WPF - Set Focus when a button is clicked - No Code Behind - c#

Is there a way to set Focus from one control to another using WPF Triggers?
Like the following example:
<Page
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml">
<Grid>
<Grid.RowDefinitions>
<RowDefinition/>
<RowDefinition/>
<RowDefinition/>
</Grid.RowDefinitions>
<TextBox Name="txtName"></TextBox>
<TextBox Grid.Row="1" Name="txtAddress"></TextBox>
<Button Grid.Row="2" Content="Finish">
<Button.Triggers>
<EventTrigger RoutedEvent="Button.Click">
<!-- Insert cool code here-->
</EventTrigger>
</Button.Triggers>
</Button>
</Grid>
</Page>
Is there a way for this EventTrigger to put to focus on the textBox "txtName"?
I am trying to find the way to do something like this using strict MVVM. If this is something that should not be done via the XAML (in MVVM) then that is fine. But I would like to see some kind of documentation as to how it fit in the MVVM pattern doing it outside the XAML.

Have you considered using an attached behaviour. They are simple to implement and use AttachedProperty's. Although it still requires code, this code is abstracted away in a class and be reused. They can eliminate the need 'code behind' and are often used with the MVVM pattern.
Try this one and see if it works for you.
public class EventFocusAttachment
{
public static Control GetElementToFocus(Button button)
{
return (Control)button.GetValue(ElementToFocusProperty);
}
public static void SetElementToFocus(Button button, Control value)
{
button.SetValue(ElementToFocusProperty, value);
}
public static readonly DependencyProperty ElementToFocusProperty =
DependencyProperty.RegisterAttached("ElementToFocus", typeof(Control),
typeof(EventFocusAttachment), new UIPropertyMetadata(null, ElementToFocusPropertyChanged));
public static void ElementToFocusPropertyChanged(DependencyObject sender, DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs e)
{
var button = sender as Button;
if (button != null)
{
button.Click += (s, args) =>
{
Control control = GetElementToFocus(button);
if (control != null)
{
control.Focus();
}
};
}
}
}
And then in your XAML do something like...
<Button
Content="Click Me!"
local:EventFocusAttachment.ElementToFocus="{Binding ElementName=textBox}"
/>
<TextBox x:Name="textBox" />

I'm not near visual studio so I can't actually try this right now, but off the top of my head, you should be able to do something like this:
FocusManager.FocusedElement="{Binding ElementName=txtName}">
Edit:
There is a followup question (asked more recently) about this here: How to set autofocus only in xaml? which contains this method, and a few different ideas on how to use it.

You could also use a WPF Behavior...
public class FocusElementAfterClickBehavior : Behavior<ButtonBase>
{
private ButtonBase _AssociatedButton;
protected override void OnAttached()
{
_AssociatedButton = AssociatedObject;
_AssociatedButton.Click += AssociatedButtonClick;
}
protected override void OnDetaching()
{
_AssociatedButton.Click -= AssociatedButtonClick;
}
void AssociatedButtonClick(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
Keyboard.Focus(FocusElement);
}
public Control FocusElement
{
get { return (Control)GetValue(FocusElementProperty); }
set { SetValue(FocusElementProperty, value); }
}
// Using a DependencyProperty as the backing store for FocusElement. This enables animation, styling, binding, etc...
public static readonly DependencyProperty FocusElementProperty =
DependencyProperty.Register("FocusElement", typeof(Control), typeof(FocusElementAfterClickBehavior), new UIPropertyMetadata());
}
Here is the XAML to use the behavior.
Include namespaces:
xmlns:i="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/2010/interactivity"
xmlns:local="clr-namespace:WpfApplication1"
Attach WPF Behavior to button and bind element you want to set focus to:
<Button Content="Focus" Width="75">
<i:Interaction.Behaviors>
<local:FocusElementAfterClickBehavior FocusElement="{Binding ElementName=CheckBoxComboBox, Mode=OneWay}"/>
</i:Interaction.Behaviors>
</Button>
<ComboBox x:Name="CheckBoxComboBox" HorizontalAlignment="Center" VerticalAlignment="Center" Width="120" Grid.Row="1"/>
So this way you have no code behind and it is reusable on any control that inherits from ButtonBase.
Hope this helps someone.

you need a TriggerAction to invoke the Focus() method on the desired control.
public class SetFocusTrigger : TargetedTriggerAction<Control>
{
protected override void Invoke(object parameter)
{
if (Target == null) return;
Target.Focus();
}
}
To have the focus set to a Control , you place a Triggers collection after your LayoutRoot (or any control really), select the event as the trigger, and select the SetFocusTrigger as the class to run. In the SetFocusTrigger declaration, you put the name of the control that you want to receive the focus by using the TargetName property.
<Button x:Name="LayoutRoot" >
<i:Interaction.Triggers>
<i:EventTrigger EventName="Clicked">
<local:SetFocusTrigger TargetName="StartHere"/>
</i:EventTrigger>
</i:Interaction.Triggers>
<TextBox x:Name="StartHere"/>
</Button>

Is this what you want?
<TextBox Name="txtName"></TextBox>
<TextBox Grid.Row="1" Name="txtAddress"></TextBox>
<Button Grid.Row="2" Content="Finish">
<Button.Style>
<Style TargetType="{x:Type Button}">
<EventSetter Event="Click" Handler="MoveFocusOnClick" />
</Style>
</Button.Style>
<!--<Button.Triggers>
<EventTrigger RoutedEvent="Button.Click">
</EventTrigger>
</Button.Triggers>-->
</Button>
c#:
public void MoveFocusOnClick(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
Keyboard.Focus(txtName); // Or your own logic
}

