Listen to changes of dependency property

Question

Is there any way to listen to changes of a DependencyProperty? I want to be notified and perform some actions when the value changes but I cannot use binding. It is a DependencyProperty of another class.

Answer 1

This method is definitely missing here:

DependencyPropertyDescriptor     .FromProperty(RadioButton.IsCheckedProperty, typeof(RadioButton))     .AddValueChanged(radioButton, (s,e) => { /* ... */ }); 

Answer 2

If it's a DependencyProperty of a separate class, the easiest way is to bind a value to it, and listen to changes on that value.

If the DP is one you're implementing in your own class, then you can register a PropertyChangedCallback when you create the DependencyProperty. You can use this to listen to changes of the property.

If you're working with a subclass, you can use OverrideMetadata to add your own PropertyChangedCallback to the DP that will get called instead of any original one.

Answer 3

I wrote this utility class:

• It gives DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs with old & new value.
• The source is stored in a weak reference in the binding.
• Not sure if exposing Binding & BindingExpression is a good idea.
• No leaks.

using System;
using System.Collections.Concurrent;
using System.Windows;
using System.Windows.Data;

public sealed class DependencyPropertyListener : DependencyObject, IDisposable
{
    private static readonly ConcurrentDictionary<DependencyProperty, PropertyPath> Cache = new ConcurrentDictionary<DependencyProperty, PropertyPath>();

    private static readonly DependencyProperty ProxyProperty = DependencyProperty.Register(
        "Proxy",
        typeof(object),
        typeof(DependencyPropertyListener),
        new PropertyMetadata(null, OnSourceChanged));

    private readonly Action<DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs> onChanged;
    private bool disposed;

    public DependencyPropertyListener(
        DependencyObject source, 
        DependencyProperty property, 
        Action<DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs> onChanged = null)
        : this(source, Cache.GetOrAdd(property, x => new PropertyPath(x)), onChanged)
    {
    }

    public DependencyPropertyListener(
        DependencyObject source, 
        PropertyPath property,
        Action<DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs> onChanged)
    {
        this.Binding = new Binding
        {
            Source = source,
            Path = property,
            Mode = BindingMode.OneWay,
        };
        this.BindingExpression = (BindingExpression)BindingOperations.SetBinding(this, ProxyProperty, this.Binding);
        this.onChanged = onChanged;
    }

    public event EventHandler<DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs> Changed;

    public BindingExpression BindingExpression { get; }

    public Binding Binding { get; }

    public DependencyObject Source => (DependencyObject)this.Binding.Source;

    public void Dispose()
    {
        if (this.disposed)
        {
            return;
        }

        this.disposed = true;
        BindingOperations.ClearBinding(this, ProxyProperty);
    }

    private static void OnSourceChanged(DependencyObject d, DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs e)
    {
        var listener = (DependencyPropertyListener)d;
        if (listener.disposed)
        {
            return;
        }

        listener.onChanged?.Invoke(e);
        listener.OnChanged(e);
    }

    private void OnChanged(DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs e)
    {
        this.Changed?.Invoke(this, e);
    }
}

---

using System;
using System.Windows;

public static class Observe
{
    public static IDisposable PropertyChanged(
        this DependencyObject source,
        DependencyProperty property,
        Action<DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs> onChanged = null)
    {
        return new DependencyPropertyListener(source, property, onChanged);
    }
}