R – WPF: refreshing a control with a bound property using Model View View-Model

data-bindinginotifypropertychangedmvvmpropertieswpf

I am using the Model View View-Model pattern for a WPF app. I have a ViewModel (set as a pages DataContext) with two properties, one of which is an Entity with a PropertyChanged event. In the event handler i set the value of the other property (a boolean) to some value.

Now the Button and TextBox properties are binding fine on first load and the PropertyChanged event is firing and doing its thing. However the Button's IsEnable property doesn't update to reflect the change in the property its bound to.

The ViewModel looks sorta like this:

public sealed class CustomerPageViewModel
{ 
    public Customer Customer
    {
        get;
        set;
    }

    public bool Editing
    {
        get;
        private set;
    }   

    private void Customer_PropertyChanged(object sender,
        System.ComponentModel.PropertyChangedEventArgs e)
    {
        Editing = true;
    }
}

And the xaml sorta looks like this:

<TextBox Text="{Binding Customer.Name}" />   
<Button Content="Save Changes" IsEnabled="{Binding Editing}" />

How can i get the Button to update its IsEnable property when i change the underlying property in the ViewModel?

Best Answer

Is that your ViewModel's actual code? If so, your problem is that your ViewModel doesn't implement INotifyPropertyChanged. WPF can't know that your "Editing" VM property has changed so it's not updating the button's binding.

Related Solutions

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.

Wpf – Pushing read-only GUI properties back into ViewModel

Yes, I've done this in the past with the ActualWidth and ActualHeight properties, both of which are read-only. I created an attached behavior that has ObservedWidth and ObservedHeight attached properties. It also has an Observe property that is used to do the initial hook-up. Usage looks like this:

<UserControl ...
    SizeObserver.Observe="True"
    SizeObserver.ObservedWidth="{Binding Width, Mode=OneWayToSource}"
    SizeObserver.ObservedHeight="{Binding Height, Mode=OneWayToSource}"

So the view model has Width and Height properties that are always in sync with the ObservedWidth and ObservedHeight attached properties. The Observe property simply attaches to the SizeChanged event of the FrameworkElement. In the handle, it updates its ObservedWidth and ObservedHeight properties. Ergo, the Width and Height of the view model is always in sync with the ActualWidth and ActualHeight of the UserControl.

Perhaps not the perfect solution (I agree - read-only DPs should support OneWayToSource bindings), but it works and it upholds the MVVM pattern. Obviously, the ObservedWidth and ObservedHeight DPs are not read-only.

UPDATE: here's code that implements the functionality described above:

public static class SizeObserver
{
    public static readonly DependencyProperty ObserveProperty = DependencyProperty.RegisterAttached(
        "Observe",
        typeof(bool),
        typeof(SizeObserver),
        new FrameworkPropertyMetadata(OnObserveChanged));

    public static readonly DependencyProperty ObservedWidthProperty = DependencyProperty.RegisterAttached(
        "ObservedWidth",
        typeof(double),
        typeof(SizeObserver));

    public static readonly DependencyProperty ObservedHeightProperty = DependencyProperty.RegisterAttached(
        "ObservedHeight",
        typeof(double),
        typeof(SizeObserver));

    public static bool GetObserve(FrameworkElement frameworkElement)
    {
        frameworkElement.AssertNotNull("frameworkElement");
        return (bool)frameworkElement.GetValue(ObserveProperty);
    }

    public static void SetObserve(FrameworkElement frameworkElement, bool observe)
    {
        frameworkElement.AssertNotNull("frameworkElement");
        frameworkElement.SetValue(ObserveProperty, observe);
    }

    public static double GetObservedWidth(FrameworkElement frameworkElement)
    {
        frameworkElement.AssertNotNull("frameworkElement");
        return (double)frameworkElement.GetValue(ObservedWidthProperty);
    }

    public static void SetObservedWidth(FrameworkElement frameworkElement, double observedWidth)
    {
        frameworkElement.AssertNotNull("frameworkElement");
        frameworkElement.SetValue(ObservedWidthProperty, observedWidth);
    }

    public static double GetObservedHeight(FrameworkElement frameworkElement)
    {
        frameworkElement.AssertNotNull("frameworkElement");
        return (double)frameworkElement.GetValue(ObservedHeightProperty);
    }

    public static void SetObservedHeight(FrameworkElement frameworkElement, double observedHeight)
    {
        frameworkElement.AssertNotNull("frameworkElement");
        frameworkElement.SetValue(ObservedHeightProperty, observedHeight);
    }

    private static void OnObserveChanged(DependencyObject dependencyObject, DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs e)
    {
        var frameworkElement = (FrameworkElement)dependencyObject;

        if ((bool)e.NewValue)
        {
            frameworkElement.SizeChanged += OnFrameworkElementSizeChanged;
            UpdateObservedSizesForFrameworkElement(frameworkElement);
        }
        else
        {
            frameworkElement.SizeChanged -= OnFrameworkElementSizeChanged;
        }
    }

    private static void OnFrameworkElementSizeChanged(object sender, SizeChangedEventArgs e)
    {
        UpdateObservedSizesForFrameworkElement((FrameworkElement)sender);
    }

    private static void UpdateObservedSizesForFrameworkElement(FrameworkElement frameworkElement)
    {
        // WPF 4.0 onwards
        frameworkElement.SetCurrentValue(ObservedWidthProperty, frameworkElement.ActualWidth);
        frameworkElement.SetCurrentValue(ObservedHeightProperty, frameworkElement.ActualHeight);

        // WPF 3.5 and prior
        ////SetObservedWidth(frameworkElement, frameworkElement.ActualWidth);
        ////SetObservedHeight(frameworkElement, frameworkElement.ActualHeight);
    }
}

Best Answer

Related Solutions

C# – Binding a WPF ComboBox to a custom list

Wpf – Pushing read-only GUI properties back into ViewModel

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