This is the same as Ian Oakes' solution, but I made a couple minor changes.
The button type can be more general, namely ButtonBase, to handle more cases, such as ToggleButton.
The target type can also be more general, namely UIElement. Technically, this could be IInputElement, I suppose.
Made the event handler static so that it won't generate a runtime closure every time this is used.
[edit: 2019] Updated to use null-conditional and C#7 expression body syntax.
Many thanks to Ian.
public sealed class EventFocusAttachment
{
public static UIElement GetTarget(ButtonBase b) => (UIElement)b.GetValue(TargetProperty);
public static void SetTarget(ButtonBase b, UIElement tgt) => b.SetValue(TargetProperty, tgt);
public static readonly DependencyProperty TargetProperty = DependencyProperty.RegisterAttached(
"Target",
typeof(UIElement),
typeof(EventFocusAttachment),
new UIPropertyMetadata(null, (b, _) => (b as ButtonBase)?.AddHandler(
ButtonBase.ClickEvent,
new RoutedEventHandler((bb, __) => GetTarget((ButtonBase)bb)?.Focus()))));
};
Usage is basically the same as above:
<ToggleButton z:EventFocusAttachment.Target="{Binding RelativeSource={RelativeSource Self}}" />
Note that the event can target/focus the originating button itself.

Look if you're using any Dispatcher then it would be helpful but this is a short trick I used in my code. Just use the Loaded event in your XAML and make a new handler. In that handler paste this code and bingo! you're ready to go
Your loaded event with some arguments here...
{
Dispatcher.CurrentDispatcher.BeginInvoke(DispatcherPriority.Normal, new System.Action(() => {
The element to be focused goes here......
}));
}
PS: It requires Windows. Threading if you didn't know ;)

Related

WPF Datagrid's OnGeneratingColumn Not firing when using Event Triggers

I am trying to test this at a simple level where I have the following TasksDatagridView.xaml:
<UserControl x:Class="Example.Views.TasksDatagridView" ...>
<UserControl.Resources>
<local:CompleteConverter x:Key="completeConverter" />
<local:Tasks x:Key="tasks" />
<CollectionViewSource x:Key="cvsTasks" Source="{Binding Path=tasks}">
<CollectionViewSource.GroupDescriptions>
<PropertyGroupDescription PropertyName="ProjectName"/>
</CollectionViewSource.GroupDescriptions>
</CollectionViewSource>
</UserControl.Resources>
<Grid>
<DataGrid x:Name="myDG" AutoGenerateColumns="True" ItemsSource="{Binding Source={StaticResource cvsTasks}}">
<i:Interaction.Triggers>
<i:EventTrigger EventName="AutoGeneratingColumn">
<i:InvokeCommandAction Command="{Binding GenColumns}" />
</i:EventTrigger>
</i:Interaction.Triggers>
</DataGrid>
</Grid>
</UserControl>
In my TasksDatagridView.xaml.cs I tried both setting the datacontext first this.DataContext = new ViewModels.TaskDgVm() and then InitializeComponent() and vice versa.
In my main window MainWindow.xaml I reference the control like such:
<Window x:Name="MainWindow" x:Class="Example.Views.MyMainWindowView" ...>
<Grid>
<local:TasksDatagridView x:Name="tview" />
</Grid>
</Window>
This is a derived example that shows the point so please excuse mispelling. So I am having two issues:
In the MainWindow.xaml line where i reference the control: <local:TasksDatagridView x:Name="tview" /> it says it threw a system.exception, yet the code still compiles and runs fine.
AutoGeneratingColumn is not being fired.
Really I am trying to figure out #2 and why this specific event is not firing. Right now I have a simple print in the execute method and when replacing the event name with a simple click or loaded event for the datagrid the command works fine and just about any other event gets fired, which tells me its not something in my viewmodel or delegate command class. Any thoughts on why the autogenerate column event is not working with command? Note I have made sure the event name is not misspelled.
Edit:
After posting question I found a related question here: MVVM - WPF DataGrid - AutoGeneratingColumn Event
However they use mvvm-light toolkit where I am using the expression blend interactivity library. Although the same answer may apply to both questions, they are indeed two separate toolkits.
So based on this thread MVVM - WPF DataGrid - AutoGeneratingColumn Event I believe the visual tree is not getting constructed during some of these events.
But there is an alternative provided that solves the problem while avoiding code behind:
public class AutoGeneratingColumnEventToCommandBehaviour
{
public static readonly DependencyProperty CommandProperty =
DependencyProperty.RegisterAttached(
"Command",
typeof(ICommand),
typeof(AutoGeneratingColumnEventToCommandBehaviour),
new PropertyMetadata(
null,
CommandPropertyChanged));
public static void SetCommand(DependencyObject o, ICommand value)
{
o.SetValue(CommandProperty, value);
}
public static ICommand GetCommand(DependencyObject o)
{
return o.GetValue(CommandProperty) as ICommand;
}
private static void CommandPropertyChanged(DependencyObject d, DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs e)
{
var dataGrid = d as DataGrid;
if (dataGrid != null)
{
if (e.OldValue != null)
{
dataGrid.AutoGeneratingColumn -= OnAutoGeneratingColumn;
}
if (e.NewValue != null)
{
dataGrid.AutoGeneratingColumn += OnAutoGeneratingColumn;
}
}
}
private static void OnAutoGeneratingColumn(object sender, DataGridAutoGeneratingColumnEventArgs e)
{
var dependencyObject = sender as DependencyObject;
if (dependencyObject != null)
{
var command = dependencyObject.GetValue(CommandProperty) as ICommand;
if (command != null && command.CanExecute(e))
{
command.Execute(e);
}
}
}
}

