Attached property: Check binding - c#

Short question
Is there a quick way of knowing what a particular attached property is bound to, at runtime?
Detail
I'm debugging a UserControl (that inherits ItemsControl) which binds Canvas.Left and Canvas.Top of its items to two properties of the ViewModel objects, through a style. At runtime, I place a breakpoint at a certain location and want to inspect the binding of Canvas.Left attached property.
Note that I do not want to see the current value of the attached property for an item. I can easily do that by inspecting the value of Canvas.GetLeft(myItem) in the QuickWatch or Immediate windows. I want to check the actual binding here, i.e. the VM property name to which this attached property is bound for myItem.
I have tried Snoop already, which unfortunately doesn't show bindings of attached properties (if I didn't miss something obvious).

Is there a quick way of knowing what a particular attached property is bound to, at runtime
Yes, just override attached property somewhere (in your window?):
<Window x:Class="WpfApplication1.MainWindow" ... >
<Grid Canvas.Top="123"/>
</Window>
and code
public MainWindow()
{
InitializeComponent();
Canvas.TopProperty.OverrideMetadata(typeof(MainWindow), new FrameworkPropertyMetadata((d, e) =>
{
// you will get here for each Canvas.Top set in MainWindow
MessageBox.Show(d.ToString());
}));
}

You can get the attached property binding programmatically the same way as you get normal dependency property binding. I.e. from code behind to get the Canvas.LeftProperty attached property binding of the control with the name myItemsControl:
BindingExpression bindingExpression = myItemsControl.GetBindingExpression(Canvas.LeftProperty);
Binding parentBinding = bindingExpression.ParentBinding;

Related

Set NotifyOnTargetUpdated for existing binding

I have a binding in xaml <TextBlock Style="{StaticResource textStyle}" Text="{Binding DisplayText}" />.
I am attempting to write an attached behavior that reacts to the bound DisplayText value changing. If I specify NotifyOnTargetUpdated=True in the xaml, I can react to the change within the behavior and everything is fine, but I'd rather not depend on binding the Text property in a specific way just to make the behavior work.
My thought was to change the NotifyOnTargetUpdated value on the existing TextBlock.TextProperty binding when the behavior is opted in. I am using the below code to do so, where tb is the TextBlock being opted in.
var textBinding = BindingOperations.GetBinding(tb, TextBlock.TextProperty);
textBinding.NotifyOnTargetUpdated = true;
tb.SetBinding(TextBlock.TextProperty, textBinding);
The behavior is opted in like so, in the style:
<Setter Property="behaviors:Text.AutoSizeText" Value="True"/>
Initially this didn't work because textBinding was null. I can get around this by binding the Text property in xaml before the behavior property, but this still leaves an external dependency that I don't like (xaml ordering). If I do go this route, I get the below exception, which seems to indicate that I can't accomplish this in this way, at all.
InvalidOperationException: Binding cannot be changed after it has been used.
So then, how can I go about automatically handling setting NotifyOnTargetUpdated for the Text binding when the behavior is opted in?
I was able to solve my problem thanks to direction provided by #canton7. I was originally (as is often the case) looking for the way to implement my imagined solution, rather than a solution that fit my need. After adjusting my outlook, my working solution is thus:
Add the AttachedProperty InternalText to the behavior class, with a property changed handler.
private static readonly DependencyProperty InternalTextProperty = DependencyProperty.RegisterAttached(
"InternalText", typeof(string), typeof(Text), new PropertyMetadata(default(string), HandleInternalTextChanged));
In the changed handler (HandleInternalTextChanged above) do the work that I would have done in a TargetUpdated handler if my original idea to set NotifyOnTargetUpdated had worked out.
On opt-in to my behavior, create a binding from the opted-in TextBlock.Text to the InternalText attached property.
var internalBinding = new Binding { Source = tb, Path = new PropertyPath(TextBlock.TextProperty) };
tb.SetBinding(InternalTextProperty, internalBinding);
The HandleInternalTextChanged callback on InternalTextProperty allows me to work around being unable to change the NotifyOnTargetUpdated value by providing an alternate means of notifying on each change.
I prefer to bind internally to DisplayText because I'd prefer to bind to the source, if possible, rather than daisy-chain through the TextBlock.Text property.
If you need a binding to a source property, then it is created in a slightly different way.
var binding = BindingOperations.GetBindingBase(tb, TextBox.TextProperty);
if (binding == null)
{
tb.ClearValue(InternalTextProperty);
}
else
{
tb.SetBinding(InternalTextProperty, binding);
}

