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C# - WPF - Prevent an update of a bound focused TextBox

I have a TextBox in a Windows Desktop WPF application bound to a property of a ViewModel. Now the user focuses the TextBox and starts entering a new value. During this time a background process gets a new Value for the same Property (e.g. because another user in a multi user environment enters a new value and an observer is detecting and propagating this change) and calls a PropertyChanged event for this Property. Now the value changes and the stuff the current user just entered is lost.
Is there a built in way to prevent the change while the TextBox is focused? Or do I have to build my own solution?

I think a custom control is needed to achieve the behavior you describe. By overriding a couple methods on the default WPF TextBox, we can keep the user input even if the View Model changes.
The OnTextChanged method will be called regardless of how our textbox is updated (both for keyboard events and View Model changes), but overriding the OnPreviewKeyDown method will separate out direct user-input. However, OnPreviewKeyDown does not provide easy access to the textbox value because it is also called for non-printable control characters (arrow keys, backspace, etc.)
Below, I made a WPF control that inherits from TextBox and overrides the OnPreviewKeyDown method to capture the exact time of the last user key-press. OnTextChanged checks the time and updates the text only if both events happen in quick succession.
If the last keyboard event was more than a few milliseconds ago, then the update probably did not happen from our user.
public class StickyTextBox : TextBox
{
private string _lastText = string.Empty;
private long _ticksAtLastKeyDown;
protected override void OnPreviewKeyDown(KeyEventArgs e)
{
_ticksAtLastKeyDown = DateTime.Now.Ticks;
base.OnPreviewKeyDown(e);
}
protected override void OnTextChanged(TextChangedEventArgs e)
{
if (!IsInitialized)
_lastText = Text;
if (IsFocused)
{
var elapsed = new TimeSpan(DateTime.Now.Ticks - _ticksAtLastKeyDown);
// If the time between the last keydown event and our text change is
// very short, we can be fairly certain than text change was caused
// by the user. We update the _lastText to store their new user input
if (elapsed.TotalMilliseconds <= 5) {
_lastText = Text;
}
else {
// if our last keydown event was more than a few seconds ago,
// it was probably an external change
Text = _lastText;
e.Handled = true;
}
}
base.OnTextChanged(e);
}
}
Here's a sample View Model which I used for testing. It updates its own property 5 times from a separate thread every 10 seconds to simulate a background update from another user.
class ViewModelMain : ViewModelBase, INotifyPropertyChanged
{
private delegate void UpdateText(ViewModelMain vm);
private string _textProperty;
public string TextProperty
{
get { return _textProperty; }
set
{
if (_textProperty != value)
{
_textProperty = value;
RaisePropertyChanged("TextProperty");
}
}
}
public ViewModelMain()
{
TextProperty = "Type here";
for (int i = 1; i <= 5; i++)
{
var sleep = 10000 * i;
var copy = i;
var updateTextDelegate = new UpdateText(vm =>
vm.TextProperty = string.Format("New Value #{0}", copy));
new System.Threading.Thread(() =>
{
System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(sleep);
updateTextDelegate.Invoke(this);
}).Start();
}
}
}
This XAML creates our custom StickyTextBox and a regular TextBox bound to the same property to demonstrate the difference in behavior:
<StackPanel>
<TextBox Text="{Binding TextProperty, UpdateSourceTrigger=PropertyChanged}" Margin="5"/>
<TextBlock FontWeight="Bold" Margin="5" Text="The 'sticky' text box">
<local:StickyTextBox Text="{Binding TextProperty}" MinWidth="200" />
</TextBlock>
</StackPanel>