Changing background proprieties of multiple controls using a button

I am working on an app that has a lot of buttons on the main window.
The buttons have been programmed individually to change color when pressed, and save that those colors using the user settings from Visual Studio.
More exactly, when the user presses a button once, its background changes to red, and when he presses it again the background changes to green.
Edited for mm8:
Here is the xaml (sample):
<Window x:Class="test2.MainWindow"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008"
xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006"
xmlns:local="clr-namespace:test2"
xmlns:properties="clr-namespace:test2.Properties"
mc:Ignorable="d"
Title="MainWindow" WindowStartupLocation="CenterScreen" Height="850" Width="925">
<Grid x:Name="theGrid">
<Button x:Name="Button0" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Margin="197,139,0,0" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="66" Height="26" Focusable="False" Background="{Binding Source={x:Static properties:Settings.Default}, Path=Color0, Mode=TwoWay}" Click="Button0_Click"/>
<Button x:Name="Button1" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Margin="131,139,0,0" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="66" Height="26" Focusable="False" Background="{Binding Source={x:Static properties:Settings.Default}, Path=Color1, Mode=TwoWay}" Click="Button1_Click"/>
<Button x:Name="Button2" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Margin="263,139,0,0" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="66" Height="26" Focusable="False" Background="{Binding Source={x:Static properties:Settings.Default}, Path=Color2, Mode=TwoWay}" Click="Button2_Click"/>
<Button x:Name="Reset" Content="Reset" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Margin="832,788,0,0" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="75" Click="Reset_Click" />
</Grid>
</Window>
And this is the code I implemented into each button's click event:
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using System.Windows;
using System.Windows.Controls;
using System.Windows.Data;
using System.Windows.Documents;
using System.Windows.Input;
using System.Windows.Media;
using System.Windows.Media.Imaging;
using System.Windows.Navigation;
using System.Windows.Shapes;
using System.IO;
namespace test2
{
/// <summary>
/// Interaction logic for MainWindow.xaml
/// </summary>
public partial class MainWindow : Window
{
public MainWindow()
{
InitializeComponent();
}
private void Button0_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
if (Properties.Settings.Default.Color0 == "Green")
{
Properties.Settings.Default.Color0 = "Red";
Properties.Settings.Default.Save();
}
else
{
Properties.Settings.Default.Color0 = "Green";
Properties.Settings.Default.Save();
}
}
private void Button1_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
if (Properties.Settings.Default.Color1 == "Green")
{
Properties.Settings.Default.Color1 = "Red";
Properties.Settings.Default.Save();
}
else
{
Properties.Settings.Default.Color1 = "Green";
Properties.Settings.Default.Save();
}
}
private void Button2_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
if (Properties.Settings.Default.Color2 == "Green")
{
Properties.Settings.Default.Color2 = "Red";
Properties.Settings.Default.Save();
}
else
{
Properties.Settings.Default.Color2 = "Green";
Properties.Settings.Default.Save();
}
}
private void Reset_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
foreach (Button button in theGrid.Children.OfType<Button>())
}
}
}
Now, I want to some sort of a Reset button, which when pressed changes the background of all the buttons to the default (not red, nor green).
What I tried to do was to use ideas from this thread and use them as a click event on the reset button, but whenever I do
foreach (Control x in Control.Controls)
or any other method using the "Controls" (this.Controls, etc) I get it underlined with red, saying that the Control class does not have the definition.
Am I doing something wrong? Do you guys have any suggestions as to how I can program that button to change all buttons' background to default?
The short version: you're doing it wrong. I mean, I suspect you already knew that to some extent, because the code didn't work. But looking at your comment that says you'll have 240 buttons, you are really going about this the wrong way.
This answer is meant to walk you through three different options, each moving you closer to what is the best approach for dealing with this scenario.
Starting with your original effort, we can get the code you posted to work mostly as-is. Your main problem is that, having successfully obtained each Button child of your Grid, you cannot just set the Button.Background property. If you do, you will erase the binding that was set up in the XAML.
Instead, you need to reset the values in your source data, and then force the binding target to be updated (because the Settings object does not provide a WPF-compatible property-changed notification mechanism). You can accomplish this by changing your Reset_Click() method to look like this:
private void Reset_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
Settings.Default.Color0 = Settings.Default.Color1 = Settings.Default.Color2 = "";
Settings.Default.Save();
foreach (Button button in theGrid.Children.OfType<Button>())
{
BindingOperations.GetBindingExpression(button, Button.BackgroundProperty)?.UpdateTarget();
}
}
This is not ideal. It would be much better to not have to access the binding state directly, and instead let WPF deal with updates. In addition, if you look at the debug output, for every time a button is set to the "default" state, a exception is being thrown. That's also not a very good situation.
These issues can be addressed. The first, by moving to an MVVM-style implementation, in which the state of the program is stored independently of the visual part of the program, with the visual part responding to changes in that state. The second, by adding some logic to coerce the invalid string value into something that WPF is happy with.
To accomplish this, it's helpful to have a couple of pre-made helper classes made, one for supporting the view model classes themselves directly, and one for representing a command (which is a better way to deal with user input than handling Click events directly). Those look like this:
class NotifyPropertyChangedBase : INotifyPropertyChanged
{
public event PropertyChangedEventHandler PropertyChanged;
protected void _UpdateField<T>(ref T field, T newValue,
Action<T> onChangedCallback = null,
[CallerMemberName] string propertyName = null)
{
if (EqualityComparer<T>.Default.Equals(field, newValue))
{
return;
}
T oldValue = field;
field = newValue;
onChangedCallback?.Invoke(oldValue);
PropertyChanged?.Invoke(this, new PropertyChangedEventArgs(propertyName));
}
}
class DelegateCommand : ICommand
{
private readonly Action _execute;
private readonly Func<bool> _canExecute;