TextBlock binding to user property displays empty text

I've bound many things without issue, but this one isn't working for some reason. I have a base viewmodel that loads a property called User from the login window:
public void LoadUser()
{
if ((LoginState?)Application.Current.Properties["LoginState"] == LoginState.Success)
{
User = new UserModel((string)Application.Current.Properties["UserLName"], (string)Application.Current.Properties["UserFName"], (int)Application.Current.Properties["UserLevel"]);
RaisePropertyChanged("User");
}
}
This part works fine according to the breakpoint values. This property User is in the base of the viewmodel that is attached as the DataContext of my MainWindow. I bind it on the view with this:
<TextBlock Text="{Binding Path=Name, Source=User}"
Grid.Column="1" Grid.Row="1" Foreground="Black"/>
I know the text block works as I can bind other properties to it, but it won't display this property for some reason. Can you see why?
TextBlock's Default Binding MAY not be TwoWay. So Can you Set it to be TwoWay explicitly in xaml and check once.
Also, that RaisePropertyChanged is custom implementation right. Can you step into it during debug and see if the Event is Null?

WPF Binding not updating with UpdateSourceTrigger=PropertyChanged

I have a TabControl in which I set the DataContext to an instance of the this class, It's basicly a wrapper for DependencyProperties of a static class with the same properties.
In my Markup I set the DataContext like this
<TabControl DataContext="{Binding ElementName=self, Path=Settings}">
and binding to the property within the TabControl like this
<TextBox Text="{Binding Path=Url, Mode=TwoWay, UpdateSourceTrigger=PropertyChanged}" />
However, this does not lead to any updates of the source when the content of the TextBox is changed. I can change the content of the TextBox, let it loose focus etc. it does just not update the source.
Url is a dependency property and when set from XAML, wrapper property setter won't be called.
From MSDN:
The current WPF implementation of its XAML processor is inherently
dependency property aware. The WPF XAML processor uses property system
methods for dependency properties when loading binary XAML and
processing attributes that are dependency properties. This effectively
bypasses the property wrappers. When you implement custom dependency
properties, you must account for this behavior and should avoid
placing any other code in your property wrapper other than the
property system methods GetValue and SetValue.
In case you want to do something on its property changed you should provide PropertyChangedCallback and write code there.
You can refer to the sample here in case PropertyChangedCallback is new to you. Something like:
public static readonly DependencyProperty UrlProperty =
DependencyProperty.Register(
"Url",
typeof(string),
typeof(SettingsWrapper),
new PropertyMetadata(OnUrlChanged)
)
);
private static void OnUrlChanged(DependencyObject d,
DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs e)
{
SettingsWrapper instance = (SettingsWrapper)d;
instance.Settings.Url = e.NewValue.ToString();
}
You said in a (now deleted) comment that your Window has x:Name="self", however the Window class does not have a property called Settings.
If this is an attached property, you need to reference it by the attached property by the full name, and wrap it in parenthesis.
For example,
<TabControl DataContext="{Binding ElementName=self, Path=(local:MyClass.Settings)}">
See WPF Attached Property Data Binding for more info.

How can I bind a property?

I'm using the Bing map SDK in my WPF application and the XAML looks like:
<m:Map
x:Name="MyMap"
Grid.Row="1"
CredentialsProvider="KEY"
ZoomLevel="{BINDING MapZoomLevel}"
Mode="Road">
The code behind:
private int mapZoomLevel;
public int MapZoomLevel { get { return mapZoomLevel; } set { mapZoomLevel = value; NotifyOfPropertyChange(() => MapZoomLevel); } }
But this aint working. I guessing it is because I've already bound the Map by setting x:Name. The problem is that I can't remove the x:Name since I'm doing some setup in the view but is there a workaround? I would like to be able to bind the ZoomLevel of the map somehow
In order to data bind, you need to do a few things:
1) You must set the DataContext of the UserControl or Window to the object that contains the property that you want to bind to. That could be like this (in the UserControl or Window code behind) if that object is a separate view model class:
DataContext = new SomeTypeOfViewModel();
Or like this if the property is declared in the code behind:
DataContext = this;
2) You must implement the INotifyPropertyChanged interface or implement DependencyPropertys - you seem to have implemented the INotifyPropertyChanged interface, but you must ensure that you have done it correctly.
3) You must provide a valid Binding Path... BINDING is not valid, so an appropriate Binding Path for you might be this (depending on where you have declared your property):
<m:Map x:Name="MyMap" Grid.Row="1" CredentialsProvider="KEY"
ZoomLevel="{Binding MapZoomLevel}" Mode="Road">
Please read the Data Binding Overview page on MSDN for the full story.
based on your tags you are using Caliburn Micro with this? Datacontext is already set with viewmodel/view from the framework. ZoomLevel="{Binding MapZoomLevel, Mode=TwoWay}" is required.

