How can I do data binding in code with C#?

Question

I intend to use data binding between a few of my classes. In other words, I am not binding values between a model class and the UI, but to bind variables between different classes.

I have read about data binding in C# on several places, but most of them are referring to binding between Windows Form and a source object.

I am still new to C#. This is how I understand what I should do:

First, for my source object, say has a class name of DataObject. The source object has to implement a INotifyPropertyChange interface, and then trigger the event whenever the property, health, is set to change. I have no problem with this.

Now, suppose I have a target object called CharacterClass. life is a property in CharacterClass, and is also the target property that I want to bind to the source object's health property.

How can I bind the two properties together (both one-way and two-way) in code with only just the ordinary .NET framework?

A bit of background information on why I ask this question:

Just in case you think this is a duplicated question, it's not. I have searched through SE. The other questions on databinding in code are in the context of WPF or XAML, which is not for me. I have also read several articles on MSDN and it seems that I could create a Binding object, and then bind the source and target via BindingOperations.SetBinding(). However, the Binding class seems to be part of the WPF library under the namespace of System.Windows.Data.Binding. Although I am using C#, I doubt I would have the luxury to access to WPF libraries because I'm mainly using C# as only a scripting language within Unity3D. I believe I only have access to the the vanilla .Net framework. But, I am not very sure about this because I am still new to C#.

Answer 1

Though there is a lot of support for bindings that is tightly coupled with the UI framework being used, you can still easily write your own binding framework.

Here is a POC which implements one-way binding between properties of two objects.

Note: This is just one of the possible ways, a POC at best (may need fine-tuning for high performance/production scenario) and uses .Net 2.0 classes and interfaces with no dependency on any UI framework (the 'vanilla' .net framework in your words :)). Once you have understood this, you can easily extend this to support 2-way binding as well

class Program
{
    public static void Main()
    {
        Source src = new Source();
        Destination dst = new Destination(src);
        dst.Name = "Destination";
        dst.MyValue = -100;
        src.Value = 50; //changes MyValue as well
        src.Value = 45; //changes MyValue as well
        Console.ReadLine();
    }
}

//A way to provide source property to destination property 
//mapping to the binding engine. Any other way can be used as well
[AttributeUsage(AttributeTargets.Property, AllowMultiple = false)]
internal class BindToAttribute : Attribute
{
    public string PropertyName
    {
        get;
        private set;
    }

    //Allows binding of different properties to different sources
    public int SourceId
    {
        get;
        private set;
    }

    public BindToAttribute(string propertyName, int sourceId)
    {
        PropertyName = propertyName;
        SourceId = sourceId;
    }
}

//INotifyPropertyChanged, so that binding engine knows when source gets updated
internal class Source : INotifyPropertyChanged
{
    private int _value;
    public int Value
    {
        get
        {
            return _value;
        }
        set
        {
            if (_value != value)
            {
                _value = value;
                Console.WriteLine("Value is now: " + _value);
                OnPropertyChanged("Value");
            }
        }
    }

    void OnPropertyChanged(string propertyName)
    {
        var handler = PropertyChanged;
        if (handler != null)
        {
            handler(this, new PropertyChangedEventArgs(propertyName));
        }
    }

    public event PropertyChangedEventHandler PropertyChanged;
}

internal class Destination
{
    private BindingEngine<Destination> _binder;

    private int _myValue;

    [BindTo("Value", 1)]
    public int MyValue
    {
        get
        {
            return _myValue;
        }
        set
        {
            _myValue = value;
            Console.WriteLine("My Value is now: " + _myValue);
        }
    }

    //No mapping defined for this property, hence it is not bound
    private string _name;
    public string Name
    {
        get
        {
            return _name;
        }
        set
        {
            _name = value;
            Console.WriteLine("Name is now: " + _name);
        }
    }

    public Destination(Source src)
    {
        //Binder for Source no 1
        _binder = new BindingEngine<Destination>(this, src, 1);
    }
}

internal class BindingEngine<T>
{
    private readonly T _destination;
    private readonly PropertyDescriptorCollection _sourceProperties;
    private readonly Dictionary<string, PropertyDescriptor> _srcToDestMapping;

    public BindingEngine(T destination, INotifyPropertyChanged source, int srcId)
    {
        _destination = destination;

        //Get a list of destination properties
        PropertyDescriptorCollection destinationProperties = TypeDescriptor.GetProperties(destination);

        //Get a list of source properties
        _sourceProperties = TypeDescriptor.GetProperties(source);

        //This is the source property to destination property mapping
        _srcToDestMapping = new Dictionary<string, PropertyDescriptor>();

        //listen for INotifyPropertyChanged event on the source
        source.PropertyChanged += SourcePropertyChanged;

        foreach (PropertyDescriptor property in destinationProperties)
        {
            //Prepare the mapping.
            //Add those properties for which binding has been defined
            var attribute = (BindToAttribute)property.Attributes[typeof(BindToAttribute)];
            if (attribute != null && attribute.SourceId == srcId)
            {
                _srcToDestMapping[attribute.PropertyName] = property;
            }
        }
    }

    void SourcePropertyChanged(object sender, PropertyChangedEventArgs args)
    {
        if (_srcToDestMapping.ContainsKey(args.PropertyName))
        {
            //Get the destination property from mapping and update it
            _srcToDestMapping[args.PropertyName].SetValue(_destination, _sourceProperties[args.PropertyName].GetValue(sender));
        }
    }
}