public DelegateCommand(Action execute) : this(execute, null) { }
public DelegateCommand(Action execute, Func<bool> canExecute)
{
_execute = execute;
_canExecute = canExecute;
}
public event EventHandler CanExecuteChanged;
public bool CanExecute(object parameter)
{
return _canExecute?.Invoke() ?? true;
}
public void Execute(object parameter)
{
_execute();
}
public void RaiseCanExecuteChanged()
{
CanExecuteChanged?.Invoke(this, EventArgs.Empty);
}
}
These are just examples. The NotifyPropertyChangedBase class is mostly identical to what I use on a day-to-day basis. The DelegateCommand class is a stripped-down version of a more fully-featured implementation I use (mainly, it's missing support for command parameters, since they aren't needed in this particular scenario). There are lots of similar examples on Stack Overflow and the Internet, often built into a library designed to help with WPF development.
With those, we can define some "view model" classes that will represent the state of the program. Note that these classes have practically nothing in them that involves the view per se. The one exception being the use of DependencyProperty.UnsetValue, as a concession to simplicity. It is possible to get rid of even that, along with the "coerce" methods that support that design, as you'll see in the third example, after this one.
First, a view model to represent each individual button's state:
class ButtonViewModel : NotifyPropertyChangedBase
{
private object _color = DependencyProperty.UnsetValue;
public object Color
{
get { return _color; }
set { _UpdateField(ref _color, value); }
}
public ICommand ToggleCommand { get; }
public ButtonViewModel()
{
ToggleCommand = new DelegateCommand(_Toggle);
}
private void _Toggle()
{
Color = object.Equals(Color, "Green") ? "Red" : "Green";
}
public void Reset()
{
Color = DependencyProperty.UnsetValue;
}
}
Then a view model that holds the overall state of the program:
class MainViewModel : NotifyPropertyChangedBase
{
private ButtonViewModel _button0 = new ButtonViewModel();
public ButtonViewModel Button0
{
get { return _button0; }
set { _UpdateField(ref _button0, value); }
}
private ButtonViewModel _button1 = new ButtonViewModel();
public ButtonViewModel Button1
{
get { return _button1; }
set { _UpdateField(ref _button1, value); }
}
private ButtonViewModel _button2 = new ButtonViewModel();
public ButtonViewModel Button2
{
get { return _button2; }
set { _UpdateField(ref _button2, value); }
}
public ICommand ResetCommand { get; }
public MainViewModel()
{
ResetCommand = new DelegateCommand(_Reset);
Button0.Color = _CoerceColorString(Settings.Default.Color0);
Button1.Color = _CoerceColorString(Settings.Default.Color1);
Button2.Color = _CoerceColorString(Settings.Default.Color2);
Button0.PropertyChanged += (s, e) =>
{
Settings.Default.Color0 = _CoercePropertyValue(Button0.Color);
Settings.Default.Save();
};
Button1.PropertyChanged += (s, e) =>
{
Settings.Default.Color1 = _CoercePropertyValue(Button1.Color);
Settings.Default.Save();
};
Button2.PropertyChanged += (s, e) =>
{
Settings.Default.Color2 = _CoercePropertyValue(Button2.Color);
Settings.Default.Save();
};
}
private object _CoerceColorString(string color)
{
return !string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(color) ? color : DependencyProperty.UnsetValue;
}
private string _CoercePropertyValue(object color)
{
string value = color as string;
return value ?? "";
}
private void _Reset()
{
Button0.Reset();
Button1.Reset();
Button2.Reset();
}
}
The important thing to note is that nowhere in the above does anything try to manipulate the UI objects directly, and yet you have everything there that you'd need to maintain the state of the program as controlled by the user.
With the view models in hand, all that's left is to define the UI:
<Window x:Class="WpfApp1.MainWindow"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008"
xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006"
xmlns:l="clr-namespace:WpfApp1"
mc:Ignorable="d"
Title="MainWindow" Height="350" Width="525">
<Window.DataContext>
<l:MainViewModel/>
</Window.DataContext>
<Grid>
<StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal" HorizontalAlignment="Center">
<Button Width="66" Height="26" Background="{Binding Button0.Color}" Command="{Binding Button0.ToggleCommand}"/>
<Button Width="66" Height="26" Background="{Binding Button1.Color}" Command="{Binding Button1.ToggleCommand}"/>
<Button Width="66" Height="26" Background="{Binding Button2.Color}" Command="{Binding Button2.ToggleCommand}"/>
</StackPanel>
<Button Content="Reset" Width="75" HorizontalAlignment="Right" VerticalAlignment="Bottom" Command="{Binding ResetCommand}"/>
</Grid>
</Window>
Some things to note here:
There is no code at all in the MainWindow.xaml.cs file. It's completely unchanged from the default template, with just the parameterless constructor and the call to InitializeComponent(). By moving to an MVVM-style implementation, a lot of the internal plumbing required otherwise just goes away completely.
This code does not hard-code any UI element locations (e.g. by setting Margin values). Instead, it takes advantage of WPF's layout features to place the color buttons in a row in the middle, and to place the reset button in the lower right of the window (that way it's visible no matter what size the window is).
The MainViewModel object is set as the Window.DataContext value. This data context is inherited by any elements within the window, unless overridden by setting it explicitly, or (as you'll see in the third example) because the element is automatically generated in a different context. Binding paths are all relative to this object, of course.
Now, this would probably an okay way to go if you really did only have three buttons. But with 240, you're in for a lot of copy/paste headaches. There are a lot of reasons to follow the DRY ("don't repeat yourself") principle, including convenience and code reliability and maintainability. That all would definitely apply here.
To improve on the MVVM example above, we can do some things:
Save the settings in a collection instead of having an individual setting property for each button.
Maintain a collection of the ButtonViewModel objects instead of having an explicit property for each button.
Use an ItemsControl to present the collection of ButtonViewModel objects instead of declaring a separate Button element for every button.
To accomplish this, the view models will have to change a bit. The MainViewModel replaces the individual properties with a single Buttons property to hold all the button view model objects:
class MainViewModel : NotifyPropertyChangedBase
{
public ObservableCollection<ButtonViewModel> Buttons { get; } = new ObservableCollection<ButtonViewModel>();
public ICommand ResetCommand { get; }
public MainViewModel()
{
ResetCommand = new DelegateCommand(_Reset);
for (int i = 0; i < Settings.Default.Colors.Count; i++)
{
ButtonViewModel buttonModel = new ButtonViewModel(i) { Color = Settings.Default.Colors[i] };
