My first one is a bit more opinionated, but I offer it nonetheless. If the problem you are trying to solve is throttling requests to a back-end database, I would contend that your ViewModel need not concern itself with that. I would push that down a layer into an object that is making the call to the back-end based on the updated value passed down from the ViewModel.
You could create a poor-man's throttling attempt by recording DateTimeOffset.Now each time a call is made to the method to query the back-end DB. Compare that value to the last value recorded. If the TimeSpan between falls beneath your minimum threshold, update the value to which it was compared, and ignore the request.
You could do a similar thing with a timer and resetting the timer each time a request is made, but that is messier.
When the call returns from the back-end, this layer raises an event which the ViewModel handles and does whatever it needs to do with the data returned.
As another suggestion, I would also check out what the ReactiveExtensions give you. It takes a bit to kind of wrap your brain around how they work, but you could create an Observable from a stream of events, and then use the Throttle() method to return another Observable. You subscribe to that Observable and perform your call there. It would take more re-thinking the design and architecture of your software, but it is intriguing.
Paul Betts created an entire MVVM framework based around Rx called ReactiveUI. I first learned about throttling Observables in one of his blog posts here.
Good luck!
ORIGINAL POST
If I understand your problem correctly, it sounds like you would like both the Slider and the TextBox to reflect the same property of the DataContext (normally, a ViewModel). It looks like you are trying to duplicate what the binding mechanism of WPF gives you. I was able to get a quick prototype of this working. Here's the code I used.
For the view, I just created a new window with this as the content of the Window.
<StackPanel>
<Slider Value="{Binding TheValue}" Margin="16" />
<TextBox Text="{Binding TheValue}" Margin="16" />
</StackPanel>
Notice that both the Slider and the TextBox are bound to the same (cleverly-named) value of the DataContext. When the user enters a new value into the TextBox, the value will change, and the property change notification (in the ViewModel) will cause the slider to update its value automatically.
Here is the code for the ViewModel (i.e., the DataContext of the View).
class TextySlideyViewModel : ViewModelBase
{
private double _theValue;
public double TheValue
{
get { return _theValue; }
set
{
if(_theValue == value)
return;
_theValue = value;
OnPropertyChanged("TheValue");
}
}
}
My ViewModel is derived from a ViewModelBase class which implements the INotifyPropertyChanged interface. The OnPropertyChanged() method is defined in the base class which merely raises the event for the property whose name is passed as the parameter.
Lastly, I created the View and assigned a new instance of the ViewModel as its DataContext (I did this directly in the App's OnStartup() method for this example).
I hope this helps get you going in the right direction.
UPDATE:
Along the lines with Eric, but as a separate suggestion of operation.
Bind both controls to Count as two way as I suggested below.
Create a timer which fires off every second that checks two variables.
(Timer Check #1) Checks to see if a database request is ongoing (such as a Boolean flag). If it is true, it does nothing. If there is no operation (false), it goes to step 4.
(Timer Check #2) It checks to see if count is changed. If count has changed it sets the data request ongoing flag (as found/used in step 3) and initiates an async database call and exits.
(Database Action Call) Gets the database data and updates the VM accordingly. It sets the data request ongoing flag to false which allows the timer check to start a new request if count is changed.
That way you can manage the updates even if a user goes crazy with the slider.
I believe you may have over thought this. Remove all the events off of the slider and the textbox. If the first value (set programmatically) should not call your DoWhatever method, then put in a check in that code to skip the first initialization....
I recommend that you make the slider bind to Count as a TwoWay mode and have the Count Property do the other process you need (as shown on your entity class). No need to check for clicks or any other event. If the user changes the value in the textbox it changes the slider and visa versa.
