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I have an ObservableCollection that's binded to a WPF ListView, and all the values appear correct. But how can I get a notification when something that has a 2-way binding changes?
Should I use INotifyPropertyChanged just like in Winforms? Or are there better practices to do these?
I saw some people suggesting using dependency properties online, but not sure if that's what should do.
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To implement INotifyPropertyChanged you need to declare the PropertyChanged event and create the OnPropertyChanged method. Then for each property you want change notifications for, you call OnPropertyChanged whenever the property is updated.
The INotifyPropertyChanged interface is used to notify clients, typically binding clients, that a property value has changed. For example, consider a Person object with a property called FirstName .
If you want to access a control on a wpf form from another assembly you have to use the modifier attribute x:FieldModifier="public" or use the method proposed by Jean. Save this answer.
The DataContext property is the default source of your bindings, unless you specifically declare another source, like we did in the previous chapter with the ElementName property. It's defined on the FrameworkElement class, which most UI controls, including the WPF Window, inherits from.
If the class I want to add a property is a DependencyObject, I generally add a DependencyProperty. If the class is a POCO (plain old clr objects), then I implement INotifyPropertyChanged.
In generall, all my business objects are POCOs and therefore I use INotifyPropertyChanged. In the WPF world, I mostly use DependencyObjects (view models, custom controls, UserControls...) and therefore they are DependencyProperties. An exception are ViewModels representing items (to be used as items in an items source). In this case I think DependencyProperties are not very practical (Because Equals() and GetHashCode() of DependencyObjects are sealed and DependencyObject is thread-dependent).
If your class already is a DependencyObject, using DependencyProperties may give you some nice advantages: You don't have to back every value, a powerfull inheritance system, default-values, property changed callbacks per property, value coercion ... (I like DependencyProperties probably more than other people them like :)
Conclusion:
Based on the title of your question: How to get notified when something changes in a WPF window?, my way would be to add a DependencyProperty and not a clr-property because the Window is a DependencyObject. By the way, Visual Studio has a nice Snippet to create DependencyProperties.
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There are really two scenarios:
1) Notifying the UI when a piece of data changes-either in the ViewModel or a Model that is bound to some UI elements (usually due to a data binding). In this scenario you'd use INotifyPropertyChanged.
Example: you have a Person object that binds it's Name to a TextBox. Person needs to implement INotifyPropertyChanged and the appropriate code needs to be attached to the Name Property's setter.
2) Creating custom UI elements where you'd want data to be bound. In this case, you'd use custom dependency properties.
Example: you have a custom UI element that spins when a certain condition is met. So you create an IsSpinning dependency property that you can bind to your ViewModel's IsLoading property. The custom control then uses the IsSpinning property to modify its behavior.
I hope that was clear...
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You are right. You can use INotifyPropertyChanged or you can implement dependency properties. Personally I prefer INotifyPropertyChanged, it's more light and easyer to implement than dependency property.
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