Binding properties not working - c#

Well the title may not help to much, but here is my problem. I have problems binding properties between controls in SILVERLIGHT. Here is the structure:
There is a control called "ProjectItemList", this control will recieve a string and display it in a very simple way.
There is a control called "ProjectList", this control will recive an array of string and use the control "ProjectItemList" to represent each of the strings in the array.
There is a window called "ProjectWindow", this window contains a "ProjectList" control, and a dependency property called "Nombres".
The context: The "ProjectWindow" window include a "ProjectList" control, there is a binding between ProjectWindow's dependency property "Nombres" and a dependency property "ListOfNames", here is the code of the "ListOfNames" dependency property:
public static DependencyProperty ListOfNamesProperty =
DependencyProperty.Register("ListOfNames", typeof(string[]), typeof(ProjectList), new PropertyMetadata(null));
public string[] ListOfNames
{
get
{
return (string[])GetValue(ListOfNamesProperty);
}
set
{
SetValue(ListOfNamesProperty, value);
List<ProjectItemList> auxList = new List<ProjectItemList>();
foreach (string s in value)
{
ProjectItemList il = new ProjectItemList();
il.Nombre = s;
this.lb_projects.Items.Add(il);
}
}
}
The problem is that, although the list control in "ProjectList" represent the "Nombres" property, the "Set" of "ListOfNames" is never called, so I can't create each of the "ProjectItemList" objects and represent the data.
I'm fairly new into XAML and Silverlight, so i may not considering something simple.
Thanks!

When you use dependency properties, the set and get are not called through ui binding, this is your problem.
WPF ui controls tald directrly with the dependeny property without going through your getter and setter.

You need to specify a callback to monitor property changes:
public static DependencyProperty ListOfNamesProperty =
DependencyProperty.Register("ListOfNames", typeof(string[]), typeof(ProjectList),
new PropertyMetadata(ListOfNamesChaned));
private static void ListOfNamesChaned(DependencyObject d, DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs e)
{
List<ProjectItemList> auxList = new List<ProjectItemList>();
foreach (string s in value)
{
ProjectItemList il = new ProjectItemList();
il.Nombre = s;
this.lb_projects.Items.Add(il);
}
}
public string[] ListOfNames
{
get
{
return (string[])GetValue(ListOfNamesProperty);
}
set
{
SetValue(ListOfNamesProperty, value);
}
}
See Chen Kinnrot's answer to know why.

For this to achieve, Raise Property Change event can be used i.e with the propertychanged event handler,Code snippet is like:
public event PropertyChangedEventHandler PropertyChanged;
private void OnPropertyChanged(string propertyName)
{
PropertyChangedEventHandler handler = PropertyChanged;
if (handler != null)
{
handler(this, new PropertyChangedEventArgs(propertyName));
}
}
use OnPropertyChanged to bind the property and if any change in that property.it will notify and your binding properties automatically will be changed and ui will be updated which are bound to these properties.

