Develop Reference

best practice to pass parameters between open pages

I'm developing a Windows application (UWP) that has two pages, I want the best practice to pass parameters between pages.
it's my scenario:
We have two pages, each open and remain at the middle of the screen and a Button on each page, which send the message to the other page when we click on it.
I also want to pass information continuously and repeatedly.
in Page1.cs:
Page2 page2;
public Page1()
{
this.InitializeComponent();
CreatPage2();
}
// creat page 2
private async void CreatPage2()
{
var NewWindow = CoreApplication.CreateNewView();
int NewWindowid = 0;
await NewWindow.Dispatcher.RunAsync(CoreDispatcherPriority.High, () =>
{
Frame newframe = new Frame();
newframe.Navigate(typeof(Page2), this);
Window.Current.Content = newframe;
Window.Current.Activate();
ApplicationView.GetForCurrentView().Title = "page2";
NewWindowid = ApplicationView.GetForCurrentView().Id;
});
await Windows.UI.ViewManagement.ApplicationViewSwitcher.TryShowAsStandaloneAsync(NewWindowid);
}
//Button
private void ChangeP2_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
// send a message to the texblock in the page2
page2.TexBlock2.Text=$"From page1 :{e.ToString()}";
// change text color of the texblock in the page2
page2.Foreground= new SolidColorBrush(Windows.UI.Colors.Red);
}
in Page2.cs:
Page1 page1;
protected override void OnNavigatedTo(NavigationEventArgs e)
{
page1 = e.Parameter as Page1;
base.OnNavigatedTo(e);
}
public Page2()
{
this.InitializeComponent();
}
//Button
private void ChangeP1_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
// send a message to the texblock in the page1
page1.TexBlock1.Text=$"From page2 :{e.ToString()}";
// change text color of the texblock in the page1
page1.Foreground= new SolidColorBrush(Windows.UI.Colors.Red);
}
the above code just work for the page2 to the page1. (it can change the textblock of pagea).
Please help me, I can't find a solution that work on two pages

Naah… the best way is to use a standard pattern that consist of an app ViewModel class, which contains all the common app data that you want to use in the logic layer.
I always do it like this:
1) I use the MainPage automatically created as the "shell" of the app, with a property that is the AppViewModel.
The MainPage (and thus the AppViewModel) can be accessed from everywhere in the app, by setting itself as a static field in its own class.
This is the code, simpler than you think:
public sealed partial class MainPage : Page
{
public AppViewModel ViewModel { get; set; } = new AppViewModel();
public static MainPage Current { get; set; }
public MainPage()
{
this.InitializeComponent();
Current = this;
}
}
2) The AppViewModel itself is a class that must implement the INotifyPropertyChanged interface, in order to enable bindable properties and functions.
It is common, among developers, to create a base class that implements it and then derive all the classes that needs bindable properties from it.
Here it is:
public class BaseBind : INotifyPropertyChanged
{
public event PropertyChangedEventHandler PropertyChanged;
public void OnPropertyChanged([CallerMemberName] string propertyName = null) =>
PropertyChanged?.Invoke(this, new PropertyChangedEventArgs(propertyName));
protected bool SetProperty<T>(ref T storage, T value,
[CallerMemberName] String propertyName = null)
{
if (object.Equals(storage, value)) return false;
storage = value;
OnPropertyChanged(propertyName);
return true;
}
}
Then you derive AppViewModel class (and all the other model and viewmodel classes) from it… populating it with all the common properties that you need to share across pages.
I have even added a derived property, in order to show how you can share even multiple data types at once, and a function:
public class AppViewModel : BaseBind
{
public AppViewModel()
{
// ...
}
// All common app data
private string sampleCommonString;
public String SampleCommonString
{
get { return sampleCommonString; }
set { SetProperty(ref sampleCommonString, value); OnPropertyChanged(nameof(SampleDerivedProperty1)); OnPropertyChanged(nameof(SampleDerivedProperty2)); }
}
public String SampleDerivedProperty1 => "return something based on SampleCommonString";
public String SampleDerivedProperty2
{
get
{
<<evaluate SampleCommonString>>
return "Same thing as SampleDerivedProperty1, but more explicit";
}
}
// This is a property that you can use for functions and internal logic… but it CAN'T be binded
public String SampleNOTBindableProperty { get; set; }
public void SampleFunction()
{
// Insert code here.
// The function has to be with NO parameters, in order to work with simple {x:Bind} markup.
// If your function has to access some specific data, you can create a new bindable (or non) property, just as the ones above, and memorize the data there.
}
}
3) Then, in order to access all this from another Page, just create an AppViewModel field in that page, as seen below:
public sealed partial class SecondPage : Page
{
public AppViewModel ViewModel => MainPage.Current.ViewModel;
public SecondPage()
{
this.InitializeComponent();
}
}
...and you can easily bind XAML controls properties to the AppViewModel itself:
<TextBlock Text="{x:Bind ViewModel.SampleCommonString, Mode=OneWay}"/>
<Button Content="Sample content" Click="{x:Bind ViewModel.SampleFunction}"/>
(Mode=OneWay is for real-time binding, in order that the property is immediately updated even in the UI, while Mode=TwoWay is used for those properties that can be edited from the control itself, by the user, in order to interact with app logic).
Hope this helped.
Best regards and happy new year.