Buttons.Add(buttonModel);
buttonModel.PropertyChanged += (s, e) =>
{
ButtonViewModel model = (ButtonViewModel)s;
Settings.Default.Colors[model.ButtonIndex] = model.Color;
Settings.Default.Save();
};
}
}
private void _Reset()
{
foreach (ButtonViewModel model in Buttons)
{
model.Reset();
}
}
}
You'll notice the handling of the Color property is a little different too. That's because in this example, the Color property is an actual string type instead of object, and I'm using an IValueConverter implementation to handle mapping the string value to what's needed by the XAML elements (more on that in a bit).
The new ButtonViewModel is a little different too. It has a new property, to indicate which button it is (this allows the main view model to know which element of the settings collection the button view model goes with), and the Color property handling is a little simpler, because now we're dealing only with string values, instead of the DependencyProperty.UnsetValue value as well:
class ButtonViewModel : NotifyPropertyChangedBase
{
public int ButtonIndex { get; }
private string _color;
public string Color
{
get { return _color; }
set { _UpdateField(ref _color, value); }
}
public ICommand ToggleCommand { get; }
public ButtonViewModel(int buttonIndex)
{
ButtonIndex = buttonIndex;
ToggleCommand = new DelegateCommand(_Toggle);
}
private void _Toggle()
{
Color = Color == "Green" ? "Red" : "Green";
}
public void Reset()
{
Color = null;
}
}
With our new view models, they can now be hooked up in the XAML:
<Window x:Class="WpfApp2.MainWindow"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008"
xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006"
xmlns:l="clr-namespace:WpfApp2"
mc:Ignorable="d"
Title="MainWindow" Height="350" Width="525">
<Window.DataContext>
<l:MainViewModel/>
</Window.DataContext>
<Grid>
<ItemsControl ItemsSource="{Binding Buttons}" HorizontalAlignment="Center">
<ItemsControl.ItemsPanel>
<ItemsPanelTemplate>
<StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal" IsItemsHost="True"/>
</ItemsPanelTemplate>
</ItemsControl.ItemsPanel>
<ItemsControl.Resources>
<l:ColorStringConverter x:Key="colorStringConverter1"/>
<DataTemplate DataType="{x:Type l:ButtonViewModel}">
<Button Width="66" Height="26" Command="{Binding ToggleCommand}"
Background="{Binding Color, Converter={StaticResource colorStringConverter1}, Mode=OneWay}"/>
</DataTemplate>
</ItemsControl.Resources>
</ItemsControl>
<Button Content="Reset" Width="75" HorizontalAlignment="Right" VerticalAlignment="Bottom" Command="{Binding ResetCommand}"/>
</Grid>
</Window>
As before, the main view model is declared as the Window.DataContext value. But, instead of explicitly declaring each button element explicitly, I'm using an ItemsControl element to present the buttons. It has these crucial aspects:
The ItemsSource property is bound to the Buttons collection.
The default panel used for this element would be a vertically-oriented StackPanel, so I've overridden that with a horizontally-oriented one, to achieve the same layout used in the previous examples.
I've declared an instance of my IValueConverter implementation as a resource so that it can be used in the template.
I've declared a DataTemplate as a resource, with the DataType set to the type of the ButtonViewModel. When presenting the individual ButtonViewModel objects, WPF will look in the in-scope resources for a template assigned to that type, and since I've declared one here, it will use that to present the view model object. For each ButtonViewModel object, WPF will create an instance of the content in the DataTemplate element, and will set the DataContext for the root object of that content to the view model object. And finally,
In the template, the binding uses the converter I declared earlier. This allows me to insert a little bit of C# code into the property binding, to allow me to ensure the string value is handled appropriately, i.e. when it's empty the appropriate DependencyProperty.UnsetValue is used, avoiding any runtime exceptions from the binding engine.
Here's that converter:
class ColorStringConverter : IValueConverter
{
public object Convert(object value, Type targetType, object parameter, CultureInfo culture)
{
string text = (string)value;
return !string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(text) ? text : DependencyProperty.UnsetValue;
}
public object ConvertBack(object value, Type targetType, object parameter, CultureInfo culture)
{
throw new NotImplementedException();
}
}
In this case, the ConvertBack() method is not implemented, because we'll only ever be using the binding in the OneWay mode. We just need to check the string value, and if it's null or empty (or whitespace), we return the DependencyProperty.UnsetValue instead.
Some other notes on this implementation:
The Settings.Colors property is set to type System.Collections.Specialized.StringCollection, and initialized (in the Designer) with three empty string values. The length of this collection determines how many buttons are created. You can, of course, use whatever mechanism you want to track this side of the data if you prefer something else.
With 240 buttons, simply arranging them in a horizontal row may or may not work for you (depending on how large the buttons really will be). You can use other panel objects for the ItemsPanel property; likely candidates include UniformGrid or ListView (with the GridView view), both of which can arrange the elements in an automatically spaced grid.
Since the Button elements are located in some kind of parent Panel, such as for example a StackPanel, you could iterate through its Children collection like this:
foreach(Button button in thePanel.Children.OfType<Button>())
{
//...
}
XAML:
<StackPanel x:Name="thePanel">
<Button x:Name="Button0" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Margin="197,139,0,0" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="66" Height="26" Focusable="False" Background="{Binding Source={x:Static properties:Settings.Default}, Path=Color0, Mode=TwoWay}" Click="Button0_Click" />
<Button x:Name="Button1" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Margin="131,139,0,0" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="66" Height="26" Focusable="False" Background="{Binding Source={x:Static properties:Settings.Default}, Path=Color1, Mode=TwoWay}" Click="Button1_Click" />
<Button x:Name="Button0_Copy" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Margin="563,139,0,0" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="66" Height="26" Focusable="False" Background="{Binding Color_0, Mode=TwoWay, Source={x:Static properties:Settings.Default}}" Click="Button0_Copy_Click"/>
<Button x:Name="Button1_Copy" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Margin="497,139,0,0" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="66" Height="26" Focusable="False" Background="{Binding Color_1, Mode=TwoWay, Source={x:Static properties:Settings.Default}}" Click="Button1_Copy_Click"/>
</StackPanel>

