How to Bind to CaretIndex aka curser position of an Textbox

Question

Hi I'm trying to bind to the TextBox.CaretIndex property which isn't a DependencyProperty, so I created a Behavior, but it doesn't work as expected.

Expectation (when focused)

• default = 0
• if I change the value in my view it should change the value in my viewmodel
• if I change the value in my viewmodel it should change the value in my view

Current behavior

• viewmodel value gets called ones when the window opens

Code-behind

public class TextBoxBehavior : DependencyObject
{
    public static readonly DependencyProperty CursorPositionProperty =
        DependencyProperty.Register(
            "CursorPosition",
            typeof(int),
            typeof(TextBoxBehavior),
            new FrameworkPropertyMetadata(
                default(int),
                new PropertyChangedCallback(CursorPositionChanged)));

    public static void SetCursorPosition(DependencyObject dependencyObject, int i)
    {
        // breakpoint get never called
        dependencyObject.SetValue(CursorPositionProperty, i); 
    }

    public static int GetCursorPosition(DependencyObject dependencyObject)
    {
        // breakpoint get never called
        return (int)dependencyObject.GetValue(CursorPositionProperty);
    }

    private static void CursorPositionChanged(
        DependencyObject dependencyObject, DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs e)
    {
        // breakpoint get never called
        //var textBox = dependencyObject as TextBox;
        //if (textBox == null) return;
    }
}

XAML

<TextBox Text="{Binding TextTemplate,UpdateSourceTrigger=PropertyChanged}"
         local:TextBoxBehavior.CursorPosition="{Binding CursorPosition}"/>

Further Information

I think there is something really wrong here because I need to derive it from DependencyObject which was never needed before, because CursorPositionProperty is already a DependencyProperty, so this should be enough. I also think I need to use some events in my Behavior to set my CursorPositionProperty correctly, but I don't know which.

Answer 1

After fighting with my Behavior i can present you a 99% working solution

Behavior

using System.Windows;
using System.Windows.Controls;
using System.Windows.Data;

namespace WpfMVVMTextBoxCursorPosition
{
    public class TextBoxCursorPositionBehavior : DependencyObject
    {
        public static void SetCursorPosition(DependencyObject dependencyObject, int i)
        {
            dependencyObject.SetValue(CursorPositionProperty, i);
        }

        public static int GetCursorPosition(DependencyObject dependencyObject)
        {
            return (int)dependencyObject.GetValue(CursorPositionProperty);
        }

        public static readonly DependencyProperty CursorPositionProperty =
                                           DependencyProperty.Register("CursorPosition"
                                                                       , typeof(int)
                                                                       , typeof(TextBoxCursorPositionBehavior)
                                                                       , new FrameworkPropertyMetadata(default(int))
                                                                       {
                                                                           BindsTwoWayByDefault = true
                                                                           ,DefaultUpdateSourceTrigger = UpdateSourceTrigger.PropertyChanged
                                                                       }
                                                                       );

        public static readonly DependencyProperty TrackCaretIndexProperty =
                                                    DependencyProperty.RegisterAttached(
                                                        "TrackCaretIndex",
                                                        typeof(bool),
                                                        typeof(TextBoxCursorPositionBehavior),
                                                        new UIPropertyMetadata(false
                                                                                , OnTrackCaretIndex));

        public static void SetTrackCaretIndex(DependencyObject dependencyObject, bool i)
        {
            dependencyObject.SetValue(TrackCaretIndexProperty, i);
        }

        public static bool GetTrackCaretIndex(DependencyObject dependencyObject)
        {
            return (bool)dependencyObject.GetValue(TrackCaretIndexProperty);
        }

        private static void OnTrackCaretIndex(DependencyObject dependency, DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs e)
        {
            var textbox = dependency as TextBox;

            if (textbox == null)
                return;
            bool oldValue = (bool)e.OldValue;
            bool newValue = (bool)e.NewValue;

            if (!oldValue && newValue) // If changed from false to true
            {
                textbox.SelectionChanged += OnSelectionChanged;
            }
            else if (oldValue && !newValue) // If changed from true to false
            {
                textbox.SelectionChanged -= OnSelectionChanged;
            }
        }

        private static void OnSelectionChanged(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
        {
            var textbox = sender as TextBox;

            if (textbox != null)
                SetCursorPosition(textbox, textbox.CaretIndex); // dies line does nothing
        }
    }
}

XAML

    <TextBox Height="50" VerticalAlignment="Top"
             Name="TestTextBox"
             Text="{Binding MyText}"
             vm:TextBoxCursorPositionBehavior.TrackCaretIndex="True"
             vm:TextBoxCursorPositionBehavior.CursorPosition="{Binding CursorPosition,Mode=TwoWay}"/>

    <TextBlock Height="50" Text="{Binding CursorPosition}"/>

there is just on thing i don't know why it doesn't work => BindsTwoWayByDefault = true. it has no effect on the binding as far as i can tell you because of this i need to set the binding mode explicit in XAML

Answer 2

I encountered a similar problem, and the easiest solution for me was to inherit from TextBox and add a DependencyProperty. So it looks like this:

namespace UI.Controls
{
    public class MyTextBox : TextBox
    {
        public static readonly DependencyProperty CaretPositionProperty =
            DependencyProperty.Register("CaretPosition", typeof(int), typeof(MyTextBox),
                new FrameworkPropertyMetadata(0, FrameworkPropertyMetadataOptions.BindsTwoWayByDefault, OnCaretPositionChanged));

        public int CaretPosition
        {
            get { return (int)GetValue(CaretPositionProperty); }
            set { SetValue(CaretPositionProperty, value); }
        }

        public MyTextBox()
        {
            SelectionChanged += (s, e) => CaretPosition = CaretIndex;
        }

        private static void OnCaretPositionChanged(DependencyObject d, DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs e)
        {
            (d as MyTextBox).CaretIndex = (int)e.NewValue;
        }
    }
}

... and in my XAML:

xmlns:controls="clr-namespace:IU.Controls"
...
<controls:MyTextBox CaretPosition="{Binding CaretPosition}"/>

... and CaretPosition property in the View Model of course. If you're not going to bind your View Model to other text-editing controls, this may be sufficient, if yes - you'll probably need another solution.