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Opening CommonOpenFileDialog using WPF PRISM MVVM

I have been reading about the best way to open dialogs using PRISM and opening them the MVVM way, however what I have found so far seems to only work with custom dialogs. I'd like to be able to open a CommonOpenFileDialog when a button is clicked but I am very confused how I can do this while adhering to the MVVM pattern.
I can accomplish this using the code behind but I would like to avoid this if possible, but the problem I run into here is how I can then pass the dialog result to the view model from the code behind. Would an EventAggregator be acceptable here?
This is my SelectFolderDialog class which opens the dialog. This is currently called from my views code behind:
public class SelectFolderDialog
{
public string SelectFolder()
{
var folderSelectorDialog = new CommonOpenFileDialog();
folderSelectorDialog.EnsureReadOnly = true;
folderSelectorDialog.IsFolderPicker = true;
folderSelectorDialog.AllowNonFileSystemItems = false;
folderSelectorDialog.Multiselect = false;
folderSelectorDialog.InitialDirectory = Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.MyDocuments);
folderSelectorDialog.Title = "Select Folder";
folderSelectorDialog.ShowDialog();
string SelectedFolderPath = folderSelectorDialog.FileName;
Console.WriteLine(SelectedFolderPath);
return SelectedFolderPath;
}
}

The most MVVMy way is to have a SystemDialogService that you inject into your VMs, that has a method GetOpenFileDialogPath or something, that does exactly what your code does.
That way you can easily mock it in your unit tests and reuse it in other VMs.
Also, having a code behind IS NOT A BAD THING!
So, you rename your class by adding Service at the end, extract an interface for it and inject it in VM constructor using whatever dependency injection form you use.
Then in your button click command you can do:
var path = _systemDialogService.SelectFolder() - that's all

A few years ago I wrote up a fairly detailed article showing how to do pure MVVM dialogs with data-binding, you might want to check out the sample project. In addition to the common system dialogs it also works fine with 3rd party dialog libraries.
I might be updating it soon actually, as I've recently implemented custom WPF dialog boxes (arbitrary shapes etc) which are similar but have a few quirks to you have to be mindful of.

Failed to perform action on hidden control exception

I am trying to create a UI test in VS 2010 using IE 9 in IE 8 compatibilty mode however when trying to record an action recording many of the steps fail. Then when I manually code in the missing steps and try to fill in a log in form with a username and password I get an exception that says I have failed to perform an action on hidden control.
The UI Test code:
public void Recordedmethod()
{
BrowserWindow uILogInWindowsInternetWindow = this.UILogInWindowsInternetWindow;
HtmlHyperlink uILogInHyperlink = this.UILogInWindowsInternetWindow.UIHomePageDocument.UILogInHyperlink;
HtmlEdit uIUsernameEdit = this.UILogInWindowsInternetWindow.UILogInDocument1.UIUsernameEdit;
HtmlEdit uIPasswordEdit = this.UILogInWindowsInternetWindow.UILogInDocument1.UIPasswordEdit;
#endregion
// Go to web page 'http://localhost:15856/WebSite1/'
uILogInWindowsInternetWindow.NavigateToUrl(new System.Uri(this.RecordedMethodParams.UILogInWindowsInternetWindowUrl));
// Set flag to allow play back to continue if non-essential actions fail. (For example, if a mouse hover action fails.)
Playback.PlaybackSettings.ContinueOnError = true;
// Mouse hover 'Log In' link at (1, 1)
Mouse.Click(uILogInHyperlink);
// Reset flag to ensure that play back stops if there is an error.
Playback.PlaybackSettings.ContinueOnError = false;
// Type 'test' in 'Username:' text box
uIUsernameEdit.Text = this.RecordedMethodParams.UIUsernameEditText;
// The following element is no longer available: IE web control; Process Id [6320], window handle [3168166]
// Type '********' in 'Password:' text box
uIPasswordEdit.Password = this.RecordedMethodParams.UIPasswordEditPassword;
// The following element is no longer available: IE web control; Process Id [6320], window handle [3168166]
}

This is an issue linked to an Internet Explorer patch that was released in September.
KB2870699
This affects VS2010 and VS2012.
Microsoft released a patch that corrects the issue for VS2012 (and I've confirmed that it fixed the issue for me).
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/visualstudioalm/archive/2013/09/17/coded-ui-mtm-issues-on-internet-explorer-with-kb2870699.aspx
Currently the only workaround for VS2010 is to uninstall the patch (KB2870699); however, as with any sort of security patch you'll want to consider carefully whether pulling it is safe to do given your situation.
EDIT: This was not a fun bug for me to deal with. I had just upgraded to VS2012 from VS2010 and all of a sudden I found none of my previously functioning CodedUI tests working. I assumed it was an issue with VS2012 and after banging my head against the wall for the better part of a day I found out it was an issue with a patch. It was just my luck that I upgraded to 2012 at the same time the patch had been installed on my system. Good times!