Changing viewmodel

I have simplified app to show my issue
When I click button, it changes Text property of ViewModel and TextBlock.Text is updated.
MainPage.xaml
<StackPanel>
<Button Click="ButtonBase_OnClick">Button to change text</Button>
<TextBlock Text="{x:Bind ViewModel.Text, Mode=OneWay}"></TextBlock>
</StackPanel>
MainPage.xaml.cs
public MainPage()
{
ViewModel = new ViewModel();
this.InitializeComponent();
}
private void ButtonBase_OnClick(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
ViewModel.Text = "x:Bind works";
}
ViewModel class has one string property (Text) and implemented INotifyPropertyChange interface.
Problem starts when ViewModel is not set in ctor (i.e. viewModel is null and changed in runtime):
public MainPage()
{
//ViewModel = new ViewModel();//this line has been removed
this.InitializeComponent();
}
private void ButtonBase_OnClick(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
ViewModel = new ViewModel();//this line has been added
ViewModel.Text = "x:Bind does not work";
}
Complited binding is not working (Text is not changed) and I could not figure out why it is so... I need to change viewModel from null (vm is null because it is waiting for some data in real app)

{x:Bind} bindings (often referred-to as compiled bindings) uses generated code to achieve its benefits. At XAML load time, {x:Bind} is converted into what you can think of as a binding object, and this object gets a value from a property on a data source. These generated code can be found in your obj folder, with names like (for C#) <view name>.g.cs.
For your code, the generated code will like following:
// Update methods for each path node used in binding steps.
private void Update_(global::UWP.BlankPage3 obj, int phase)
{
if (obj != null)
{
if ((phase & (NOT_PHASED | DATA_CHANGED | (1 << 0))) != 0)
{
this.Update_ViewModel(obj.ViewModel, phase);
}
}
}
private void Update_ViewModel(global::UWP.ViewModel obj, int phase)
{
this.bindingsTracking.UpdateChildListeners_ViewModel(obj);
if (obj != null)
{
if ((phase & (NOT_PHASED | DATA_CHANGED | (1 << 0))) != 0)
{
this.Update_ViewModel_Text(obj.Text, phase);
}
}
}
...
private global::UWP.ViewModel cache_ViewModel = null;
public void UpdateChildListeners_ViewModel(global::UWP.ViewModel obj)
{
if (obj != cache_ViewModel)
{
if (cache_ViewModel != null)
{
((global::System.ComponentModel.INotifyPropertyChanged)cache_ViewModel).PropertyChanged -= PropertyChanged_ViewModel;
cache_ViewModel = null;
}
if (obj != null)
{
cache_ViewModel = obj;
((global::System.ComponentModel.INotifyPropertyChanged)obj).PropertyChanged += PropertyChanged_ViewModel;
}
}
}
Here I just copy some method that related to your issue. From these method, you can find that before update TextBlock or PropertyChanged listeners, it will check if the ViewModel is null. If it is null, nothing will be done. So to make {x:Bind} work, we must initialize ViewModel before page loaded. And this is the reason why {x:Bind} doesn't work when you initialize ViewModel in Button.Click event.
To fix this issue, you can implement INotifyPropertyChanged interface for ViewModel like Filip said so that the generated code can be notified when ViewModel changed (from null to new ViewModel()) and update you UI.
But I think you can just initialize ViewModel in constructor. When you initialize ViewModel, you can set the properties that you are waiting for to null first like:
public MainPage()
{
ViewModel = new ViewModel() { Text = null };
this.InitializeComponent();
}
And then update these properties when your date is ready. In this way, you can do not implement INotifyPropertyChanged interface on your page.
Besides these, there is another cheaper way, you can call this.Bindings.Update(); method to force the bindings to be updated after you initialize ViewModel like following:
private void ButtonBase_OnClick(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
ViewModel = new ViewModel();
ViewModel.Text = "x:Bind does not work";
this.Bindings.Update();
}