Related

Accessing ItemsSource from GridView

I have a button, When it's clicked it populates my Datagrid. The code is written within the .xaml.cs file, which I believe breaks the MVVM rule but it's just a temporary situation. I know it's not ideal for MVVM.
Calculate.xaml.cs
public void PopulateGrid(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
BindableCollection<Payments> PaymentCollection = new BindableCollection<Payments>
....
Datagrid.ItemsSource = PaymentCollection
....
}
My question is if there's a way to read the Datagrids ItemsSource From the ViewModel.
What I've Tried
LoansViewModel
public BindableCollection<Payments> paymentCollection {get; set;}
Calculate.xaml
<telerik:RadGridView ItemsSource="{Binding paymentCollection, Mode=TwoWay}" ... />
The collection paymentCollection Doesn't Update after calculate is clicked.
Just do this the correct MVVM way. Get rid of your PopulateGrid method in the .xaml.cs file and eliminate setting the Click property in your xaml. Instead bind the command property of the button to an ICommand property in your ViewModel the same way you are binding the ItemsSource of the RadGridView. You will need an implementation of ICommand to use and MVVM Lights RelayCommand is one option for that.
Here is the code for the ICommand:
private ICommand _populateGridCommand;
public ICommand PopulateGridCommand
{
get
{
if (_populateGridCommand == null)
{
_populateGridCommand = new RelayCommand(() => PopulateGrid());
}
return _populateGridCommand;
}
}
public void PopulateGrid()
{
PaymentCollection.Clear();
//load data and then add to the collection
}
UPDATE
To do this in code behind, you'll need to access the ViewModel and work on the collection from it. I don't like this but it should work.
public void PopulateGrid(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
var loansVM = DataGrid.DataContext as LoansViewModel;
loansVM.paymentsCollection.Clear();
var newData = //load data
foreach (var data in newData)
loansVM.paymentsCollection.Add(data);
}
Your xaml code looks like it should work provided the DataContext of your grid is set to your ViewModel instance where your paymentCollection property is declared.
Once your binding is set, it calls the get on the paymentCollection property. If your collection property object is not reassigned any further, and you add and remove elements from it, and it notifies on those changes via INotifyCollectionChanged, it will work. This is how ObservableCollection works and used most commonly for such scenarios.
However, if when you calculate, you re-assign your paymentCollection property with a new instance, your grid will not update, because you now have an entirely different collection. In that case you will need to notify the view that the paymentCollection property itself has changed. In which case you should implement it as a notification property:
private BindableCollection<Payments>_paymentCollection;
public BindableCollection<Payments> paymentCollection {
get { return _paymentCollection; }
set {
_paymentCollection = value;
OnPropertyChanged("paymentCollection");
}
}
protected void OnPropertyChanged(string name) {
PropertyChangedEventHandler handler = PropertyChanged;
if(handler != null) {
handler(this, new PropertyChangedEventArgs(name));
}
}

Glitch on Windows Forms when Data Binding on a property called Property

I was experimenting with Data Binding in Windows Forms and found a glitch that I can't explain. I post the question here in hopes that someone in the community can come up with an answer that makes sense.
I tried to come up with a clever way of binding read-only values that depend on operations on other values, and update it automatically when the dependent values change.
I created a form with 3 textboxes, where I want the sum of the first 2 to appear in the 3rd textbox.
The following code should work, but doesn't, at least not properly:
public class Model : INotifyPropertyChanged
{
private int m_valueA;
private int m_valueB;
public int ValueA
{
get { return m_valueA; }
set { m_valueA = value; RaisePropertyChanged("ValueA"); }
}
public int ValueB
{
get { return m_valueB; }
set { m_valueB = value; RaisePropertyChanged("ValueB"); }
}
public event PropertyChangedEventHandler PropertyChanged;
private void RaisePropertyChanged(string propertyName)
{
var handler = PropertyChanged;
if (handler != null) handler(this, new PropertyChangedEventArgs(propertyName));
}
}
public class DynamicBindingProperty<T> : INotifyPropertyChanged
{
private Func<T> m_function;
private HashSet<string> m_properties;
public DynamicBindingProperty(Func<T> function, INotifyPropertyChanged container, IEnumerable<string> properties)
{
m_function = function;
m_properties = new HashSet<string>(properties);
container.PropertyChanged += DynamicBindingProperty_PropertyChanged;
}
public T Property { get { return m_function(); } }
void DynamicBindingProperty_PropertyChanged(object sender, PropertyChangedEventArgs e)
{
if (!m_properties.Contains(e.PropertyName)) return;
if (PropertyChanged == null) return;
PropertyChanged(this, new PropertyChangedEventArgs("Property"));
}
public event PropertyChangedEventHandler PropertyChanged;
}
public partial class Form1 : Form
{
public Form1()
{
InitializeComponent();
InitializeDataBinding();
}
private void InitializeDataBinding()
{
Model model = new Model();
DynamicBindingProperty<int> tmp = new DynamicBindingProperty<int>(() => model.ValueA + model.ValueB, model, new[] {"ValueA", "ValueB"});
textBox1.DataBindings.Add("Text", model, "ValueA");
textBox2.DataBindings.Add("Text", model, "ValueB");
textBox3.DataBindings.Add("Text", tmp, "Property");
tmp.PropertyChanged += (sender, args) => Console.WriteLine(args.PropertyName);
}
}
After experimenting for a while, I tried renaming DynamicBindingProperty<T>.Property to something else (e.g. DynamicProperty), and everything worked as expected!. Now, I was expecting something to break by renaming Model.ValueA to Property, but it didn't, and still worked flawlessly.
What is going on here?
I did some debugging and it looks like a bug (or requirement "the property must not be named Property" I am not aware of). If you replace
PropertyChanged(this, new PropertyChangedEventArgs("Property"));
with
PropertyChanged(this, new PropertyChangedEventArgs(null));
it still does not work - null or an empty string means any property may have changed. This indicates that problem is not in the handling of the change notification but that the binding has not been correctly established.
If you add a second property Property2 to DynamicBindingProperty<T> that does the same as Property and bind it to a fourth text box, then both text boxes will get update correctly if you perform a change notification with an empty string, null or "Property2". If you perform the change notification with "Property" both text boxes will not get update correctly. This indicates that the binding to Property is not completely broken and also that the change notification is somewhat broken.
Sadly I was unable to pin down the exact location where things go wrong, but if you invest enough time stepping through optimized framework source code you can probably figure it out. The earliest difference between the case with property name Property and the case with property name Property2 I could identify when processing a change notification was in OnValueChanged() in the internal class System.ComponentModel.ReflectPropertyDescriptor. In one case the base implementation gets called while it gets skipped in the other case - at least if the debugger didn't trick me, but this is hard to tell in optimized code.