Selecting A Series Of Text Boxes

I have a series(10) of selectable TextBoxes. I need to be able to click on one of them and select all the text boxes on which the mouse is moved until the click is released.
I used the following code but I am unable to hit the MouseMove on the other TextBoxes. It always hits the TextBox on which the Click was made.
class SelectableTextBox: TextBox
{
public Boolean IsSelected { get; protected set; }
public void select(Boolean value)
{
this.IsSelected = value;
if (value)
{
this.Background = System.Windows.Media.Brushes.Aqua;
}
else
{
this.Background = System.Windows.Media.Brushes.White;
}
}
}
private void onPreviewMouseLeftButtonDown(object sender, System.Windows.Input.MouseButtonEventArgs e)
{
SelectableTextBox textBox = (SelectableTextBox)sender;
this.SelectionStartedRight = !textBox.IsSelected;
textBox.select(!textBox.IsSelected);
}
private void onPreviewMouseMove(object sender, System.Windows.Input.MouseEventArgs e)
{
SelectableTextBox textBox = (SelectableTextBox)sender;
if (this.SelectionStartedRight)
{
textBox.select(true);
}
}
private void onPreviewMouseLeftButtonUp(object sender, System.Windows.Input.MouseButtonEventArgs e)
{
SelectableTextBox textBox = (SelectableTextBox)sender;
this.SelectionStartedRight = false;
}

Try using MouseEnter event instead of MouseMove. Attach MouseEnter to your selectable textboxes. That would ensure that only they trigger the desired event handler and its code.
If you decide to stay with the global handler, be careful when you convert sender to a specific control type. You need to account for those times when it's not the "expected" control:
SelectableTextBox textBox = sender as SelectableTextBox;
if (textBox != null)
{
// The rest of the code here...
}
select is a Linq keyword, so you might want to rename that method to avoid any conflicts down the road. While I don't think it'd be causing any issues, I would change it.
You don't have to follow this convention, but in C# its customary to use an uppercase for the first letter of a method. Also note that the default access modifier for a class is internal... just want to make sure you're aware of that, as you continue your development.
Your last method, onPreviewMouseLeftButtonUp(...) has the following code in it:
SelectableTextBox textBox = (SelectableTextBox)sender;
Not only is it unsafe, as I've described above, but it also does absolutely nothing.
Lastly... and this is just me, I would probably move the code that handles changing the state of a selectable textbox (selected or not selected) into its class, since it belongs there. Why should anything else be in charge of how it handles its state. Keep things where they belong and you'll have a much easier time testing, debugging and maintaining your code. Don't fall into the "I'll refactor it later" trap... it'll rarely happen.
Here's my crude example. I let the class handle its MouseEnter event and simply check if the Mouse.LeftButton is down at that time. You would have to expand on it, but it should be a solid start:
Made some edits per OP's requests in the comments.
Preview:
XAML:
<Window x:Class="SelectableTextBoxes.MainWindow"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
xmlns:local="clr-namespace:SelectableTextBoxes"
Title="MainWindow" Height="350" Width="525">
<StackPanel>
<local:SelectableTextBox Height="20" Width="100" Margin="10"/>
<local:SelectableTextBox Height="20" Width="100" Margin="10"/>
<local:SelectableTextBox Height="20" Width="100" Margin="10"/>
<local:SelectableTextBox Height="20" Width="100" Margin="10"/>
<local:SelectableTextBox Height="20" Width="100" Margin="10"/>
</StackPanel>
</Window>
C# (Pardon me for putting the SelectableTextBox into the same file...):
using System.Windows;
using System.Windows.Controls;
using System.Windows.Input;
using System.Windows.Media;
namespace SelectableTextBoxes
{
// Move this class into its own file (it's here for prototyping).
public class SelectableTextBox : TextBox
{
private bool _isSelected;
public bool IsSelected
{
get { return _isSelected; }
set
{
if (_isSelected != value)
{
_isSelected = value;
// If the value changes, sets new color.
SetSelectionColor();
}
}
}
public SelectableTextBox()
{
// For handling an initial click if it happens in the textbox.
PreviewMouseDown += SelectableTextBox_PreviewMouseDown;
// For handling selection when mouse enters the textbox
// and left mouse button is down.
MouseEnter += SelectableTextBox_MouseEnter;
// To handle mouse capture (release it).
GotMouseCapture += SelectableTextBox_GotMouseCapture;
}
// Handles the mouse down event within the textbox.
void SelectableTextBox_PreviewMouseDown(object sender, MouseButtonEventArgs e)
{
if (!IsSelected)
{
IsSelected = true;
}
// If one of the Shift keys is down, return, since
// we don't want to deselect others.
if (Keyboard.IsKeyDown(Key.LeftShift) || Keyboard.IsKeyDown(Key.RightShift))
{
return;
}
// This part makes a poor assumption that the parent is
// always going to be a Panel... expand on this code to
// cover other types that may contain more than one element.
var parent = VisualTreeHelper.GetParent(this) as Panel;
if (parent != null)
{
foreach (var child in parent.Children)
{
// If a child is not of a correct type, it'll be null.
var tbx = child as SelectableTextBox;
// This is where we check to see if it's null or this instance.
if (tbx != null && tbx != this)
{
tbx.IsSelected = false;
}
}
}
}
// When textbox receives focus, this event fires... we need to release
// the mouse to continue selection.
void SelectableTextBox_GotMouseCapture(object sender, MouseEventArgs e)
{
ReleaseMouseCapture();
}
// Sets selection state to true if the left mouse button is
// down while entering.
void SelectableTextBox_MouseEnter(object sender, MouseEventArgs e)
{
if (Mouse.LeftButton == MouseButtonState.Pressed)
{
IsSelected = true;
}
}
// Sets the background color based on selection state.
private void SetSelectionColor()
{
if (IsSelected)
{
Background = Brushes.LightCyan;
}
else
{
Background = Brushes.White;
}
}
}
// Window code... should be on its own, but I placed the two
// classes together while prototyping.
public partial class MainWindow : Window
{
public MainWindow()
{
InitializeComponent();
}
}
}

