WPF MVVM - How to detect if a View is "Dirty"

Question

I currently have a requirement to notify my application user if any fields have been changed/updated on a View.

For example, if the user changes a date field on the View and then tries to close the View, the application would display a message asking the user to Continue and lose changes or Cancel so that they can click the Save button.

Problem is: How do I detect that any of the data fields changed in the View?

Hope this makes sense, than you in advance, regards,

Answer 1

One approach you can take is to leverage the IChangeTracking and INotifyPropertyChanged interfaces.

If you create an abstract base class that your view models inherit from (ViewModelBase) which implements the IChangeTracking and INotifyPropertyChanged interfaces, you can have your view model base attach to notification of property changes (in effect signaling that the view model has been modified) and which will set the IsChanged property to true to indicate that the view model is 'dirty'.

Using this approach, you are relying on property change notification via data binding to track changes and would reset the change tracking after any commits are made.

In the case you described you could handle the Unloaded or Closing event of your view to inspect the DataContext; and if the DataContext implements IChangeTracking you can use the IsChanged property to determine if any unaccepted changes have been made.

Simple example:

/// <summary>
/// Provides a base class for objects that support property change notification 
/// and querying for changes and resetting of the changed status.
/// </summary>
public abstract class ViewModelBase : IChangeTracking, INotifyPropertyChanged
{
    //========================================================
    //  Constructors
    //========================================================
    #region ViewModelBase()
    /// <summary>
    /// Initializes a new instance of the <see cref="ViewModelBase"/> class.
    /// </summary>
    protected ViewModelBase()
    {
        this.PropertyChanged += new PropertyChangedEventHandler(OnNotifiedOfPropertyChanged);
    }
    #endregion

    //========================================================
    //  Private Methods
    //========================================================
    #region OnNotifiedOfPropertyChanged(object sender, PropertyChangedEventArgs e)
    /// <summary>
    /// Handles the <see cref="INotifyPropertyChanged.PropertyChanged"/> event for this object.
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="sender">The source of the event.</param>
    /// <param name="e">A <see cref="PropertyChangedEventArgs"/> that contains the event data.</param>
    private void OnNotifiedOfPropertyChanged(object sender, PropertyChangedEventArgs e)
    {
        if (e != null && !String.Equals(e.PropertyName, "IsChanged", StringComparison.Ordinal))
        {
            this.IsChanged = true;
        }
    }
    #endregion

    //========================================================
    //  IChangeTracking Implementation
    //========================================================
    #region IsChanged
    /// <summary>
    /// Gets the object's changed status.
    /// </summary>
    /// <value>
    /// <see langword="true"/> if the object’s content has changed since the last call to <see cref="AcceptChanges()"/>; otherwise, <see langword="false"/>. 
    /// The initial value is <see langword="false"/>.
    /// </value>
    public bool IsChanged
    {
        get
        {
            lock (_notifyingObjectIsChangedSyncRoot)
            {
                return _notifyingObjectIsChanged;
            }
        }

        protected set
        {
            lock (_notifyingObjectIsChangedSyncRoot)
            {
                if (!Boolean.Equals(_notifyingObjectIsChanged, value))
                {
                    _notifyingObjectIsChanged = value;

                    this.OnPropertyChanged("IsChanged");
                }
            }
        }
    }
    private bool _notifyingObjectIsChanged;
    private readonly object _notifyingObjectIsChangedSyncRoot = new Object();
    #endregion

    #region AcceptChanges()
    /// <summary>
    /// Resets the object’s state to unchanged by accepting the modifications.
    /// </summary>
    public void AcceptChanges()
    {
        this.IsChanged = false;
    }
    #endregion

    //========================================================
    //  INotifyPropertyChanged Implementation
    //========================================================
    #region PropertyChanged
    /// <summary>
    /// Occurs when a property value changes.
    /// </summary>
    public event PropertyChangedEventHandler PropertyChanged;
    #endregion

    #region OnPropertyChanged(PropertyChangedEventArgs e)
    /// <summary>
    /// Raises the <see cref="INotifyPropertyChanged.PropertyChanged"/> event.
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="e">A <see cref="PropertyChangedEventArgs"/> that provides data for the event.</param>
    protected void OnPropertyChanged(PropertyChangedEventArgs e)
    {
        var handler = this.PropertyChanged;
        if (handler != null)
        {
            handler(this, e);
        }
    }
    #endregion