Elegant way to implement INotifyPropertyChanged across many controls

I'm building a WPF application and I'm slowly uncovering some of the joys and also the frustrations of using WPF. My latest question involves updating the UI using INotifyPropertyChanged
My app has stacked UserControls with each UserControl containing multiple controls, so overall there are hundreds of controls which update every second providing live data. In order to update all controls I'm using something similar to below which does currently work as intended.
namespace ProjectXAML
{
public partial class ProjectX : UserControl, INotifyPropertyChanged
{
#region Declare Getter/Setter with INotifyPropertyChanged groupx3
private string m_group1Text1;
public string group1Text1
{
get
{
return m_group1Text1;
}
set
{
m_group1Text1 = value;
NotifyPropertyChanged("group1Text1");
}
}
private string m_group1Text2;
public string group1Text2
{
get
{
return m_group1Text2;
}
set
{
m_group1Text2 = value;
NotifyPropertyChanged("group1Text2");
}
}
private string m_group2Text1;
public string group2Text1
{
get
{
return m_group2Text1;
}
set
{
m_group2Text1 = value;
NotifyPropertyChanged("group2Text1");
}
}
private string m_group2Text2;
public string group2Text2
{
get
{
return m_group2Text2;
}
set
{
m_group2Text2 = value;
NotifyPropertyChanged("group2Text2");
}
}
private string m_group3Text1;
public string group3Text1
{
get
{
return m_group3Text1;
}
set
{
m_group3Text1 = value;
NotifyPropertyChanged("group3Text1");
}
}
private string m_group3Text2;
public string group3Text2
{
get
{
return m_group3Text2;
}
set
{
m_group3Text2 = value;
NotifyPropertyChanged("group3Text2");
}
}
#endregion
#region INotifyPropertyChanged Members
public event PropertyChangedEventHandler PropertyChanged;
/// Notifies the property changed.
private void NotifyPropertyChanged(string property)
{
if (PropertyChanged != null)
{
PropertyChanged(this, new PropertyChangedEventArgs(property));
}
}
#endregion
}
}
My questions are:
Is there a more elegant way to raise PropertyChanged events for lots of controls rather than lots of get/set code?
Is there a way to raise 1 PropertyChanged event covering the whole UserControl containing multiple controls instead of a separate event for every control? Is there a better method than what I'm attempting?
In strict reference to this part of your question..."Is there a way to raise 1 PropertyChanged event covering the whole UserControl containing ".
Yes, you can raise a PropertyChanged notification which says all my properties on my object are updated.
Use:
NotifyPropertyChanged(null);
then this informs the listener of INotifyPropertyChanged that all properties have changed on an object.
This isn't normally used...and can be abused....and cause inefficient updates e.g. if you were only changing a few properties and used that.
But you could argue the case for using it if you have lots of properties in your object, that you were always changing anyway at the same time...and you wanted to collapse lots of individual notifications into 1 that was raised after you had modified all properties.
Example use case (i.e. presumes you are updating all your groups in some way):
void UpdateAllGroupTextProperties()
{
group1Text1 = "groupA";
group1Text2 = "groupA2";
group2Text1 = "groupB";
group2Text2 = "groupB2";
group3Text1 = "groupC";
group3Text2 = "groupC2";
NotifyPropertyChanged(null);
}
For point 1 if you are using VS 2012 you can do the below
private void SetProperty<T>(ref T field, T value, [CallerMemberName] string name = "")
{
if (!EqualityComparer<T>.Default.Equals(field, value))
{
field = value;
var handler = PropertyChanged;
if (handler != null)
{
handler(this, new PropertyChangedEventArgs(name));
}
}
}
and then you can use your set property method without having to hard code the name of the properties.
Note the above code is an except of the below link
http://danrigby.com/2012/03/01/inotifypropertychanged-the-net-4-5-way/
Use the design pattern model view controler. So the model will raise the changes for you. Together with MVVM the controls will see with its dependency objects the changes and view them automatically.

