C# – Does data binding support nested properties in Windows Forms

cdata-bindingwinforms

I am writing the test application in Windows Forms. It has a simple form with TextBox and needs to implement DataBinding. I have implemented the class FormViewModel to hold my data, and have 1 class for my business data — TestObject.

Business Data object:

public class TestObject : INotifyPropertyChanged
{
    private string _testPropertyString;
    public string TestPropertyString
    {
        get
        {
            return _testPropertyString;
        }
        set
        {
            if (_testPropertyString != value)
            {
                _testPropertyString = value;
                RaisePropertyChanged("TestPropertyString");
            }
        }
    }

    public event PropertyChangedEventHandler PropertyChanged;
    public void RaisePropertyChanged(string propertyName)
    {
        if (PropertyChanged != null)
            PropertyChanged.Invoke(this, new PropertyChangedEventArgs(propertyName));
    }
}

ViewModel:

public class FormViewModel : INotifyPropertyChanged
{
    private TestObject _currentObject;
    public TestObject CurrentObject
    {
        get { return _currentObject; }
        set
        {
            if (_currentObject != value)
            {
                _currentObject = value;

                RaisePropertyChanged("CurrentObject");
            }
        }
    }

    public event PropertyChangedEventHandler PropertyChanged;
    public void RaisePropertyChanged(string propertyName)
    {
        if (PropertyChanged != null)
            PropertyChanged.Invoke(this, new PropertyChangedEventArgs(propertyName));
    }
}

Property:

private FormViewModel _viewModel;
public FormViewModel ViewModel
{ 
    get
    {
        if (_viewModel == null)
            _viewModel = new FormViewModel();

        return _viewModel;
    }
}

So now I'm trying to bind my data to TextBox like this:

TextBox.DataBindings.Add("Text", ViewModel, "CurrentObject.TestPropertyString");

And surprisingly, it doesn't work! Nothing changes, when I change CurrentObject, or change TestPropertyString property.

But it works great, when I use:

TextBox.DataBindings.Add("Text", ViewModel.CurrentObject, "TestPropertyString");

So my question is: Does data binding support nested properties?

Thank you for explanations!

Best Answer

The Databinding behavior was changed in .NET 4.0. Your code works on .NET 3.5. I found this issue posted at Microsoft Connect: .Net 4.0 simple binding issue

Here was the work-around that worked for me. Use a BindingSource as the data object:

BindingSource bs = new BindingSource(_viewModel, null);

//textBox1.DataBindings.Add("Text", _viewModel, "CurrentObject.TestPropertyString");
textBox1.DataBindings.Add("Text", bs, "CurrentObject.TestPropertyString");

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C# – How to save application settings in a Windows Forms application

If you work with Visual Studio then it is pretty easy to get persistable settings. Right click on the project in Solution Explorer and choose Properties. Select the Settings tab and click on the hyperlink if settings doesn't exist.

Use the Settings tab to create application settings. Visual Studio creates the files Settings.settings and Settings.Designer.settings that contain the singleton class Settings inherited from ApplicationSettingsBase. You can access this class from your code to read/write application settings:

Properties.Settings.Default["SomeProperty"] = "Some Value";
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This technique is applicable both for console, Windows Forms, and other project types.

Note that you need to set the scope property of your settings. If you select Application scope then Settings.Default.<your property> will be read-only.

Reference: How To: Write User Settings at Run Time with C# - Microsoft Docs

C# – Binding a WPF ComboBox to a custom list

You set the DisplayMemberPath and the SelectedValuePath to "Name", so I assume that you have a class PhoneBookEntry with a public property Name.

Have you set the DataContext to your ConnectionViewModel object?

I copied you code and made some minor modifications, and it seems to work fine. I can set the viewmodels PhoneBookEnty property and the selected item in the combobox changes, and I can change the selected item in the combobox and the view models PhoneBookEntry property is set correctly.

Here is my XAML content:

<Window x:Class="WpfApplication6.Window1"
        xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
        xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
        Title="Window1" Height="300" Width="300">
<Grid>
    <StackPanel>
        <Button Click="Button_Click">asdf</Button>
        <ComboBox ItemsSource="{Binding Path=PhonebookEntries}"
                  DisplayMemberPath="Name"
                  SelectedValuePath="Name"
                  SelectedValue="{Binding Path=PhonebookEntry}" />
    </StackPanel>
</Grid>
</Window>

And here is my code-behind:

namespace WpfApplication6
{

    /// <summary>
    /// Interaction logic for Window1.xaml
    /// </summary>
    public partial class Window1 : Window
    {
        public Window1()
        {
            InitializeComponent();
            ConnectionViewModel vm = new ConnectionViewModel();
            DataContext = vm;
        }

        private void Button_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
        {
            ((ConnectionViewModel)DataContext).PhonebookEntry = "test";
        }
    }

    public class PhoneBookEntry
    {
        public string Name { get; set; }

        public PhoneBookEntry(string name)
        {
            Name = name;
        }

        public override string ToString()
        {
            return Name;
        }
    }

    public class ConnectionViewModel : INotifyPropertyChanged
    {
        public ConnectionViewModel()
        {
            IList<PhoneBookEntry> list = new List<PhoneBookEntry>();
            list.Add(new PhoneBookEntry("test"));
            list.Add(new PhoneBookEntry("test2"));
            _phonebookEntries = new CollectionView(list);
        }

        private readonly CollectionView _phonebookEntries;
        private string _phonebookEntry;

        public CollectionView PhonebookEntries
        {
            get { return _phonebookEntries; }
        }

        public string PhonebookEntry
        {
            get { return _phonebookEntry; }
            set
            {
                if (_phonebookEntry == value) return;
                _phonebookEntry = value;
                OnPropertyChanged("PhonebookEntry");
            }
        }

        private void OnPropertyChanged(string propertyName)
        {
            if (PropertyChanged != null)
                PropertyChanged(this, new PropertyChangedEventArgs(propertyName));
        }
        public event PropertyChangedEventHandler PropertyChanged;
    }
}

Edit: Geoffs second example does not seem to work, which seems a bit odd to me. If I change the PhonebookEntries property on the ConnectionViewModel to be of type ReadOnlyCollection, the TwoWay binding of the SelectedValue property on the combobox works fine.

Maybe there is an issue with the CollectionView? I noticed a warning in the output console:

System.Windows.Data Warning: 50 : Using CollectionView directly is not fully supported. The basic features work, although with some inefficiencies, but advanced features may encounter known bugs. Consider using a derived class to avoid these problems.

Edit2 (.NET 4.5): The content of the DropDownList can be based on ToString() and not of DisplayMemberPath, while DisplayMemberPath specifies the member for the selected and displayed item only.

Best Answer

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