WPF bind a dynamic generated slider to function

First: Not a duplicate of Binding Button click to a method --- it's about button, and Relay command can't pass the arguments I need
Also, not a duplicate of How do you bind a Button Command to a member method? - it's a simple method with no arguments - nothing to do with my question.
Obviously (but just to make sure and avoid trolls) not a duplicate of this either Silverlight MVVM: where did my (object sender, RoutedEventArgs e) go?.
Now after clearing this (sorry, I am just really sick of being marked as "duplicate" by people who didn't understand my question), let's talk about the issue: :D
I am trying to bind a generated slider (using data template) to an event (value changed), I know it's impossible to bind an event and I must use ICommand, but I don't know how to get the event arguments to the command function, this is the xaml relevant code: (without the binding since it doesnt work)
<Slider Grid.Column="1" Grid.Row="1" Height="30" IsSnapToTickEnabled="True" Maximum="100" SmallChange="1" IsMoveToPointEnabled="True"/>
And this is the function I want it to be binded to:
public void vibrationSlider_move(object Sender, RoutedPropertyChangedEventArgs<double> e)
{
VibrationValue = (byte)e.NewValue;
SendPacket(cockpitType, (byte)Index.VibrationSlider, VibrationValue);
}
As you can see, I need to use the 'e' coming with the event, I have no idea how to reach it without using the "ValueChanged" slider event.
Notes:
Please don't tell me to add the "ValueChanged" attribute like this:
<Slider ValueChanged="VibrationSlider_move"/>
:)
It's a generated dynamic slider using DataTemplate with an observableCollection, the function isn't in the window.cs file, therefore just using an event is not possible.
Thank you.
You can use the MVVMLight Toolkit, which allows to send the EventArgs as CommandParameter to the ViewModel:
<i:Interaction.Triggers>
<i:EventTrigger EventName="ValueChanged">
<cmd:EventToCommand Command="{Binding ValueChangedCommand}" PassEventArgsToCommand="True"/>
</i:EventTrigger>
</i:Interaction.Triggers>
In your command.Execute method, you now get an object as parameter which you just have to parse to the correct type...
You could create an extension
public partial class Extensions
{
public static readonly DependencyProperty ValueChangedCommandProperty = DependencyProperty.RegisterAttached("ValueChangedCommand", typeof(ICommand), typeof(Extensions), new UIPropertyMetadata((s, e) =>
{
var element = s as Slider;
if (element != null)
{
element.ValueChanged -= OnSingleValueChanged;
if (e.NewValue != null)
{
element.ValueChanged += OnSingleValueChanged;
}
}
}));
public static ICommand GetValueChangedCommand(UIElement element)
{
return (ICommand)element.GetValue(ValueChangedCommandProperty);
}
public static void SetValueChangedCommand(UIElement element, ICommand value)
{
element.SetValue(ValueChangedCommandProperty, value);
}
private static void OnSingleValueChanged(object sender, RoutedPropertyChangedEventArgs<double> e)
{
var element = sender as Slider;
var command = element.GetValue(ValueChangedCommandProperty) as ICommand;
if (command != null && command.CanExecute(element))
{
command.Execute(element);
e.Handled = true;
}
}
}
which then can be used in xaml as below.
<Slider Minimum="0" Maximum="100" local:Extensions.ValueChangedCommand="{Binding ValueChangedCommand}"/>
As #Philip W stated, you could use e.g. MVVMLight to help dealing with MVVM pattern and with your problem at hand.
You could, for example, have a XAML with DataTemplate and Slider like so:
<Window x:Class="WpfApplication1.MainWindow"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008"
xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006"
xmlns:local="clr-namespace:WpfApplication1"
xmlns:i="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/2010/interactivity"
xmlns:command="http://www.galasoft.ch/mvvmlight"
mc:Ignorable="d"
Title="MainWindow"
Height="250"
Width="250">
<Window.Resources>
<DataTemplate x:Key="SomeTemplate">
<StackPanel Margin="15">
<!-- Wrong DataContext can drive you mad!1 -->
<StackPanel.DataContext>
<local:SomeTemplateViewModel />
</StackPanel.DataContext>
<TextBlock Text="This is some template"/>
<Slider
Height="30"
IsSnapToTickEnabled="True"
Maximum="100"
SmallChange="1"
IsMoveToPointEnabled="True">
<!-- Bind/pass event as command -->
<i:Interaction.Triggers>
<i:EventTrigger EventName="ValueChanged">
<command:EventToCommand
Command="{Binding Mode=OneWay, Path=ValueChangedCommand}"
PassEventArgsToCommand="True" />
</i:EventTrigger>
</i:Interaction.Triggers>
</Slider>
<!-- Show current value, just for sake of it... -->
<TextBlock
Text="{Binding Value}"
FontWeight="Bold"
FontSize="24">
</TextBlock>
</StackPanel>
</DataTemplate>
</Window.Resources>
<ContentControl ContentTemplate="{StaticResource SomeTemplate}" />
</Window>
So basically you bind desired event to named Command and pass EventArgs to it as parameter. Then in your ViewModel, being the DataContext of you Slider, you handle the event-passed-as-command.
public class SomeTemplateViewModel : ViewModelBase
{
private double _value;
public SomeTemplateViewModel()
{
// Create command setting Value as Slider's NewValue
ValueChangedCommand = new RelayCommand<RoutedPropertyChangedEventArgs<double>>(
args => Value = args.NewValue);
}
public ICommand ValueChangedCommand { get; set; }
public double Value
{
get { return _value; }
set { _value = value; RaisePropertyChanged(); } // Notify UI
}
}
This would give you something similar to this.
Since your slider is dynamically generated, nothing prevents you from adding your ValueChanged event at a later time:
XAML:
<Slider x:Name="slider" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Margin="10,143,0,0" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="474" Grid.ColumnSpan="2" />
Code-behind:
public MainWindow()
{
InitializeComponent();
// it is a good idea to not allow designer to execute custom code
if (DesignerProperties.GetIsInDesignMode(this))
return;
slider.ValueChanged += Slider_ValueChanged;
}
private void Slider_ValueChanged(object sender, RoutedPropertyChangedEventArgs<double> e)
{
// do your stuff here
}
Checking design mode is not simple in any context, as pointed out here.