Using a custom attached property with a binding

I was looking at this question, but I don't understand how to actually USE the created AttachedProperty. The problem is trying to have a binding on the source of the WebBrowser control.
The code there looks like:
public static class WebBrowserUtility
{
public static readonly DependencyProperty BindableSourceProperty =
DependencyProperty.RegisterAttached("BindableSource", typeof(string), typeof(WebBrowserUtility), new UIPropertyMetadata(null, BindableSourcePropertyChanged));
public static string GetBindableSource(DependencyObject obj)
{
return (string) obj.GetValue(BindableSourceProperty);
}
public static void SetBindableSource(DependencyObject obj, string value)
{
obj.SetValue(BindableSourceProperty, value);
}
public static void BindableSourcePropertyChanged(DependencyObject o, DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs e)
{
WebBrowser browser = o as WebBrowser;
if (browser != null)
{
string uri = e.NewValue as string;
browser.Source = uri != null ? new Uri(uri) : null;
}
}
}
and
<WebBrowser ns:WebBrowserUtility.BindableSource="{Binding WebAddress}"
ScrollViewer.HorizontalScrollBarVisibility="Disabled"
ScrollViewer.VerticalScrollBarVisibility="Disabled"
Width="300"
Height="200" />
The WebAddress, what is that exactly? This is my understanding (which is probably wrong):
There's an AttachedProperty that can be attached to any object, and in this particular case, it is basically just attaching a property called BindableSource which is of type String.
When we have the "{Binding WebAddress}" it means that in some c# code somewhere that handles this .xaml file there's something that looks like:
public String WebAddress
{
// get and set here? not sure
}
And to take advantage of the property changed, I can called RaisedPropertyChanged and it will fire that static method up there?
Even when I look at it, it doesn't seem right, but I can't find anything online to help me.
There's an AttachedProperty that can be attached to any object, and in this particular case, it is basically just attaching a property called BindableSource which is of type String.
You might want to read the MSDN article on attached properties.
It is rather simple: Dependency properties work with dictionaries in which controls are associated with their values for a property, this makes it quite easy to add something like attached properties which can extend a control.
In the RegisterAttached method of the attached property a PropertyChangedCallback is hooked up which will be executed if the value changes. Using a dependency property enables binding which is the point of doing this in the first place. All the property really does is call the relevant code to navigate the browser if the value changes.
When we have the "{Binding WebAddress}" it means that in some c# code somewhere that handles this .xaml file there's something that looks like [...]
The binding references some public property or depedency property (not a field) called WebAddress inside the DataContext of the WebBrowser. For general information on data-binding see the Data Binding Overview.
So if you want to create a property which should be a binding source you either implement INotifyPropertyChanged or you create a DependencyProperty (they fire change notifications on their own and you normally do only create those on controls and UI-related classes)
Your property could look like this:
public class MyModel : INotifyPropertyChanged
{
public event PropertyChangedEventHandler PropertyChanged;
private void NotifyPropertyChanged(String info)
{
if (PropertyChanged != null)
{
PropertyChanged(this, new PropertyChangedEventArgs(info));
}
}
private string _webAddress;
public string WebAddress
{
get { return _webAddress; }
set
{
if (value != _webAddress)
{
_webAddress = value;
NotifyPropertyChanged("WebAddress");
}
}
}
}
Here you have to raise the PropertyChanged event in the setter as you suspected. How to actually declare working bindings in XAML is a rather broad topic sp i would like to direct you to the aforementioned Data Binding Overview again which should explain that.
And to take advantage of the property changed, I can called RaisedPropertyChanged and it will fire that static method up there?
The event is fired to trigger the binding to update, this in turn changes the value of the attached property which in turn causes the PropertyChangedCallback to be executed which eventually navigates the browser.