Has the user changed the value through the UI, or was it changed by the dependency property?

I have a slider that has it's value property tied to a dependency property. I need to know if the user has changed the value through the GUI. Unfortunately, the value of this slider is often changed via code and the "Value_Changed" event fires when that happens.
I know of two ways to go around this:
Create a boolean and change it to true each time in the code before changing the value, changing it to false afterwards, and then checking for this boolean in the Value_Changed event.
Wiring up keypress, click and dragstop events to the slider.
I'm just wondering if there's a better way to know if the user has changed the value via the UI?

I'd do it this way:
public bool PositionModifiedByUser
{ /* implement IPropertyChanged if need to bind to this property */ }
// use this property from code
public double Position
{
get { return m_position ; }
set { SetPropertyValue ("PositionUI", ref m_position, value) ;
PositionModifiedByUser = false ; }
}
// bind to this property from the UI
public double PositionUI
{
get { return m_position ; }
set { if (SetPropertyValue ("PositionUI", ref m_position, value))
PositionModifiedByUser = true ; }
}
SetPropertyValue is a helper that checks for equality and fires property change notifications if the value actually changes.

Possibly duplicate questions. Quick answer:
<Slider Thumb.DragCompleted="MySlider_DragCompleted" />
See also this post

But the answer from Anton is better +1
[BindableAttribute(true)]
public double Slider1Value
{
get { return slider1Value; }
set
{
// only bind to the UI so any call to here came from the UI
if (slider1Value == value) return;
// do what you were going to do in value changed here
slider1Value = value;
}
}
private void clickHalf(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
// manipulate the private varible so set is not called
slider1Value = slider1Value / 2;
NotifyPropertyChanged("Slider1Value");
}

WP7 Auto Grow ListBox upon reaching the last item

I'm trying to achieve an effect where more items are appended to the list when the user scrolls down to the last item. I haven't found a way to determine if the user has scrolled to the end of the list. I don't see a event on ListBox that is fired when the user reaches the bottom of the list. Something that tells me when an item has been scrolled into view would be great, but as far as I can tell, there is nothing like that.
Is this even possible in WP7?
Edit: Another way of saying this is, can we detect when a list has "bounced"?