How to validate a dependency property on a UserControl?

My view model implements IDataErrorInfo and contains a Message property that is validated.
I have created a UserControl with a Text DependencyProperty that is bound to Message. There are several controls on my UserControl that are bound to Text (which therefore show Message).
How can I show validation errors on the controls in my UserControl that are not bound to Message directly?
After quite some time, I have managed to figure out a solution that I thought I should share in case others find it useful:
Basically I have added a PropertyChangedCallback on my Text DependencyProperty. In this call-back I get the binding between Text and the property on the view model and check it for validation errors. If a ValidationError is found, I go through all the controls in my UserControl that are bound to Text, and give their binding the same error using Validation.MarkInvalid.
EDIT:
Copying the validation errors like this works fine if I put the code below in a button click event handler. If however the code is in the PropertyChangedCallback for Text then nothing happens. Does anyone have a solution?
// Get the binding from the Text property to the view model.
BindingExpression textBindingExpression = BindingOperations.GetBindingExpression(this,
MyUserControl.TextProperty);
// If there is a validation error, then give it to the control bindings.
if (textBindingExpression != null && textBindingExpression.ValidationError != null) {
Validation.MarkInvalid(this.MyTextBox.GetBindingExpression(TextBox.TextProperty),
textBindingExpression.ValidationError);
Validation.MarkInvalid(this.MyTextBlock.GetBindingExpression(TextBlock.TextProperty),
textBindingExpression.ValidationError);
}
Here is the solution I came up with which allows a UserControl with Dependency Properties to "wrap" the validation from the View Model it is bound to.
Firstly I followed the pattern in this post to create the desired DataContext hierarchy.
XAML:
<!-- Some boilerplate attributes snipped -->
<UserControl x:Class="App.Views.UserControls.MyUserControl"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
xmlns:local="clr-namespace:App.Views.UserControls"
Validation.ErrorTemplate="{x:Null}">
<Grid x:Name="LayoutRoot"
DataContext="{Binding RelativeSource={RelativeSource Mode=FindAncestor, AncestorType=local:MyUserControl}}">
<TextBox Grid.Row="0" Grid.Column="0" Text="{Binding Text, UpdateSourceTrigger=PropertyChanged}" />
</Grid>
</UserControl>
This way, the DataContext of the control is the view model inherited from the parent, which is where the validation is done. This is then overridden on the control's root child element to be the control itself, which allows binding to the Dependency Properties in code-behind. Also note that the control's ErrorTemplate has been nulled out - this is to prevent the default red box appearing.
The inherited view model can now be accessed from the control's code behind quite simply:
private INotifyDataErrorInfo ViewModelErrors => DataContext as INotifyDataErrorInfo;
Now implement INotifyDataErrorInfo in the user control and wrap the view model:
public bool HasErrors => ViewModelErrors.HasErrors;
public IEnumerable GetErrors(string propertyName)
{
return ViewModelErrors.GetErrors(propertyName);
}
The tricky part comes when you need to know which model property your control dependency property is bound to. This would be easier if you could look up registered dependency properties by name and interrogate the binding, but I couldn't find a way to do that without reflection. Therefore I used the PropertyChangedCallback of the dependency property to manually build a list of mappings. The parameters to the callback contain all the required information.
// Maps User Control properties to their View Model properties.
private readonly Dictionary<string, string> _propertyMappings = new Dictionary<string, string>();
// This should work for any property.
private static void OnDependencyPropertyValueChanged(DependencyObject d, DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs e)
{
var userControl = (MyUserControl)d;
var dependencyPropertyName = e.Property.Name;
// Create this mapping one time only.
if (!userControl._propertyMappings.ContainsKey(dependencyPropertyName))
{
// Get the binding from the property to the view model.
var binding = BindingOperations.GetBindingExpression(d, e.Property);
if (binding != null)
{
// Create a mapping of user control property to view model property.
// This will let us look up the error from the view model.
var boundPropertyName = binding.ResolvedSourcePropertyName;
userControl._propertyMappings[dependencyPropertyName] = boundPropertyName;
}
}
}
Then incorporate this in to GetErrors:
public IEnumerable GetErrors(string propertyName)
{
if (ViewModelErrors != null && _propertyMappings.ContainsKey(propertyName))
{
return ViewModelErrors.GetErrors(_propertyMappings[propertyName]);
}
else
{
return Enumerable.Empty<string>();
}
}
That should be enough. Validation is done in the model and the results pulled down to the user control. No need to duplicate.

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