<Slider Name="slider"
VerticalAlignment="Top"
Value="{Binding Count, Mode=TwoWay}"
Width="200"
Minimum="0"
Maximum="100" />
<TextBox VerticalAlignment="Top"
HorizontalAlignment="Left"
Grid.Column="1"
Width="100"
Text="{Binding Count,Mode=TwoWay,UpdateSourceTrigger=LostFocus}"
Height="25" />
I'm developing complex data entry forms with various pop-up lookups, etc. Because of different things - focus of certain controls get lost and I need some way to set focus in MVVM. So far I came up with attached property which I coded like this(actual dependency property declaration skipped):
private static void SetFocus(DependencyObject d, DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs e)
{
var textBox = d as TextBox;
if (textBox != null)
{
textBox.Focus();
}
}
So, it's pretty simple. When property changes - focus get's set.
My view:
<TextBox Text="{Binding CurrentItem.SerialNumber, Mode=TwoWay, NotifyOnValidationError=True}"
behaviors:TextBoxBehaviors.IsFocused="{Binding SecondaryControlFocus}"
Grid.Column="1" Grid.Row="2" Margin="1" Grid.ColumnSpan="2" TabIndex="2" />
As you see - I attach that behavior and Bind to "SecondaryControlFocus" property.
ViewModel:
public bool SecondaryControlFocus
{
get
{
return this.secondaryControlFocus;
}
set
{
this.secondaryControlFocus = value;
this.RaisePropertyChanged(() => this.SecondaryControlFocus);
}
}
And code how I set focus:
this.SecondaryControlFocus = !this.SecondaryControlFocus;
To me this code smells because I have to toggle property force and back in order to trigger property..
Is there nicer way to accomplish what I do? There is nothing more irritating when power user can't use TAB keys... And I need to get control over focusing in MVVM, this is important for proper data entry flow. But I want code to be somewhat "nice"
It does smell, but I don't think there's anything we can do about it
Usually I do the same thing you have with the AttachedProperty, and keep a single IsFocused bool somewhere in the View (since this is a View-Specific problem, and should not be mixed in with the business logic). I'll then have the View listen to some kind of Event System such as (PRISM's EventAggregator or MVVM Light's Messenger) for ResetFocus events, and I'll raise the ResetFocus event whenever something causes focus to change between my windows/pages, or after a dialog box.
It's not pretty, but it works.
This is a running question that I have updated to hopefully be a little more clear.
In short what I am trying to accomplish is pass a property from a listbox selected item to the viewmodel so that this property can be used within a new query. In the code below the Listbox inherits databinding from the parent object. The listbox contains data templates (user controls) used to render out detailed results.
The issue I am having is that within the user control I have an expander which when clicked calls a command from the ViewModel. From what I can see the Listbox object is loosing it's data context so in order for the command to be called when the expander is expanded I have to explicitly set the datacontext of the expander. Doing this seems to instantiate a new view model which resets my bound property (SelectedItemsID) to null.
Is there a way to pass the selected item from the view to the viewmodel and prevent the value from being reset to null when a button calls a command from within the templated listbox item?
I realize that both Prism and MVVMLite have workarounds for this but I am not familiar with either framework so I don't know the level of complexity in cutting either of these into my project.
Can this be accomplished outside of Prism or MVVMLite?
original post follows:
Within my project I have a listbox usercontrol which contains a custom data template.
