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Filter Method of ICollectionView and Properly Binding and ObservableCollection in MVVM

I'm getting stuck into MVVM in WPF and I have setup an ObservableCollection and an ICollectionView. The ICollectionView is set as the ItemsSource of a DataGrid, and the model is a type of Job.
I've setup getters and setter for both of the collections however when I am setting a Filter on the ICollectionView instead of the Job being filtered by the SearchString they're just replicated over and over again, leading me to believe that they way I have the collections setup is totally wrong.
Here is how the two collections are get/set:
public ObservableCollection<Job> AllJobs
{
get
{
foreach (var job in _allJobsList)
_allJobs.Add(job);
return _allJobs;
}
set
{
if (_allJobs == value) return;
OnPropertyChanged("AllJobs");
}
}
public ICollectionView AllJobsView
{
get
{
_allJobsView = CollectionViewSource.GetDefaultView(AllJobs);
return _allJobsView;
}
set
{
if (_allJobsView == value)
{
return;
}
_allJobsView = value;
OnPropertyChanged("AllJobsView");
}
}
Now I have a stringcalled SearchString that is bound to a TextBox.Text. When the text changes I do the following:
public string SearchString
{
get => _searchString;
set
{
if (_searchString == value) return;
_searchString = value;
FilterJobs();
OnPropertyChanged("SearchString");
}
}
private void FilterJobs()
{
AllJobsView.Filter = x =>
{
var viewJob = x as Job;
return viewJob != null && viewJob.Number.Contains(_searchString);
};
}
Now when the page first loads, there are the correct Jobs loaded into the DataGrid. However, as soon as the user types the Jobs are duplicated if the Job.Number does contain the SearchString. How am I able to setup the collections so that I can appropriately set a filter?

The problem is in the getter of your ObservableCollection. Every time you "get" the collection, you are adding every item to the collection all over again.
Your code:
get
{
foreach (var job in _allJobsList)
_allJobs.Add(job);
return _allJobs;
}
Instead, it should be:
get
{
return _allJobs;
}
The setter of your ObservableCollection is also missing the "setter" (private field = value) code:
set
{
if (value != _allJobs)
{
_allJobs = value;
OnPropertyChanged("AllJobs");
}
}
Your Property AllJobs would then be:
private ObservableCollection<Job> _allJobs;
public ObservableCollection<Job> AllJobs
{
get
{
return _allJobs;
}
set
{
if (value != _allJobs)
{
_allJobs = value;
OnPropertyChanged("AllJobs");
}
}
}
The initialization of your collection should be someplace else (and not in the getter of your property), like in the constructor of the ViewModel or/and in a method that a command calls after the user asks for a refresh of the collection.
For example, if your VieModel is called MyViewModel and your List<Job> is called _allJobsList, you can initialize your collection like so:
public MyViewModel()
{
//fill the _allJobsList first, getting from a database for example: _allJobsList = GetJobs();
//and then create an observable collection from that list
AllJobs = new ObservableCollection<Job>(_allJobsList);
}

Append a Row to a Datagrid in WPF using MVVM

I have a DataGrid in my View as shown below.,
My Question is how can I Append the values from the textboxes to the row datagrid
I have make sure that the Model has All the properties, When I click on the Add button it overwrites the dataGrid and shows only one latest record the and my ViewModel look like this:
class BatchItemsViewModel : ViewModelBase
{
public SearchItemsModel msearchItems { get; set; }
ObservableCollection<SearchItemsModel> _BatchItemsGrid;
public ObservableCollection<SearchItemsModel> BatchItemsGrid
{
get { return _BatchItemsGrid; }
set
{
_BatchItemsGrid = value;
OnPropertyChanged("BatchItemsGrid");
}
}
private ICommand _addDataToBatchGrid;
public ICommand addDataToBatchGrid
{
get
{
return _addDataToBatchGrid;
}
set
{
_addDataToBatchGrid = value;
}
}
public BatchItemsViewModel()
{
msearchItems = new SearchItemsModel();
addDataToBatchGrid = new RelayCommand(new Action<object>(AddDataInBatchGrid));
}
public void AddDataInBatchGrid(object obj)
{
ObservableCollection<SearchItemsModel> batchGridData = new ObservableCollection<SearchItemsModel>();
var data = new SearchItemsModel
{
BatchNumber = msearchItems.BatchNumber,
MFDDate = msearchItems.MFDDate,
ExpiryDate = msearchItems.ExpiryDate,
Quantity = msearchItems.Quantity,
};
batchGridData.Add(data);
BatchItemsGrid = batchGridData; // HERE I am overwriting the datagrid
//How can I Append the batchGridData to BatchItemsGrid (BatchItemsGrid.Append(batchGridData)???)
}
}
NOTE: I have gone through the other threads as well in the community for the similar posts but I couldn't find the appropriate and please correct me if I am going in wrong direction.