Did you implement INotifyPropertyChanged on page like so
public sealed partial class MainPage : Page, INotifyPropertyChanged
{
private ViewModel viewModel;
public ViewModel ViewModel
{
get { return viewModel; }
set
{
viewModel = value;
PropertyChanged?.Invoke(this, new PropertyChangedEventArgs(nameof(ViewModel)));
}
}
public MainPage()
{
ViewModel = new ViewModel { };
this.InitializeComponent();
}
private void ButtonBase_OnClick(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
ViewModel = new ViewModel { };//this line has been added
ViewModel.Text = "x:Bind does not work";
}
public event PropertyChangedEventHandler PropertyChanged;
}
This works for me.

How to drive the Form events in a other class?

I desire the following:
When clickee a button on the form, I want to handle the events are another class. Thus, the form contains only controls.
It's almost like a MVC pattern: Controller I have a class, and a class RegistrarTrabajador (Model). When controller detects an event of the form, passes the task to the model.
Here the Controller class and the form:
Controller:
namespace RegistroDeUsuarios
{
public class Controller
{
private MainWindow vista;
private RegistrarTrabajador modelo;
public Controller()
{
}
public Controller(MainWindow vista, RegistrarTrabajador modelo)
{
this.vista = vista;
this.modelo = modelo;
}
public void btnRegistrar_Click(Object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
Trabajador trabajador = new Trabajador();
trabajador.setPrimerNombre(vista.txtPrimerNombre.Text);
trabajador.setSegundoNombre(vista.txtSegundoNombre.Text);
trabajador.setPrimerApellido(vista.txtPrimerApellido.Text);
trabajador.setSegundoApellido(vista.txtSegundoApellido.Text);
trabajador.setRangoTrabajador(vista.cboRangoTrabajador.SelectedItem.ToString());
trabajador.setFechaNacimiento(vista.txtFechaNacimiento.Text);
modelo.registrarTrabajador(trabajador);
}
public void btnNuevo_Click(Object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
vista.clean();
}
public void btnSalir_Click(Object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
//Application.Current.Shutdown();
}
}
}
GUI:
public partial class MainWindow : Window
{
public MainWindow()
{
InitializeComponent();
cboRangoTrabajador.Items.Add("Administrador");
cboRangoTrabajador.Items.Add("Vendedor");
cboRangoTrabajador.Items.Add("Contador");
cboRangoTrabajador.Items.Add("Tecnico Mantenimiento");
cboRangoTrabajador.Items.Add("Programador");
cboRangoTrabajador.Items.Add("Analista");
cboRangoTrabajador.SelectedIndex = 0;
}
public void setControlador(Controller controlador)
{
controlador.btnRegistrar_Click(controlador,new RoutedEventArgs());
controlador.btnNuevo_Click(controlador,new RoutedEventArgs());
controlador.btnSalir_Click(controlador,new RoutedEventArgs());
}
public void clean()
{
txtPrimerNombre.Clear();
txtSegundoNombre.Clear();
txtPrimerApellido.Clear();
txtSegundoApellido.Clear();
txtFechaNacimiento.Clear();
cboRangoTrabajador.SelectedItem = "Administrador";
txtPrimerNombre.Focus();
}
}

