R – WPF Treeview – Syncing with a ViewModel

The link Estifanos Kidane gave is broken. He probably meant the "Changing selection in a virtualized TreeView" MSDN sample. however, this sample shows how to select a node in a tree, but using code-behind and not MVVM and binding, so it also doesn't handle the missing SelectedItemChanged event when the bound SelectedItem is changed.

The only solution I can think of is to break the MVVM pattern, and when the ViewModel property that is bound to SelectedItem property changes, get the View and call a code-behind method (similar to the MSDN sample) that makes sure the new value is actually selected in the tree.

Here is the code I wrote to handle it. Suppose your data items are of type Node which has a Parent property:

public class Node
{
    public Node Parent { get; set; }
}

I wrote the following behavior class:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Diagnostics;
using System.Reflection;
using System.Windows;
using System.Windows.Controls;
using System.Windows.Interactivity;

public class NodeTreeSelectionBehavior : Behavior<TreeView>
{
    public Node SelectedItem
    {
        get { return (Node)GetValue(SelectedItemProperty); }
        set { SetValue(SelectedItemProperty, value); }
    }

    public static readonly DependencyProperty SelectedItemProperty =
        DependencyProperty.Register("SelectedItem", typeof(Node), typeof(NodeTreeSelectionBehavior),
            new FrameworkPropertyMetadata(null, FrameworkPropertyMetadataOptions.BindsTwoWayByDefault, OnSelectedItemChanged));

    private static void OnSelectedItemChanged(DependencyObject d, DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs e)
    {
        var newNode = e.NewValue as Node;
        if (newNode == null) return;
        var behavior = (NodeTreeSelectionBehavior)d;
        var tree = behavior.AssociatedObject;

        var nodeDynasty = new List<Node> { newNode };
        var parent = newNode.Parent;
        while (parent != null)
        {
            nodeDynasty.Insert(0, parent);
            parent = parent.Parent;
        }

        var currentParent = tree as ItemsControl;
        foreach (var node in nodeDynasty)
        {
            // first try the easy way
            var newParent = currentParent.ItemContainerGenerator.ContainerFromItem(node) as TreeViewItem;
            if (newParent == null)
            {
                // if this failed, it's probably because of virtualization, and we will have to do it the hard way.
                // this code is influenced by TreeViewItem.ExpandRecursive decompiled code, and the MSDN sample at http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/Changing-selection-in-a-6a6242c8/sourcecode?fileId=18862&pathId=753647475
                // see also the question at http://stackoverflow.com/q/183636/46635
                currentParent.ApplyTemplate();
                var itemsPresenter = (ItemsPresenter)currentParent.Template.FindName("ItemsHost", currentParent);
                if (itemsPresenter != null)
                {
                    itemsPresenter.ApplyTemplate();
                }
                else
                {
                    currentParent.UpdateLayout();
                }

                var virtualizingPanel = GetItemsHost(currentParent) as VirtualizingPanel;
                CallEnsureGenerator(virtualizingPanel);
                var index = currentParent.Items.IndexOf(node);
                if (index < 0)
                {
                    throw new InvalidOperationException("Node '" + node + "' cannot be fount in container");
                }
                CallBringIndexIntoView(virtualizingPanel, index);
                newParent = currentParent.ItemContainerGenerator.ContainerFromIndex(index) as TreeViewItem;
            }

            if (newParent == null)
            {
                throw new InvalidOperationException("Tree view item cannot be found or created for node '" + node + "'");
            }

            if (node == newNode)
            {
                newParent.IsSelected = true;
                newParent.BringIntoView();
                break;
            }

            newParent.IsExpanded = true;
            currentParent = newParent;
        }
    }

    protected override void OnAttached()
    {
        base.OnAttached();
        AssociatedObject.SelectedItemChanged += OnTreeViewSelectedItemChanged;
    }

    protected override void OnDetaching()
    {
        base.OnDetaching();
        AssociatedObject.SelectedItemChanged -= OnTreeViewSelectedItemChanged;
    }

    private void OnTreeViewSelectedItemChanged(object sender, RoutedPropertyChangedEventArgs<object> e)
    {
        SelectedItem = e.NewValue as Node;
    }

    #region Functions to get internal members using reflection

    // Some functionality we need is hidden in internal members, so we use reflection to get them

    #region ItemsControl.ItemsHost

    static readonly PropertyInfo ItemsHostPropertyInfo = typeof(ItemsControl).GetProperty("ItemsHost", BindingFlags.Instance | BindingFlags.NonPublic);

    private static Panel GetItemsHost(ItemsControl itemsControl)
    {
        Debug.Assert(itemsControl != null);
        return ItemsHostPropertyInfo.GetValue(itemsControl, null) as Panel;
    }

    #endregion ItemsControl.ItemsHost

    #region Panel.EnsureGenerator

    private static readonly MethodInfo EnsureGeneratorMethodInfo = typeof(Panel).GetMethod("EnsureGenerator", BindingFlags.Instance | BindingFlags.NonPublic);

    private static void CallEnsureGenerator(Panel panel)
    {
        Debug.Assert(panel != null);
        EnsureGeneratorMethodInfo.Invoke(panel, null);
    }

    #endregion Panel.EnsureGenerator

    #region VirtualizingPanel.BringIndexIntoView

    private static readonly MethodInfo BringIndexIntoViewMethodInfo = typeof(VirtualizingPanel).GetMethod("BringIndexIntoView", BindingFlags.Instance | BindingFlags.NonPublic);

    private static void CallBringIndexIntoView(VirtualizingPanel virtualizingPanel, int index)
    {
        Debug.Assert(virtualizingPanel != null);
        BringIndexIntoViewMethodInfo.Invoke(virtualizingPanel, new object[] { index });
    }

    #endregion VirtualizingPanel.BringIndexIntoView

    #endregion Functions to get internal members using reflection
}

With this class, you can write XAML like the following:

<UserControl xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
             xmlns:i="clr-namespace:System.Windows.Interactivity;assembly=System.Windows.Interactivity"
             xmlns:local="clr-namespace:MyProject">
    <Grid>
        <TreeView ItemsSource="{Binding MyItems}"
                  ScrollViewer.CanContentScroll="True"
                  VirtualizingStackPanel.IsVirtualizing="True"
                  VirtualizingStackPanel.VirtualizationMode="Recycling">
            <i:Interaction.Behaviors>
                <local:NodeTreeSelectionBehavior SelectedItem="{Binding MySelectedItem}" />
            </i:Interaction.Behaviors>
        </TreeView>
    <Grid>
<UserControl>

If you were to replace the StackPanel in the User Control with a DockPanel, the TreeView would fill the DockPanel by default...

<DockPanel>
    <TextBlock DockPanel.Dock="Top" Background="#505050" Foreground="Gold">Companys</TextBlock>
    <TreeView Name="myTreeView" ItemTemplate="{StaticResource DetailTemplate}">
    </TreeView>
</DockPanel>

How to: Choose Between StackPanel and DockPanel