Daniel Vaughan has posted an example of how to detect for this at http://danielvaughan.orpius.com/post/Scroll-Based-Data-Loading-in-Windows-Phone-7.aspx

It isn't super easy to get going since there are a lot of moving parts, but here is what you can do, assuming you want a short list that loads more from your data as you get scrolling down, similar to a lot of twitter apps, etc.
Write your own subclass of ObservableCollection that only offers up a few items (like 20), keeping the rest held back until requested
Hook up to the scroll viewer (inside the listbox or container) and its visual state changed events, you can get the NotScrolling and Scrolling changes; for an example see this code by ptorr
When scrolling stops, use viewer scroll extensions code to see where things are extended (at the bottom or not) or just the raw scroll viewer properties to see if it is extended to the bottom
If so, trigger your observable collection to release another set of items.
Sorry I don't have a complete sample ready to blog yet. Good luck!

I've just implemented this for Overflow7.
The approach I took was similar to http://blog.slimcode.com/2010/09/11/detect-when-a-listbox-scrolls-to-its-end-wp7/
However, instead of using a Style I did the hook up in code.
Basically derived my parent UserControl from:
public class BaseExtendedListUserControl : UserControl
{
DependencyProperty ListVerticalOffsetProperty = DependencyProperty.Register(
"ListVerticalOffset",
typeof(double),
typeof(BaseExtendedListUserControl),
new PropertyMetadata(new PropertyChangedCallback(OnListVerticalOffsetChanged)));
private ScrollViewer _listScrollViewer;
protected void EnsureBoundToScrollViewer()
{
if (_listScrollViewer != null)
return;
var elements = VisualTreeHelper.FindElementsInHostCoordinates(new Rect(0,0,this.Width, this.Height), this);
_listScrollViewer = elements.Where(x => x is ScrollViewer).FirstOrDefault() as ScrollViewer;
if (_listScrollViewer == null)
return;
Binding binding = new Binding();
binding.Source = _listScrollViewer;
binding.Path = new PropertyPath("VerticalOffset");
binding.Mode = BindingMode.OneWay;
this.SetBinding(ListVerticalOffsetProperty, binding);
}
public double ListVerticalOffset
{
get { return (double)this.GetValue(ListVerticalOffsetProperty); }
set { this.SetValue(ListVerticalOffsetProperty, value); }
}
private static void OnListVerticalOffsetChanged(DependencyObject obj, DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs e)
{
BaseExtendedListUserControl control = obj as BaseExtendedListUserControl;
control.OnListVerticalOffsetChanged();
}
private void OnListVerticalOffsetChanged()
{
OnListVerticalOffsetChanged(_listScrollViewer);
}
protected virtual void OnListVerticalOffsetChanged(ScrollViewer s)
{
// do nothing
}
}
this then meant that in the user control itself I could just use:
protected override void OnListVerticalOffsetChanged(ScrollViewer viewer)
{
// Trigger when at the end of the viewport
if (viewer.VerticalOffset >= viewer.ScrollableHeight)
{
if (MoreClick != null)
{
MoreClick(this, new RoutedEventArgs());
}
}
}
private void ListBox1_ManipulationCompleted(object sender, ManipulationCompletedEventArgs e)
{
EnsureBoundToScrollViewer();
}
The "hacky" thing here was that I had to use ListBox1_ManipulationCompleted and VisualTreeHelper to find my ScrollViewer - I'm sure there are better ways...

Have a look at this detect Listbox compression state from msdn blog

Use the DeferredLoadListBox.

Why is text in TextBox highlighted (selected) when form is displayed?

I have a form containing a TextBox in C# which I set to a string as follows:
textBox.Text = str;
When the form is displayed, why does the text in the texbox appear highlighted/selected?

The text box has a TabIndex of 0 and TabStop set to true. This means that the control will be given focus when the form is displayed.
You can either give another control the 0 TabIndex (if there is one) and give the text box a different tab index (>0), or set TabStop to false for the text box to stop this from happening.