WPF UserControl exposing properties of subcontrols for binding

I'm working on developing a custom user control for my application. This control is very simple. It's just a grid, with a checkbox in [0,0] and a TextBlock in [0,1]. I've had no issues getting it designed how I'd like in XAML.
However, the second step is giving me some trouble. I'm trying to expose the IsChecked bool? of my sub-control that is a Checkbox for binding on my mainform, and the same idea with the Text property of TextBlock.
I've tried a few different ways of going about this, but to no avail.
Here's the general code I have:
public partial class CDCheckBox : UserControl
{
public bool? IsChecked
{
get { return chk.IsChecked; }
set { chk.IsChecked = value; }
}
public string Text
{
get { return lbl.Text; }
set { lbl.Text = value; }
}
public static readonly DependencyProperty IsCheckedProperty =
DependencyProperty.Register(
"IsChecked",
typeof(bool?),
typeof(CDCheckBox),
new PropertyMetadata(default(bool?), OnItemsPropertyChanged));
public static readonly DependencyProperty TextProperty =
DependencyProperty.Register(
"Text",
typeof(string),
typeof(CDCheckBox),
new PropertyMetadata(default(string), OnItemsPropertyChanged));
/*
public event PropertyChangedEventHandler PropertyChanged;
private void OnNotify(string propName)
{
if (PropertyChanged != null)
{
PropertyChanged(this, new PropertyChangedEventArgs(propName));
}
}
*/
private static void OnItemsPropertyChanged(DependencyObject d, DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs e)
{
// AutocompleteTextBox source = d as AutocompleteTextBox;
// Do something...
//lbl.Text = e.NewValue.ToString();
}
/*
public event PropertyChangedEventHandler PropertyChanged;
private void OnNotify(string propName)
{
if (PropertyChanged != null)
{
PropertyChanged(this, new PropertyChangedEventArgs(propName));
}
}
*/
public CDCheckBox()
{
InitializeComponent();
}
}
When I run the code above, I get no errors, but my binded data doesn't show up in my TextBlock control. When I tried before I wrote the depenency properties, it gave me an error in my XAML saying "A 'Binding' cannot be set on the 'IsChecked' property of type 'CDCheckBox'. A 'Binding' can only be set on a DependencyProperty of a DependencyObject."
Interestingly however, this error does not appear in the constructor, but instead in the window_loaded method I've written. This appears to be a red herring however, as if I comment out that code, it still fails before the form can display with XAMLParse Error.
Further to my comment, you could try styling an existing control that has the property types that you need. For example, in your custom control you have a nullable Boolean property and a string property. If you repurpose a CheckBox control, it already has a nullable Boolean property (IsChecked) and an object property (Content) which can be used to hold a string.
Here's how you might restyle a CheckBox control and change its template to achieve the result you're after:
<Window x:Class="..."
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml">
<Window.Resources>
<Style x:Key="MySuperCheckboxStyle"
TargetType="{x:Type CheckBox}">
<Setter Property="Template">
<Setter.Value>
<ControlTemplate TargetType="{x:Type CheckBox}">
<Grid>
<Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<ColumnDefinition />
<ColumnDefinition />
</Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<CheckBox Grid.Column="0"
IsChecked="{TemplateBinding IsChecked}"
Content="Whatever you need here" />
<TextBlock Grid.Column="1"
Text="{TemplateBinding Content}" />
</Grid>
</ControlTemplate>
</Setter.Value>
</Setter>
</Style>
</Window.Resources>
<StackPanel>
<CheckBox IsChecked="True"
Content="Unstyled check box"
Margin="10" />
<CheckBox Style="{StaticResource MySuperCheckboxStyle}"
IsChecked="True"
Content="Styled check box"
Margin="10" />
</StackPanel>
</Window>
Key here are the TemplateBinding bindings used in the control template. These bind not to a data context like in normal data binding, but rather to properties of the control being templated.
Whenever you find yourself wanting to create a custom control in WPF it is worth exploring whether you can take an existing control and change its appearance to suit what you need, as this is often less work than creating a new control (on the flipside it's not always possible to repurpose an existing control, particularly if you need different behaviour).