There is actually an updated for VS 2012 to fix this issue
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/visualstudioalm/archive/2013/09/17/coded-ui-mtm-issues-on-internet-explorer-with-kb2870699.aspx
Hope this helps!

I was having the same problem with my coded ui test. It's an issue with VS-2012 i guess, i tried every update (installing/uninstalling them and everything..) nothing worked.
I tried VS-2013 Ultimate and it worked.

You can use exception handling to capture the error while still not having the test failed.
The test is failing because at the time it performs click action, the control is hidden.
try
{
//your code goes here
}
catch(FailedToPerformActionOnHiddenControlException e)
{
Console.WriteLine(e.Message);
}

How to click on a link using Webkit Browser?

I want to click on link after navigating to a website
webKitBrowser1.Navigate("http://www.somesite.com");
How to click on a link on this website assuming that the link's id is lnkId ?
Go to Google
In the default browser control that comes with Visual Studio, I can do that using the code below :
foreach (HtmlElement el in webBrowser1.Document.GetElementTagName("a")) {
if (el.GetAttribute("id") == "lnkId") {
el.InvokeMember("click");
}
}
What is the equivalent of the code above when I'm using WebkitDotNet control?

As the WebKit doesn't provide a Click() event (see here for details), you cannot do that in the above way. But a small trick may work as an equivalent of the original winforms way as below:
foreach (Node el in webKitBrowser1.Document.GetElementsByTagName("a"))
{
if (((Element) el).GetAttribute("id") == "lnkId")
{
string urlString = ((Element) el).Attributes["href"].NodeValue;
webKitBrowser1.Navigate(urlString);
}
}
Here what I am doing is casting the WebKit.DOM.Node object to its subclass WebKit.DOM.Element to get its Attributes. Then providing href to the NamedNodeMap, i.e. Attributes as the NodeName, you can easily extract the NodeValue, which is the target url in this case. You can then simply invoke the Navigate(urlString) method on the WebKitBrowser instance to replicate the click event.

I don't work with Windows and all my experience is on Webkit GTK. Following comments are based on that experience.
I am not sure which webkit .NET version you are using. Looks like there are multiple implementations. Assuming you are using the one mentioned by Wasif, you can evaluate javascript as mentioned in the example https://code.google.com/p/open-webkit-sharp/source/browse/JavaScriptExample/Form1.cs.
Actually if implementation is supporting javascript execution then you can do most, if not all the DOM operations. The API functions are usually same as javascript functions and most of the time call exact same functions internally despite of origination. Communication between your application and javascript can be little challenging, but if you can read alert messages, that also can be solved. It looks like this library does support alert handling mechanism. A tool I wrote at https://github.com/nhrdl/notesMD will show some examples of achieving this communication though it uses GTK version and is written in python.
Incidentally if you know the id of the element, then Document.GetElementById will save you the loop.

webKitBrowser1.StringByEvaluatingJavaScriptFromString("var inpt = document.createElement(\"input\"); inpt.setAttribute(\"type\", \"submit\"); inpt.setAttribute(\"id\", \"nut\"); inpt.setAttribute(\"type\", \"submit\"); inpt.setAttribute(\"name\", \"tmp\"); inpt.setAttribute(\"value\", \"tmp\"); var element = document.getElementById(\"lnk\"); element.appendChild(inpt);");
webKitBrowser1.StringByEvaluatingJavaScriptFromString("document.getElementById('nut').click();");