<ListBox x:Name="ResultListBox"
HorizontalAlignment="Stretch"
Background="{x:Null}"
BorderThickness="0"
HorizontalContentAlignment="Stretch"
ItemsSource="{Binding SearchResults[0].Results,
Mode=TwoWay}"
ScrollViewer.HorizontalScrollBarVisibility="Disabled"
SelectionChanged="ResultListBox_SelectionChanged">
<ListBox.ItemTemplate>
<DataTemplate>
<dts:TypeTemplateSelector Content="{Binding}" HorizontalContentAlignment="Stretch">
<!-- CFS Template -->
<dts:TypeTemplateSelector.CFSTemplate>
<DataTemplate>
<qr:srchCFS />
</DataTemplate>
</dts:TypeTemplateSelector.CFSTemplate>
<!-- Person Template -->
<dts:TypeTemplateSelector.PersonTemplate>
<DataTemplate>
<qr:srchPerson />
</DataTemplate>
</dts:TypeTemplateSelector.PersonTemplate>
<!-- removed for brevity -->
</DataTemplate>
</ListBox.ItemTemplate>
</ListBox>
SelectionChanged calls the following method from the code behind
private void ResultListBox_SelectionChanged(object sender, SelectionChangedEventArgs e)
{
if (((ListBox)sender).SelectedItem != null)
_ViewModel.SelectedItemID = (((ListBox)sender).SelectedItem as QueryResult).ID.ToString();
this.NotifyPropertyChanged(_ViewModel.SelectedItemID);//binds to VM
}
Within the ViewModel I have the following property
public string SelectedItemID
{
get
{
return this._SelectedItemID;
}
set
{
if (this._SelectedItemID == value)
return;
this._SelectedItemID = value;
}
}
the listbox template contains a custom layout with an expander control. The expander control is used to display more details related to the selected item. These details (collection) are created by making a new call to my proxy. To do this with an expander control I used the Expressions InvokeCommandAction
<toolkit:Expander Height="auto"
Margin="0,0,-2,0"
Foreground="#FFFFC21C"
Header="View Details"
IsExpanded="False"
DataContext="{Binding Source={StaticResource SearchViewModelDataSource}}"
Style="{StaticResource DetailExpander}">
<i:Interaction.Triggers>
<i:EventTrigger EventName="Expanded">
<i:InvokeCommandAction Command="{Binding GetCfsResultCommand}" />
</i:EventTrigger>
</i:Interaction.Triggers>
Within the ViewModel the delegate command GetCFSResultCommandExecute which is called is fairly straight forward
private void GetCfsResultCommandExecute(object parameter)
{
long IdResult;
if (long.TryParse(SelectedItemID, out IdResult))
{
this.CallForServiceResults = this._DataModel.GetCFSResults(IdResult);}
The issue I am experiencing is when selecting a listbox Item the selectionchanged event fires and the property SelectedItemID is updated with the correct id from the selected item. When I click on the expander the Command is fired but the property SelectedItemID is set to null. I have traced this with Silverlight-Spy and the events are consistent with what you would expect when the expander is clicked the listbox item loses focus, the expander (toggle) gets focus and there is a LeftMouseDownEvent but I cannot see anything happening that explains why the property is being set to null. I added the same code used in the selection changed event to a LostFocus event on the listboxt item and still received the same result.
I'd appreciate any help with understanding why the public property SelectedItemID is being set to null when the expander button which is part of the listbox control is being set to null. And of course I would REALLY appreciate any help in learning how prevent the property from being set to null and retaining the bound ID.
Update
I have attempted to remove the datacontext reference from the Expander as this was suggested to be the issue. From what I have since this is a data template item it "steps" out of the visual tree and looses reference to the datacontext of the control which is inherited from the parent object. If I attempt to set the datacontext in code for the control all bindings to properties are lost.
My next attempt was to set the datacontext for the expander control within the constructor as
private SearchViewModel _ViewModel;
public srchCFS()
{
InitializeComponent();
this.cfsExpander.DataContext = this._ViewModel;
}
This approach does not seem to work as InvokeCommandAction is never fired. This command only seems to trigger if data context is set on the expander.
thanks in advance
With this line you create a new SearchViewModelDataSource using its default constructor.
DataContext="{Binding Source={StaticResource SearchViewModelDataSource}}"
I guess this is why you find null because this is the default value for reference type.
You can resolve the issue by setting DataContext to the same instance used to the main controll (you can do it by code after all components are initialized).
Hope this help!
Edit
I don't think that binding may be lost after setting datacontext from code. I do it every time I need to share something between two or more model.