You don't use MVC in WPF. You use Model-View-ViewModel (MVVM)
And
you don't create or manipulate UI elements in procedural code in WPF. That's what XAML is for.
Please read about DataBinding,
things like this:
trabajador.setPrimerNombre(vista.txtPrimerNombre.Text);
trabajador.setSegundoNombre(vista.txtSegundoNombre.Text);
are horrible and should NEVER be done in WPF.
Also, your code smells like crappy java. Instead of methods like setPrimerNombre() you should really use Properties. WPF has support for two way databinding to properties, so you don't need to do all this piping manually.
To make this clear, here is a small example:
XAML:
<StackPanel>
<TextBox Text="{Binding Model.LastName}"/>
<TextBox Text="{Binding Model.FirstName}"/>
<Button Content="Registrar" Click="Registrar_Click"/>
<Button Content="Clear" Click="Clear_Click"/>
</StackPanel>
Code Behind:
public class MainWindow: Window
{
public MainViewModel ViewModel { get { return DataContext as MainViewModel; } }
public MainWindow()
{
InitializeComponent();
DataContext = new MainViewModel();
}
public void Registrar_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
ViewModel.Registrar();
}
public void Clear_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
ViewModel.Clear();
}
}
ViewModel:
public class MainViewModel: ViewModelBase //You should have some ViewModelBase implementing INotifyPropertyChanged, etc
{
private Trabajador _model;
public Trabajador Model
{
get { return _model; }
set
{
_model = value;
NotifyPropertyChange("Model");
}
}
public void Registrar()
{
DataAccessLayer.Registrar(Model);
}
public void Clear()
{
Model = new Trabajador();
}
}
Model:
public class Trabajador: ModelBase //ModelBase Should also implement INotifyPropertyChanged
{
private string _lastName;
public string LastName
{
get { return _lastName; }
set
{
_lastName = value;
NotifyPropertyChanged("LastName");
}
}
private string _firstName;
public string FirstName
{
get { return _firstName; }
set
{
_firstName = value;
NotifyPropertyChanged("FirstName");
}
}
//... And so on.
}

Not sure to have fully understand what you mean but i think you want to know what it is the best way of building a WPF application in layers.
If that's right then MVVM pattern is definitly what you are looking for. Here is a great link to understand how it works and to begin to play with it!

Implementing "close window" command with MVVM

So my first attempt did everything out of the code behind, and now I'm trying to refactor my code to use the MVVM pattern, following the guidance of the MVVM in the box information.
I've created a viewmodel class to match my view class, and I'm moving the code out of the code behind into the viewmodel starting with the commands.
My first snag is trying to implement a 'Close' button that closes the window if the data has not been modified. I've rigged up a CloseCommand to replace the 'onClick' method and all is good except for where the code tries to run this.Close(). Obviously, since the code has been moved from a window to a normal class, 'this' isn't a window and therefore isn't closeable. However, according to MVVM, the viewmodel doesn't know about the view, so i can't call view.Close().
Can someone suggest how I can close the window from the viewmodel command?

I personally use a very simple approach: for every ViewModel that is related to a closeable View, I created a base ViewModel like this following example:
public abstract class CloseableViewModel
{
public event EventHandler ClosingRequest;
protected void OnClosingRequest()
{
if (this.ClosingRequest != null)
{
this.ClosingRequest(this, EventArgs.Empty);
}
}
}
Then in your ViewModel that inherits from CloseableViewModel, simply call this.OnClosingRequest(); for the Close command.
In the view:
public class YourView
{
...
var vm = new ClosableViewModel();
this.Datacontext = vm;
vm.ClosingRequest += (sender, e) => this.Close();
}