UIElements inside of Wrapped RadBusyIndicator's content are null

I've got an interesting UI problem. I've got a RadBusyIndicator from Telerik wrapped inside of a UserControl (for ease of switching to the Windows busy indicator if the Telerik one still has a memory leak). When I put content into the control, if it has anything more than a ContentControl in between the opening and closing tags of the wrapper control, everything with an x:Name attribute is null in the code behind and causes an exception when the page is loaded.
Here is a likeness of the code with names removed to protect the innocent.
The xaml...
<UserControl>
<Grid x:Name="Indicator">
<telerik:RadBusyIndicator x:Name="BusyIndicator" IsBusy="{Binding Path=IsStatusBusy, Mode=TwoWay}" BusyContent="{Binding Path=WaitingContent, Mode=TwoWay}" Content="{Binding Path=UserContent, Mode=TwoWay}"/>
</Grid>
</UserControl>
And the code behind...
[ContentProperty("UserContent")]
public partial class CustomBusyIndicator : UserControl
{
public CustomBusyIndicator()
{
InitializeComponent();
Indicator.DataContext = this;
}
public UIElement UserContent
{
get { return (UIElement)GetValue(UserContentProperty); }
set { SetValue(UserContentProperty, value); }
}
private static readonly DependencyProperty UserContentProperty = DependencyProperty.Register("PageContent",
typeof(UIElement), typeof(CustomBusyIndicator), new PropertyMetadata(null));
private static readonly DependencyProperty WaitingContentProperty = DependencyProperty.Register("WaitingContent",
typeof (object), typeof (CustomBusyIndicator), new PropertyMetadata(null, OnWaitingContentChanged));
private static void OnWaitingContentChanged(DependencyObject d, DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs e)
{}
private static readonly DependencyProperty IsStatusBusyProperty = DependencyProperty.Register("IsStatusBusy",
typeof (bool), typeof (CustomBusyIndicator), new PropertyMetadata(false, OnIsStatusBusyChanged));
private static void OnIsStatusBusyChanged(DependencyObject d, DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs e)
{}
public bool IsStatusBusy
{
get { return (bool) GetValue(IsStatusBusyProperty); }
set { SetValue(IsStatusBusyProperty, value); }
}
public object WaitingContent
{
get { return GetValue(WaitingContentProperty); }
set { SetValue(WaitingContentProperty, value); }
}
}
And I'm using it like this.....
<CustomBusyIndicator IsStatus={Binding IsBusy}>
<CustomBusyIndicator.WaitingContent>
<TextBlock Text="Loading..." Foreground="Black" />
</CustomBusyIndicator.WaitingContent>
<Grid>
.
.
.
.
</Grid>
</CustomBusyIndicator>
Any ideas? Thanks in advance for your help!
Edit
I've now established that it is the x:Name that seems to be causing the issues. They are null in the code behind after InitializeComponent() is called.
You are deriving from UserControl, so what happens... let's see:
Your class inherits a public property called Content and exactly this property is the dedicated ContentProperty of the baseclass, caused by an annotation like [ContentProperty("Content")] at the baseclass level.
That's the reason why normaly everything you declare in the xaml-part of you userControl definition is showing up when loaded.
So when you see this...
<UserControl ... >
<Grid x:Name="Indicator">
<telerik:RadBusyIndicator x:Name="BusyIndicator" ... />
</Grid>
</UserControl>
it is technically the same as writing this:
<UserControl ... >
<UserControl.Content>
<Grid x:Name="Indicator">
<telerik:RadBusyIndicator x:Name="BusyIndicator" ... />
</Grid>
</UserControl.Content>
</UserControl>
That means whenever you use your UserControl somewhere in your xaml and add content the way you did...
<CustomBusyIndicator ...>
<Grid> ... </Grid>
</CustomBusyIndicator>
...you are overwriting everything that was declared inside the xaml-part of the UserControl definition (and it does not matter that you annotated another property to be the ContentProperty, this just means you set the new ContentProperty twice).
So what are your options now:
Option Number 1: Keep UserControl as your base, but use your property UserContent only explicitly
so the usage would look like this:
<CustomBusyIndicator ...>
<CustomBusyIndicator.UserContent>
<Grid> ... </Grid>
</CustomBusyIndicator.UserContent>
</CustomBusyIndicator>
Option Number 2: derive from Control or ContentControl and transform your UserControl's xaml-part into a default ControlTemplate
that way you can use it like this
<CustomBusyIndicator ...>
<Grid> ... </Grid>
</CustomBusyIndicator>
but you have to make sure your template is found when the xaml is parsed. I usually do the following:
create a ResourceDictionary CustomBusyIndicator.xaml
add an entry to themes/generic.xaml that includes the dictionary
add DefaultStyleKey = typeof(CustomBusyIndicator); to your control's constructor
add an implicit style to CustomBusyIndicator.xaml
And this has another ramification. You cannot use named elements as easily as before: you have to write an override for OnApplyTemplate and get references to those named elements via GetTemplateChild("BusyIndicator") as RadBusyIndicator;
Option Number 3: Keep UserControl as your base, and UserContent as the ContentProperty, but set the xaml-part explicitly
so the definition would look like this:
<UserControl ... >
<UserControl.Content>
<Grid x:Name="Indicator">
<telerik:RadBusyIndicator x:Name="BusyIndicator" ... />
</Grid>
</UserControl.Content>
</UserControl>

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