In relation to the code you've written :
private SearchViewModel _ViewModel;
public srchCFS()
{
InitializeComponent();
this.cfsExpander.DataContext = this._ViewModel;
}
Instead of using this.cfsExpander you can try to use the FindName method. Maybe this will return you the correct instance.
object item = this.FindName("expander_name");
if ((item!=null)&&(item is Expander))
{
Expander exp = item as Expander;
exp.DataContext = this._ViewModel;
}
Try if its work for you.
Of course, this._ViewModel has to expose a property of type ICommand named GetCfsResultCommand but I think this has been already done.
While this was a hacky approach I found an intermediate solution to get the listbox item value to the view model. I ended up using the selection changed event and passing the value directly to a public property wihtin my view model. Not the best approach but it resolved the issue short term
private void ResultListBox_SelectionChanged(object sender, SelectionChangedEventArgs e)
{
if (((ListBox)sender).SelectedItem != null)
_ViewModel.SelectedItemID = (((ListBox)sender).SelectedItem as QueryResult).ID.ToString();
MySelectedValue = (((ListBox)sender).SelectedItem as QueryResult).ID.ToString();
this.NotifyPropertyChanged(_ViewModel.SelectedItemID);
}
For this to fire I did have to also setup a property changed handler within the view to push the change to the VM. You can disregard the MySelectedValue line as it is secondary code I have in place for testing.
For those intereted the generic property changed handler
public event PropertyChangedEventHandler PropertyChanged;
private void NotifyPropertyChanged(string info)
{
if (PropertyChanged != null)
{
PropertyChanged(this, new PropertyChangedEventArgs(info));
}
}
How do I cancel a user selection in a databound WPF ListBox? The source property is set correctly, but the ListBox selection is out of sync.
I have an MVVM app that needs to cancel a user selection in a WPF ListBox if certain validation conditions fail. Validation is triggered by a selection in the ListBox, rather than by a Submit button.
The ListBox.SelectedItem property is bound to a ViewModel.CurrentDocument property. If validation fails, the setter for the view model property exits without changing the property. So, the property to which ListBox.SelectedItem is bound doesn't get changed.
If that happens, the view model property setter does raise the PropertyChanged event before it exits, which I had assumed would be enough to reset the ListBox back to the old selection. But that's not working--the ListBox still shows the new user selection. I need to override that selection and get it back in sync with the source property.
Just in case that's not clear, here is an example: The ListBox has two items, Document1 and Document2; Document1 is selected. The user selects Document2, but Document1 fails to validate. The ViewModel.CurrentDocument property is still set to Document1, but the ListBox shows that Document2 is selected. I need to get the ListBox selection back to Document1.
Here is my ListBox Binding:
<ListBox
ItemsSource="{Binding Path=SearchResults, Mode=TwoWay, UpdateSourceTrigger=PropertyChanged}"
SelectedItem="{Binding Path=CurrentDocument, Mode=TwoWay, UpdateSourceTrigger=PropertyChanged}" />
I did try using a callback from the ViewModel (as an event) to the View (which subscribes to the event), to force the SelectedItem property back to the old selection. I pass the old Document with the event, and it is the correct one (the old selection), but the ListBox selection doesn't change back.
So, how do I get the ListBox selection back in sync with the view model property to which its SelectedItem property is bound? Thanks for your help.
For future stumblers on this question, this page is what ultimately worked for me:
http://blog.alner.net/archive/2010/04/25/cancelling-selection-change-in-a-bound-wpf-combo-box.aspx
It's for a combobox, but works for a listbox just fine, since in MVVM you don't really care what type of control is calling the setter. The glorious secret, as the author mentions, is to actually change the underlying value and then change it back. It was also important to run this “undo” on a separate dispatcher operation.
private Person _CurrentPersonCancellable;
public Person CurrentPersonCancellable
{
get
{
Debug.WriteLine("Getting CurrentPersonCancellable.");
return _CurrentPersonCancellable;
}
set
{
// Store the current value so that we can
// change it back if needed.
var origValue = _CurrentPersonCancellable;
// If the value hasn't changed, don't do anything.
if (value == _CurrentPersonCancellable)
return;
// Note that we actually change the value for now.