How to get selected text from an active application, without using a clipboard

What am I doing:
My main intent is to enable user friendly text to speech for personal use on Win 7. Approach should work in Google Chrome, VS and Eclipse.
Code example:
Following code creates global keyboard hook for ctrl + alt + space, called hookEvent. If event fires, it starts/stops speaking clipboard contents ( that can be updated with ctrl + c ).
/// <summary>
/// KeyboardHook from: http://www.liensberger.it/web/blog/?p=207
/// </summary>
private readonly KeyboardHook hook = new KeyboardHook();
private readonly SpeechSynthesizer speaker = //
new SpeechSynthesizer { Rate = 3, Volume = 100 };
private void doSpeaking(string text)
{
// starts / stops speaking, while not blocking UI
if (speaker.State != SynthesizerState.Speaking)
speaker.SpeakAsync(text);
else
speaker.SpeakAsyncCancelAll();
}
private void hookEvent(object sender, KeyPressedEventArgs e)
{
this.doSpeaking(Convert.ToString(Clipboard.GetText()));
}
public Form1()
{
InitializeComponent();
hook.KeyPressed += new EventHandler<KeyPressedEventArgs>(hookEvent);
hook.RegisterHotKey(ModifierKeysx.Control|ModifierKeysx.Alt, Keys.Space);
}
Question:
I would prefer not using the clipboard. Or at least, restoring the value after, something like:
[MethodImpl(MethodImplOptions.Synchronized)]
private string getSelectedTextHACK()
{
object restorePoint = Clipboard.GetData(DataFormats.UnicodeText);
SendKeys.SendWait("^c");
string result = Convert.ToString(Clipboard.GetText());
Clipboard.SetData(DataFormats.UnicodeText, restorePoint);
return result;
}
What are my options?
Edit:
To my surprise, I found that my clipboard reader is the best way to go. I created a notification area app, that responds to left click (speaking clipboard) and right click (menu opens up). In menu the user can chance speed, speak or create a audio file.

MS provide accessibility tools that do cover what you're trying to do. If you take a look at documents about screen scraping. In short, every component is accessible in some manner, if you use some of the windows debugging tools you can get to see the component names/structures within. You can then use that, however, its complicated as most times you would need to be very specific for each application you intend to scrape from.
If you manage to scrape you dont need to use the clipboard, as you can access the text property of the apps direct. Its not something I've had to do, hence, Ive no code to offer off the top of my head, but the term "screen scraping" should point you in the right direction.

If to expand a little on what Bugfinder said, Microsoft provider a UI Automation Framework to solve problems like the one you mentioned:
In particular you can use the TextSelectionChangedEvent of TextPattern:
The problem with this solution is that it only works on supported operating systems and applications - and not all support this.
Your clipboard solution is acceptable for applications that do not provide a good automation interface.
But for many applications the UI Automation Framework will work well and will provide you with a far better solution.

How can I send input to Visual Studio using Windows API

I am trying to develop a util (using system-hook) for that works like an expander (user selects some text and presses a hotkey and it is expands). It should work with Visual Studio.
I want to implement this using Windows API because I want to develop an app that works globally with any application (whether you're using VS, or wordpad, you should get the same functionality).
I've been able to do this successfully with notepad, wordpad, etc. using EM_ GETSEL and EM_REPLACESEL messages. But these APIs are not working with Visual Studio, or ms word.
What APIs should I use to be able to
1. Detect what text is selected.
2. Send input to the editor.
I am programming in C#. If you must know what I am trying to do... I am trying to make a universal port of ZenCoding that works on any editor. So all help will be appreciated.

For part 2 you could try using Windows Input Simulator which is an open source project I've just released to Codeplex to wrap the Win32 SendInput. Instead of SendKeys which just simulates text input, you can actually simulate real key strokes and complex chords to the active window.
In your case, if the user can perform the task with the Keyboard, this project will help you, otherwise you'd need to find another solution.
Hope this helps.

Why don't you use a System.Windows.Forms.SendKeys class for simulating keyboard input from user?
You can use:
SendKeys.SendWait("^C"); //CTRL+C
var selectedText = Clipboard.GetText();
var newText = Replace(selectedText);
SendKEys.SendWait("^V"); //CTRL+V

You can use WPF's Automation functionality, encapsulated in these two namespaces:
System.Windows.Automation
System.Windows.Automation.Provider
As an example, this is a method for finding an automation target element (e.g. a typical win control):
public static AutomationElement FindElement(AutomationElement context, PropertyCondition[] conditions)
{
// if no conditions, there's no search to do: just return the context, will be used as target
if (conditions == null)
{
return (context);
}
// create the condition to find
System.Windows.Automation.Condition condition = null;
if (conditions.Length <= 0)
{
throw (new ArgumentException("No conditions specified"));
}
else if (conditions.Length == 1)
{
condition = conditions[0];
}
else
{
AndCondition ac = new AndCondition(conditions);
condition = ac;
}
// find the element
CacheRequest creq = new CacheRequest();
creq.TreeFilter = Automation.ControlViewCondition;
using (creq.Activate())
{
AutomationElement e = AutomationContext(context);
AutomationElement target = e.FindFirst(TreeScope.Subtree, condition);
return (target);
}
}

Whatever you try, be absolutely sure to try it, ASAP, with Visual Studio 2010 beta 2. The editor has largely been rewritten, and hacks that work with an earlier version should be tested again.