Why is a button enabled if the Command binding resolves to null?

Question

OK, the XAML is quite simple and uses MVVM to bind to an ICommand SomeCommand { get; } property on a view model:

<Button Command="{Binding Path=SomeCommand}">Something</Button>

If SomeCommand returns null, the button is enabled. (Nothing to do with CanExecute(object param) method on ICommand, because there is no instance to call that method on)

And now the question: Why is the button enabled? How would you work it around?

If you press the "enabled" button, obviously nothing is called. It is just ugly that the button looks enabled.

Answer 1

My colleague found an elegant solution: using a binding fallback value!

public class NullCommand : ICommand
{
    private static readonly Lazy<NullCommand> _instance = new Lazy<NullCommand>(() => new NullCommand());

    private NullCommand()
    {
    }

    public event EventHandler CanExecuteChanged;

    public static ICommand Instance
    {
        get { return _instance.Value; }
    }

    public void Execute(object parameter)
    {
        throw new InvalidOperationException("NullCommand cannot be executed");
    }

    public bool CanExecute(object parameter)
    {
        return false;
    }
}

And then the XAML looks like:

<Button Command="{Binding Path=SomeCommand, FallbackValue={x:Static local:NullCommand.Instance}}">Something</Button>

The advantage of this solution is that it works better if you break Law of Demeter and you have some dots in the binding path, where each instance might become null.

Answer 2

It is enabled because that's the default state. Disabling it automatically would be an arbitrary measure that gives rise to other problems.

If you want to have a button without an associated command be disabled, bind the IsEnabled property to SomeCommand using an appropriate converter, e.g.:

[ValueConversion(typeof(object), typeof(bool))]
public class NullToBooleanConverter : IValueConverter
{
    public object Convert(object value, Type targetType, object parameter, CultureInfo culture)
    {
        return value !== null;
    }

    public object ConvertBack(object value, Type targetType, object parameter, CultureInfo culture)
    {
        throw new NotSupportedException();
    }
}