// This is necessary because WPF seems to query the
// value after the change. The combo box
// likes to know that the value did change.
_CurrentPersonCancellable = value;
if (
MessageBox.Show(
"Allow change of selected item?",
"Continue",
MessageBoxButton.YesNo
) != MessageBoxResult.Yes
)
{
Debug.WriteLine("Selection Cancelled.");
// change the value back, but do so after the
// UI has finished it's current context operation.
Application.Current.Dispatcher.BeginInvoke(
new Action(() =>
{
Debug.WriteLine(
"Dispatcher BeginInvoke " +
"Setting CurrentPersonCancellable."
);
// Do this against the underlying value so
// that we don't invoke the cancellation question again.
_CurrentPersonCancellable = origValue;
OnPropertyChanged("CurrentPersonCancellable");
}),
DispatcherPriority.ContextIdle,
null
);
// Exit early.
return;
}
// Normal path. Selection applied.
// Raise PropertyChanged on the field.
Debug.WriteLine("Selection applied.");
OnPropertyChanged("CurrentPersonCancellable");
}
}
Note: The author uses ContextIdle for the DispatcherPriority for the action to undo the change. While fine, this is a lower priority than Render, which means that the change will show in the UI as the selected item momentarily changing and changing back. Using a dispatcher priority of Normal or even Send (the highest priority) preempts the display of the change. This is what I ended up doing. See here for details about the DispatcherPriority enumeration.
In .NET 4.5 they added the Delay field to the Binding. If you set the delay it will automatically wait to update so there is no need for the Dispatcher in the ViewModel. This works for validation of all Selector elements like the ListBox's and ComboBox's SelectedItem properties. The Delay is in milliseconds.
<ListBox
ItemsSource="{Binding Path=SearchResults, Mode=TwoWay, UpdateSourceTrigger=PropertyChanged}"
SelectedItem="{Binding Path=CurrentDocument, Mode=TwoWay, Delay=10}" />
-snip-
Well forget what I wrote above.
I just did an experiment, and indeed SelectedItem goes out of sync whenever you do anything more fancy in the setter. I guess you need to wait for the setter to return, and then change the property back in your ViewModel asynchronously.
Quick and dirty working solution (tested in my simple project) using MVVM Light helpers:
In your setter, to revert to previous value of CurrentDocument
var dp = DispatcherHelper.UIDispatcher;
if (dp != null)
dp.BeginInvoke(
(new Action(() => {
currentDocument = previousDocument;
RaisePropertyChanged("CurrentDocument");
})), DispatcherPriority.ContextIdle);
it basically queues the property change on the UI thread, ContextIdle priority will ensure it will wait for UI to be in consistent state. it Appears you cannot freely change dependency properties while inside event handlers in WPF.
Unfortunately it creates coupling between your view model and your view and it's an ugly hack.
To make DispatcherHelper.UIDispatcher work you need to do DispatcherHelper.Initialize() first.
Got it! I am going to accept majocha's answer, because his comment underneath his answer led me to the solution.
Here is wnat I did: I created a SelectionChanged event handler for the ListBox in code-behind. Yes, it's ugly, but it works. The code-behind also contains a module-level variable, m_OldSelectedIndex, which is initialized to -1. The SelectionChanged handler calls the ViewModel's Validate() method and gets a boolean back indicating whether the Document is valid. If the Document is valid, the handler sets m_OldSelectedIndex to the current ListBox.SelectedIndex and exits. If the document is invalid, the handler resets ListBox.SelectedIndex to m_OldSelectedIndex. Here is the code for the event handler:
private void OnSearchResultsBoxSelectionChanged(object sender, SelectionChangedEventArgs e)
{
var viewModel = (MainViewModel) this.DataContext;
if (viewModel.Validate() == null)
{
m_OldSelectedIndex = SearchResultsBox.SelectedIndex;
}
else
{
SearchResultsBox.SelectedIndex = m_OldSelectedIndex;
}
}
Note that there is a trick to this solution: You have to use the SelectedIndex property; it doesn't work with the SelectedItem property.