    #region OnPropertyChanged(string propertyName)
    /// <summary>
    /// Raises the <see cref="INotifyPropertyChanged.PropertyChanged"/> event for the specified <paramref name="propertyName"/>.
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="propertyName">The <see cref="MemberInfo.Name"/> of the property whose value has changed.</param>
    protected void OnPropertyChanged(string propertyName)
    {
        this.OnPropertyChanged(new PropertyChangedEventArgs(propertyName));
    }
    #endregion

    #region OnPropertyChanged(params string[] propertyNames)
    /// <summary>
    /// Raises the <see cref="INotifyPropertyChanged.PropertyChanged"/> event for the specified <paramref name="propertyNames"/>.
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="propertyNames">An <see cref="Array"/> of <see cref="String"/> objects that contains the names of the properties whose values have changed.</param>
    /// <exception cref="ArgumentNullException">The <paramref name="propertyNames"/> is a <see langword="null"/> reference (Nothing in Visual Basic).</exception>
    protected void OnPropertyChanged(params string[] propertyNames)
    {
        if (propertyNames == null)
        {
            throw new ArgumentNullException("propertyNames");
        }

        foreach (var propertyName in propertyNames)
        {
            this.OnPropertyChanged(propertyName);
        }
    }
    #endregion
}

Answer 2

In MVVM a View is binded to a View-Model which in turn is binded to a Model.

The view can not be dirty, since it's changes are reflected immediately to the View-Model.

If you want changes to be applied to Model only on "OK" or "Accept",
bind View to a View-Model that doesn't apply changes to Model,
until an ApplyCommand or AcceptCommand (that you define and implement) is executed.

(The commands that the View is binded to are implemented by the View-Model.)

Example - VM:

public class MyVM : INotifyPropertyChanged
{
    public string MyText
    {
        get
        {
            return _MyText;
        }
        set
        {
            if (value == _MyText)
                return;

            _MyText = value;
            NotifyPropertyChanged("MyText");
        }
    }
    private string _MyText;

    public string MyTextTemp
    {
        get
        {
            return _MyTextTemp;
        }
        set
        {
            if (value == _MyTextTemp)
                return;

            _MyTextTemp = value;
            NotifyPropertyChanged("MyTextTemp");
            NotifyPropertyChanged("IsTextDirty");
        }
    }
    private string _MyTextTemp;

    public bool IsTextDirty
    {
        get
        {
            return MyText != MyTextTemp;
        }
    }

    public bool IsMyTextBeingEdited
    {
        get
        {
            return _IsMyTextBeingEdited;
        }
        set
        {
            if (value == _IsMyTextBeingEdited)
                return;

            _IsMyTextBeingEdited = value;

            if (!value)
            {
                MyText = MyTextTemp;
            }

            NotifyPropertyChanged("IsMyTextBeingEdited");
        }
    }
    private bool _IsMyTextBeingEdited;


    public event PropertyChangedEventHandler PropertyChanged;

    protected void NotifyPropertyChanged(string propertyName)
    {
        if (PropertyChanged != null)
            PropertyChanged(this, new PropertyChangedEventArgs(propertyName));
    }
}

Example - View:

    <Label Content="{Binding MyText}" />

    <!-- You can translate the events to commands by using a suitable framework -->
    <!-- or use code behind to update a new dependency property as in this example -->
    <TextBox
        LostFocus="TextBox_LostFocus"
        GotFocus="TextBox_GotFocus"
        Text="{Binding Path=MyTextTemp, Mode=TwoWay, UpdateSourceTrigger=PropertyChanged}"
        />

Example - view - code behind:

    public MainWindow()
    {
        InitializeComponent();

        SetBinding(IsTextBoxFocusedProperty,
            new Binding
            {
                Path = new PropertyPath("IsMyTextBeingEdited"),
                Mode = BindingMode.OneWayToSource,
            });
    }

    private void TextBox_LostFocus(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
    {
        IsTextBoxFocused = false;
    }

    private void TextBox_GotFocus(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
    {
        IsTextBoxFocused = true;
    }

    #region IsTextBoxFocused

    /// <summary>
    /// Gets or Sets IsTextBoxFocused
    /// </summary>
    public bool IsTextBoxFocused
    {
        get
        {
            return (bool)this.GetValue(IsTextBoxFocusedProperty);
        }
        set
        {
            this.SetValue(IsTextBoxFocusedProperty, value);
        }
    }

    /// <summary>
    /// The backing DependencyProperty behind IsTextBoxFocused
    /// </summary>
    public static readonly DependencyProperty IsTextBoxFocusedProperty = DependencyProperty.Register(
      "IsTextBoxFocused", typeof(bool), typeof(MainWindow), new PropertyMetadata(default(bool)));

    #endregion