The default behavior of a TextBox in Windows Forms is to highlight all of the text if it gets focused for the first time by tabbing into it, but not if it is clicked into. We can see this in Reflector by looking at the TextBox's OnGotFocus() override:
protected override void OnGotFocus(EventArgs e)
{
base.OnGotFocus(e);
if (!this.selectionSet)
{
this.selectionSet = true;
if ((this.SelectionLength == 0) && (Control.MouseButtons == MouseButtons.None))
{
base.SelectAll();
}
}
}
It's that if statement that is causing the behavior that we don't like. Furthermore, to add insult to injury, the Text property's setter blindly resets that selectionSet variable whenever the text is re-assigned:
public override string Text
{
get
{
return base.Text;
}
set
{
base.Text = value;
this.selectionSet = false;
}
}
So if you have a TextBox and tab into it, all the text will be selected. If you click into it, the highlight is removed, and if you re-tab into it, your caret position (and selection length of zero) is preserved. But if we programmatically set new Text, and tab into the TextBox again, then all of the text will be selected again.
If you are like me and find this behavior annoying and inconsistent, then there are two ways around this problem.
The first, and probably the easiest, is to simply trigger the setting of selectionSet by calling DeselectAll() on form Load() and whenever the Text changes:
protected override void OnLoad(EventArgs e)
{
base.OnLoad(e);
this.textBox2.SelectionStart = this.textBox2.Text.Length;
this.textBox2.DeselectAll();
}
(DeselectAll() just sets SelectionLength to zero. It's actually SelectionStart that flips the TextBox's selectionSet variable. In the above case, the call to DeselectAll() is not necessary since we are setting the start to the end of the text. But if we set it to any other position, like the start of the text, then calling it is a good idea.)
The more permanent way is to create our own TextBox with the desired behavior through inheritance:
public class NonSelectingTextBox : TextBox
{
// Base class has a selectionSet property, but its private.
// We need to shadow with our own variable. If true, this means
// "don't mess with the selection, the user did it."
private bool selectionSet;
protected override void OnGotFocus(EventArgs e)
{
bool needToDeselect = false;
// We don't want to avoid calling the base implementation
// completely. We mirror the logic that we are trying to avoid;
// if the base implementation will select all of the text, we
// set a boolean.
if (!this.selectionSet)
{
this.selectionSet = true;
if ((this.SelectionLength == 0) &&
(Control.MouseButtons == MouseButtons.None))
{
needToDeselect = true;
}
}
// Call the base implementation
base.OnGotFocus(e);
// Did we notice that the text was selected automatically? Let's
// de-select it and put the caret at the end.
if (needToDeselect)
{
this.SelectionStart = this.Text.Length;
this.DeselectAll();
}
}
public override string Text
{
get
{
return base.Text;
}
set
{
base.Text = value;
// Update our copy of the variable since the
// base implementation will have flipped its back.
this.selectionSet = false;
}
}
}
You maybe tempted to just not call base.OnGotFocus(), but then we would lose useful functionality in the base Control class. And you might be tempted to not mess with the selectionSet nonsense at all and simply deselect the text every time in OnGotFocus(), but then we would lose the user's highlight if they tabbed out of the field and back.
Ugly? You betcha. But it is what it is.

The answers to this question helped me a lot with a similar problem, but the simple answer is only hinted at with a lot of other complex suggestions. Just set SelectionStart to 0 after setting your Text. Problem solved!
Example:
yourtextbox.Text = "asdf";
yourtextbox.SelectionStart = 0;

You can also choose the tab order for your form's controls by opening:
View->Tab Order
Note that this option is only available in "View" if you have the Form design view open.
Selecting "Tab Order" opens a view of the Form which allows you to choose the desired tab order by clicking on the controls.

To unhighlight a text field, with VS 2013, try init with:
myTextBox.GotFocus += new System.EventHandler(this.myTextBox_GotFocus);
And add the method:
public void myTextBox_GotFocus(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
myTextBox.SelectionLength=0;
}

I haven't tested this on C# but I ran into the same issue using a C++ WIN32 dialog box. Is seems like you can change the behavior by returning FALSE from OnInitDialog() or WM_INITDIALOG. Hope this helps.

Here is what worked for me
public void SetNotes(string notes)
{
notesTextBox.Text = notes;
notesTextBox.Select();
notesTextBox.SelectionLength = 0;
notesTextBox.SelectionStart = notes.Length;//place cursor at end of text
}