public void AddDataInBatchGrid(object obj)
{
var data = new SearchItemsModel
{
BatchNumber = msearchItems.BatchNumber,
MFDDate = msearchItems.MFDDate,
ExpiryDate = msearchItems.ExpiryDate,
Quantity = msearchItems.Quantity,
};
this.BatchItemsGrid.Add(data);
}
...Should do the trick. (don't replace the whole collection, just add items to it and let the notification events handle the UI updates)

Memoryleak when using ICollectionView with Entity Framework

So in my application I use an ICollectionView of Products, which is bound to a DataGrid with DataBinding. The Products come from a MS-SQL table and this table is quiet big (~30.000 entries). At certain points I need to reload the table as its contents might have changed.
Whenever I call ReloadProducts() ~30.000 new objects are created. The previous objects are not freed up and remain in memory for whole the live of the application.
Any idea how I could force a disposal of the old objects?
ViewModel:
private ICollectionView _productCollectionView;
public ICollectionView ProductCollectionView
{
set { _productCollectionView = value; }
get
{
if (_productCollectionView == null)
{
ReloadProducts();
}
return _productCollectionView ;
}
}
public void ReloadProducts()
{
List<Products> productList = Entities.Products.ToList();
ProductCollectionView = CollectionViewSource.GetDefaultView(productList);
NotifyPropertyChanged("ProductCollectionView");
}
View:
<DataGrid ItemsSource="{Binding ProductCollectionView}" AutoGenerateColumns="False"/>

Try to use collection neither it's view. Binding will connect to the collection's view on itself.
Just use something like this :
private ObservableCollection<Products> _productCollectionView;
public ObservableCollection<Products> ProductCollectionView
{
set { _productCollectionView = value; }
get
{
if (_productCollectionView == null)
{
ReloadProducts();
}
return _productCollectionView ;
}
}
public void ReloadProducts()
{
ProductCollectionView.Clear();
ObservableCollection<Products> ProductCollectionView =
new ObservableCollection<Products>(Entities.Products.ToList());
}

Finding the items changed in Observable Collection

I have a class from a EF db context which I have displayed in a datagrid based on an ObservableCollection. The user can edit the the grid and this all displays fine.
However I now need to send the data back to the database. I do not want to send all the items in the collection to my save method, so can I find only the items that have been have change in the collection?

just as an idea (not professing this to be an ideal solution) i have run into a similar issue, looked around for potential solutions and none of those were exactly what i wanted.
i had to pass a collection to WPF DataGrid and it seemed to complain about using List, hence i turned to ObservableCollection
i did not want to work directly with the EF context for multiple reasons primarily because i wanted to grab items and pass them to intermediate transaction factory to be processed (business logic).
so decided to stick with ObservableCollection and instead make slight modification to the ViewModel since this i was free to do it.
my model ended up to look like this:
internal class databaseItemModel
{
int _id;
string _description;
decimal _price;
decimal _quantity;
decimal _cost;
bool _modified;
public databaseItemModel()
{
_modified = false;
}
public int id { get { return _id; } }
public bool modified { get { return _modified; } }
public string description { get { return _description; } set { _description = value; _modified = true; } }
public decimal price { get { return _price; } set { _price = value; _modified = true; } }
public decimal quantity { get { return _quantity; } set { _quantity = value; _modified = true; } }
public decimal cost { get { return _cost; } set { _cost = value; _modified = true; } }
public bool selected { get; set; }
public void setId(int _idvalue)
{
_id = _idvalue;
}
public decimal value
{
get { return price * quantity; }
}
public void setDescription(string _descr)
{
_description = _descr;
}
public void setPrice(decimal _pr)
{
_price = _pr;
}
public void setQuantity(decimal _qty)
{
_quantity = _qty;
}
public void setCost(decimal _cst)
{
_cost = _cst;
}
}
Basically, the plain idea behind it is that i would use functions to populate data rather than using properties direct and then pass the item to ObservableCollection which then would become the source for the DataGrid.ItemsSource
since DataGrid/ObservableCollection would work with properties - modified objects would be marked as modified and i would then be able to pick up the collection on exit and collect the modified items.
hope this is helpful.

You can use NotifyCollectionChangedAction to detect which items has been changed in the ObservableCollection
However, just Jens said, the best way would be let the EF handle it for you.
Cheers.
ObservableCollection<int> listOfObject = new ObservableCollection<int>() { 1, 2, 3, 4};
listOfObject.CollectionChanged += new System.Collections.Specialized.NotifyCollectionChangedEventHandler(
delegate (object sender, System.Collections.Specialized.NotifyCollectionChangedEventArgs e)
{
if (e.Action == System.Collections.Specialized.NotifyCollectionChangedAction.Add)
{
Console.WriteLine($"{e.NewItems[0]} just been added to the list at index = {e.NewStartingIndex}");
}
if (e.Action == System.Collections.Specialized.NotifyCollectionChangedAction.Replace)
{
Console.WriteLine($"Replace item {e.OldItems[0]} with {e.NewItems[0]}");
}
}
);
listOfObject.Add(1);
listOfObject[2] = 3;
listOfObject[3] = 1;
Output:
1 just been added to the list at index = 4
Replace item 3 with 3
Replace item 4 with 1