Thanks for your help majocha, and hopefully this will help somebody else down the road. Like me, six months from now, when I have forgotten this solution...
If you are serious about following MVVM and don't want any code behind, and also don't like the use of the Dispatcher, which frankly is not elegant either, the following solution works for me and is by far more elegant than most of the solutions provided here.
It is based on the notion that in code behind you are able to stop the selection using the SelectionChanged event. Well now, if this is the case, why not create a behavior for it, and associate a command with the SelectionChanged event. In the viewmodel you can then easily remember the previous selected index and the current selected index. The trick is to have binding to your viewmodel on SelectedIndex and just let that one change whenever the selection changes. But immediately after the selection really has changed, the SelectionChanged event fires which now is notified via the command to your viewmodel. Because you remember the previously selected index, you can validate it and if not correct, you move the selected index back to the original value.
The code for the behavior is as follows:
public class ListBoxSelectionChangedBehavior : Behavior<ListBox>
{
public static readonly DependencyProperty CommandProperty
= DependencyProperty.Register("Command",
typeof(ICommand),
typeof(ListBoxSelectionChangedBehavior),
new PropertyMetadata());
public static DependencyProperty CommandParameterProperty
= DependencyProperty.Register("CommandParameter",
typeof(object),
typeof(ListBoxSelectionChangedBehavior),
new PropertyMetadata(null));
public ICommand Command
{
get { return (ICommand)GetValue(CommandProperty); }
set { SetValue(CommandProperty, value); }
}
public object CommandParameter
{
get { return GetValue(CommandParameterProperty); }
set { SetValue(CommandParameterProperty, value); }
}
protected override void OnAttached()
{
AssociatedObject.SelectionChanged += ListBoxOnSelectionChanged;
}
protected override void OnDetaching()
{
AssociatedObject.SelectionChanged -= ListBoxOnSelectionChanged;
}
private void ListBoxOnSelectionChanged(object sender, SelectionChangedEventArgs e)
{
Command.Execute(CommandParameter);
}
}
Using it in XAML:
<ListBox x:Name="ListBox"
Margin="2,0,2,2"
ItemsSource="{Binding Taken}"
ItemContainerStyle="{StaticResource ContainerStyle}"
ScrollViewer.HorizontalScrollBarVisibility="Disabled"
HorizontalContentAlignment="Stretch"
SelectedIndex="{Binding SelectedTaskIndex, Mode=TwoWay}">
<i:Interaction.Behaviors>
<b:ListBoxSelectionChangedBehavior Command="{Binding SelectionChangedCommand}"/>
</i:Interaction.Behaviors>
</ListBox>
The code that is appropriate in the viewmodel is as follows:
public int SelectedTaskIndex
{
get { return _SelectedTaskIndex; }
set { SetProperty(ref _SelectedTaskIndex, value); }
}
private void SelectionChanged()
{
if (_OldSelectedTaskIndex >= 0 && _SelectedTaskIndex != _OldSelectedTaskIndex)
{
if (Taken[_OldSelectedTaskIndex].IsDirty)
{
SelectedTaskIndex = _OldSelectedTaskIndex;
}
}
else
{
_OldSelectedTaskIndex = _SelectedTaskIndex;
}
}
public RelayCommand SelectionChangedCommand { get; private set; }
In the constructor of the viewmodel:
SelectionChangedCommand = new RelayCommand(SelectionChanged);
RelayCommand is part of MVVM light. Google it if you don't know it.
You need to refer to
xmlns:i="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/2010/interactivity"
and hence you need to reference System.Windows.Interactivity.