DependencyProperty binding mode twoway but propertychangedeventhandler is null

I'm trying to follow the MVVM design paradigm with C# and XAML. I'm running into trouble with a nested user control. I'm trying to bind an element on the nested user control to one of the values in the ViewModel (which is bound to the View via the DataContext property). The same ViewModel is used for both the outer and nested user controls.
It partially works as is, but changes only go one-way from the ViewModel to the nested user control. I need the changes made in the nested user control to propagate back to the ViewModel.
Starting with the XAML for the main View, I have:
<UserControl>
<!-- ... -->
<UserControl.DataContext>
<local:MyViewModel x:Name="myViewModel" />
</UserControl.DataContext>
<!-- ... -->
<local:NestedUserControl
x:Name="nestedUserControl"
CustomNestedValue="{Binding Path=CustomValue, ElementName=myViewModel, Mode=TwoWay}" />
</UserControl>
In the C# code for the ViewModel:
// Constructor
public MyViewModel()
{
CustomValue = true;
}
private bool _customValue;
public bool CustomValue
{
get { return _customValue; }
set
{
if (_customValue != value)
{
_customValue = value;
RaisePropertyChanged ("CustomValue");
}
}
}
And in the code behind of the NestedUserControl, I have:
public static readonly DependencyProperty CustomNestedValueProperty =
DependencyProperty.Register (
"CustomNestedValue",
typeof (bool),
typeof (NestedUserControl),
new FrameworkPropertyMetatdata
{
BindsTwoWayByDefault = true,
PropertyChangedCallback =
new PropertyChangedCallback (CustomNestedValueChangedCallback)
});
public bool CustomNestedValue
{
get { return (bool) GetValue (CustomNestedValueProperty); }
set { SetValue (CustomNestedValueProperty, value); }
}
protected static void CustomNestedValueChangedCallback (
DependencyObject Source,
DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs e)
{
bool value = (bool) e.NewValue;
NestedUserControl control = source as NestedUserControl;
control.OnCustomValueChange (value);
}
public void OnCustomValueChange (bool value)
{
RaisePropertyChanged ("CustomNestedValue");
// Do other stuff ...
}
// This function is where the nested user control gets direct
// interactions from the user which cause the dependency
// property to change. When this event occurs, the change needs
// to be communicated back up to the view model.
private void _onPreviewMouseDown (object sender, MouseButtonEventArgs e)
{
CustomNestedValue = !CustomNestedValue;
}
[Note: Not only do I set the binding mode to TwoWay when setting the binding in XAML, but I attempted to make this the default behavior of the DependencyProperty in the code above. No luck.]
Both the code behind for the nested user control and the ViewModel code contain the below PropertyChangedEventHandler event/response, which is necessary for the INotifyPropertyChanged interface. From what I understand, this is how bindings between XAML elements and the ViewModel are kept in sync.
public event PropertyChangedEventHandler PropertyChanged;
protected void RaisePropertyChanged(string propertyName)
{
try
{
if (this.PropertyChanged != null)
this.PropertyChanged(this, new PropertyChangedEventArgs(propertyName));
}
catch (Exception e)
{
// ...
}
}
When I run the code, whenever the RaisePropertyChanged function is called for the NestedUserControl, the PropertyChanged event is always null. This is only a problem for the nested usercontrol, and not the outer one. Shouldn't this event be automatically set via the binding mechanism?
I've been struggling with this for several days now to no avail. Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks!
Binding to a DependencyObject operates without using the INotifyPropertyChanged interface. In fact, if you set a breakpoint in the getter or setter of the CustomNestedValue property of the NestedUserControl, you'll find it will never hit when binding in XAML. In essence, the INotifyPropertyChanged is a way of achieving binding without descending from DependencyObject.
When the MyViewModel.CustomValue is bound to the NestedUserControl, the binding code calls (in pseudo code):
NestedUserControl.SetBinding(binding, NestedUserControl.CustomNestedValueProperty)
The INotifyPropertyChanged.PropertyChanged event is never registered and will remain null. However, this doesn't necessarily answer why the value isn't going back to the ViewModel.
Regardless, you could remove a few moving pieces and go with
public static readonly DependencyProperty CustomNestedValueProperty =
DependencyProperty.Register("CustomNestedValue",
typeof (bool),
typeof (NestedUserControl),
null);
public bool CustomNestedValue
{
get { return (bool) GetValue (CustomNestedValueProperty); }
set { SetValue (CustomNestedValueProperty, value); }
}
That's how most of my DependencyProperties are written and they do support TwoWay binding.

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