Programmatically WPF listbox.ItemsSource update

I am doing a program like messenger that has all the contacts in a listbox with the relative states of the contacts.
Cyclic I get a xml with the contacts were updated over time, then updates the states within a class of binding called "Contacts".
The class Contacts has a filter to display only certain contacts by their state, "online, away, busy,.. " but not offline, for example ....
Some code:
public class Contacts : ObservableCollection<ContactData>
{
private ContactData.States _state = ContactData.States.Online | ContactData.States.Busy;
public ContactData.States Filter { get { return _state; } set { _state = value; } }
public IEnumerable<ContactData> FilteredItems
{
get { return Items.Where(o => o.State == _state || (_state & o.State) == o.State).ToArray(); }
}
public Contacts()
{
XDocument doc = XDocument.Load("http://localhost/contact/xml/contactlist.php");
foreach (ContactData data in ContactData.ParseXML(doc)) Add(data);
}
}
Update part:
void StatusUpdater(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
ContactData[] contacts = ((Contacts)contactList.Resources["Contacts"]).ToArray<ContactData>();
XDocument doc = XDocument.Load("http://localhost/contact/xml/status.php");
foreach (XElement node in doc.Descendants("update"))
{
var item = contacts.Where(i => i.UserID.ToString() == node.Element("uid").Value);
ContactData[] its = item.ToArray();
if (its.Length > 0) its[0].Data["state"] = node.Element("state").Value;
}
contactList.ListBox.ItemsSource = ((Contacts)contactList.Resources["Contacts"]).FilteredItems;
}
My problem is that when ItemsSource reassigns the value of the listbox, the program lag for a few seconds, until it has finished updating contacts UI (currently 250 simulated).
How can I avoid this annoying problem?
Edit:
I tried with Thread and after with BackgroundWorker but nothing is changed...
When i call Dispatcher.Invoke lag happen.
Class ContactData
public class ContactData : INotifyPropertyChanged
{
public enum States { Offline = 1, Online = 2, Away = 4, Busy = 8 }
public event PropertyChangedEventHandler PropertyChanged;
public int UserID
{
get { return int.Parse(Data["uid"]); }
set { Data["uid"] = value.ToString(); NotifyPropertyChanged("UserID"); }
}
public States State
{
get { return (States)Enum.Parse(typeof(States), Data["state"]); }
//set { Data["state"] = value.ToString(); NotifyPropertyChanged("State"); }
//correct way to update, i forgot to notify changes of "ColorState" and "BrushState"
set
{
Data["state"] = value.ToString();
NotifyPropertyChanged("State");
NotifyPropertyChanged("ColorState");
NotifyPropertyChanged("BrushState");
}
}
public Dictionary<string, string> Data { get; set; }
public void Set(string name, string value)
{
if (Data.Keys.Contains(name)) Data[name] = value;
else Data.Add(name, value);
NotifyPropertyChanged("Data");
}
public Color ColorState { get { return UserStateToColorState(State); } }
public Brush BrushState { get { return new SolidColorBrush(ColorState); } }
public string FullName { get { return Data["name"] + ' ' + Data["surname"]; } }
public ContactData() {}
public override string ToString()
{
try { return FullName; }
catch (Exception e) { Console.WriteLine(e.Message); return base.ToString(); }
}
Color UserStateToColorState(States state)
{
switch (state)
{
case States.Online: return Colors.LightGreen;
case States.Away: return Colors.Orange;
case States.Busy: return Colors.Red;
case States.Offline: default: return Colors.Gray;
}
}
public void NotifyPropertyChanged(string propertyName)
{
if (PropertyChanged != null)
{
PropertyChanged(this, new PropertyChangedEventArgs(propertyName));
}
}
public static ContactData[] ParseXML(XDocument xmlDocument)
{
var result = from entry in xmlDocument.Descendants("contact")
select new ContactData { Data = entry.Elements().ToDictionary(e => e.Name.ToString(), e => e.Value) };
return result.ToArray<ContactData>();
}
}

I developed a similar software: a huge contact list with data (presence and other stuff) updating quite frequently.
The solution I used is different: instead of updating the whole itemssource everytime, that is quite expensive, implement a ViewModel class for each contact. The ViewModel class should implement INotifiyPropertyChanged.
At this point when you parse the XML, you update the ContactViewModel properties and this will trigger the correct NotifyPropertyChanged events that will update the correct piece of UI.
It might be expensive if you update a lot of properties for a lot of contacts at the same time, for that you can implement some kind of caching like:
contactViewModel.BeginUpdate()
contactViewModel.Presence = Presence.Available;
..... other updates
contactViewModel.EndUpdate(); // at this point trigger PropertyCHanged events.
Another point:
keep a separate ObservableCollection bound to the ListBox and never change the itemssource property: you risk losing the current selection, scrollposition, etc.
dynamically add/remove elements from the collection bound to the listbox.
Buon divertimento e in bocca al lupo :-)

Move the downloading and parsing of the contact status information to another thread.

The line where you assigning the ItemsSource I would put in another thread, but remember about invoking or you're gonna have irritating errors.