I came up against this recently, and came up with a solution that works well with my MVVM, without the need for and code behind.
I created a SelectedIndex property in my model and bound the listbox SelectedIndex to it.
On the View CurrentChanging event, I do my validation, if it fails, I simply use the code
e.cancel = true;
//UserView is my ICollectionView that's bound to the listbox, that is currently changing
SelectedIndex = UserView.CurrentPosition;
//Use whatever similar notification method you use
NotifyPropertyChanged("SelectedIndex");
It seems to work perfectly ATM. There may be edge cases where it doesnt, but for now, it does exactly what I want.
I had a very similar problem, the difference being that I am using ListView bound to an ICollectionView and was using IsSynchronizedWithCurrentItem rather than binding the SelectedItem property of the ListView. This worked well for me until I wanted to cancel the CurrentItemChanged event of the underlying ICollectionView, which left the ListView.SelectedItem out of sync with the ICollectionView.CurrentItem.
The underlying problem here is keeping the view in sync with the view model. Obviously cancelling a selection change request in the view model is trivial. So we really just need a more responsive view as far as I'm concerned. I'd rather avoid putting kludges into my ViewModel to work around limitations of the ListView synchronization. On the other hand I'm more than happy to add some view-specific logic to my view code-behind.
So my solution was to wire my own synchronization for the ListView selection in the code-behind. Perfectly MVVM as far as I'm concerned and more robust than the default for ListView with IsSynchronizedWithCurrentItem.
Here is my code behind ... this allows changing the current item from the ViewModel as well. If the user clicks the list view and changes the selection, it will immediately change, then change back if something down-stream cancels the change (this is my desired behavior). Note I have IsSynchronizedWithCurrentItem set to false on the ListView. Also note that I am using async/await here which plays nicely, but requires a little double-checking that when the await returns, we are still in the same data context.
void DataContextChangedHandler(object sender, DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs e)
{
vm = DataContext as ViewModel;
if (vm != null)
vm.Items.CurrentChanged += Items_CurrentChanged;
}
private async void myListView_SelectionChanged(object sender, SelectionChangedEventArgs e)
{
var vm = DataContext as ViewModel; //for closure before await
if (vm != null)
{
if (myListView.SelectedIndex != vm.Items.CurrentPosition)
{
var changed = await vm.TrySetCurrentItemAsync(myListView.SelectedIndex);
if (!changed && vm == DataContext)
{
myListView.SelectedIndex = vm.Items.CurrentPosition; //reset index
}
}
}
}
void Items_CurrentChanged(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
var vm = DataContext as ViewModel;
if (vm != null)
myListView.SelectedIndex = vm.Items.CurrentPosition;
}
Then in my ViewModel class I have ICollectionView named Items and this method (a simplified version is presented).
public async Task<bool> TrySetCurrentItemAsync(int newIndex)
{
DataModels.BatchItem newCurrentItem = null;
if (newIndex >= 0 && newIndex < Items.Count)
{
newCurrentItem = Items.GetItemAt(newIndex) as DataModels.BatchItem;
}
var closingItem = Items.CurrentItem as DataModels.BatchItem;
if (closingItem != null)
{
if (newCurrentItem != null && closingItem == newCurrentItem)
return true; //no-op change complete
var closed = await closingItem.TryCloseAsync();
if (!closed)
return false; //user said don't change
}
Items.MoveCurrentTo(newCurrentItem);
return true;
}
The implementation of TryCloseAsync could use some kind of dialog service to elicit a close confirmation from the user.
Bind ListBox's property: IsEnabled="{Binding Path=Valid, Mode=OneWay}" where Valid is the view-model property with the validation algoritm. Other solutions look too far-fetched in my eyes.
When the disabled appearance is not allowed, a style could help out, but probably the disabled style is ok because changing the selection is not allowed.
Maybe in .NET version 4.5 INotifyDataErrorInfo helps, I dont'know.