Binding a WPF ShortCut Key to a Command in the ViewModel

Question

I have a WPF app that is using the MVVM pattern. Hooking up buttons to the VM is pretty straight forward since they implement the ICommand. I have a context menu that works similar. The next step is to create shortcut keys for the context menu. I can't figure out how to get the shortcut key invoke the Command. Here is an example:

<MenuItem Header="Update" Command="{Binding btnUpdate}" >     <MenuItem.Icon>         <Image Source="/Images/Update.png"                Width="16"                Height="16" />         </MenuItem.Icon>     </MenuItem> 

now I've added this:

<Window.InputBindings>     <KeyBinding Key="U"                 Modifiers="Control"                  Command="{Binding btnUpdate}" /> </Window.InputBindings> 

to try and connect the shortcut keys to the same binding, but this doesn't work. The error is:

Error 169 A 'Binding' cannot be set on the 'Command' property of type 'KeyBinding'. A 'Binding' can only be set on a DependencyProperty of a DependencyObject.

Isn't there a way to hook up this event to the Command? I can't figure this out.

thanks in advance!

Bill

Answer 1

The following code can be used to bind a shortcut key directly to a command:

<Window.InputBindings>     <KeyBinding Command="{Binding Path=NameOfYourCommand}"                  Key="O"                  Modifiers="Control"/> </Window.InputBindings> 

Add this after Window.Resources in the XAML code of your view.