You don't need to pass the View instance to your ViewModel layer. You can access the main window like this -
Application.Current.MainWindow.Close()
I see no issue in accessing your main window in ViewModel class as stated above. As per MVVM principle there should not be tight coupling between your View and ViewModel i.e. they should work be oblivious of others operation. Here, we are not passing anything to ViewModel from View. If you want to look for other options this might help you - Close window using MVVM

My solution to close a window from view model while clicking a button is as follows:
In view model
public RelayCommand CloseWindow;
Constructor()
{
CloseWindow = new RelayCommand(CloseWin);
}
public void CloseWin(object obj)
{
Window win = obj as Window;
win.Close();
}
In View, set as follows
<Button Command="{Binding CloseWindowCommand}" CommandParameter="{Binding ElementName=WindowNameTobeClose}" Content="Cancel" />

I do it by creating a attached property called DialogResult:
public static class DialogCloser
{
public static readonly DependencyProperty DialogResultProperty =
DependencyProperty.RegisterAttached(
"DialogResult",
typeof(bool?),
typeof(DialogCloser),
new PropertyMetadata(DialogResultChanged));
private static void DialogResultChanged(
DependencyObject d,
DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs e)
{
var window = d as Window;
if (window != null && (bool?)e.NewValue == true)
window.Close();
}
public static void SetDialogResult(Window target, bool? value)
{
target.SetValue(DialogResultProperty, value);
}
}
then write this to you XAML, in the window tag
WindowActions:DialogCloser.DialogResult="{Binding Close}"
finally in the ViewModel
private bool _close;
public bool Close
{
get { return _close; }
set
{
if (_close == value)
return;
_close = value;
NotifyPropertyChanged("Close");
}
}
if you change the Close to true, the window will be closed
Close = True;

Here is the simplest and pure MVVM solution
ViewModel Code
public class ViewModel
{
public Action CloseAction { get; set; }
private void CloseCommandFunction()
{
CloseAction();
}
}
Here is XAML View Code
public partial class DialogWindow : Window
{
public DialogWindow()
{
ViewModel vm = new ViewModel();
this.DataContext = vm;
vm.CloseAction = Close;
}
}

This solution is quick and easy. Downside is that there is some coupling between the layers.
In your viewmodel:
public class MyWindowViewModel: ViewModelBase
{
public Command.StandardCommand CloseCommand
{
get
{
return new Command.StandardCommand(Close);
}
}
public void Close()
{
foreach (System.Windows.Window window in System.Windows.Application.Current.Windows)
{
if (window.DataContext == this)
{
window.Close();
}
}
}
}

MVVM-light with a custom message notification to avoid the window to process every notificationmessage
In the viewmodel:
public class CloseDialogMessage : NotificationMessage
{
public CloseDialogMessage(object sender) : base(sender, "") { }
}
private void OnClose()
{
Messenger.Default.Send(new CloseDialogMessage(this));
}
Register the message in the window constructor:
Messenger.Default.Register<CloseDialogMessage>(this, nm =>
{
Close();
});

This is very similar to eoldre's answer. It's functionally the same in that it looks through the same Windows collection for a window that has the view model as its datacontext; but I've used a RelayCommand and some LINQ to achieve the same result.
public RelayCommand CloseCommand
{
get
{
return new RelayCommand(() => Application.Current.Windows
.Cast<Window>()
.Single(w => w.DataContext == this)
.Close());
}
}

using MVVM-light toolkit:
In the ViewModel:
public void notifyWindowToClose()
{
Messenger.Default.Send<NotificationMessage>(
new NotificationMessage(this, "CloseWindowsBoundToMe")
);
}
And in the View:
Messenger.Default.Register<NotificationMessage>(this, (nm) =>
{
if (nm.Notification == "CloseWindowsBoundToMe")
{
if (nm.Sender == this.DataContext)
this.Close();
}
});

This is taken from ken2k answer (thanks!), just adding the CloseCommand also to the base CloseableViewModel.
public class CloseableViewModel
{
public CloseableViewModel()
{
CloseCommand = new RelayCommand(this.OnClosingRequest);
}
public event EventHandler ClosingRequest;
protected void OnClosingRequest()
{
if (this.ClosingRequest != null)
{
this.ClosingRequest(this, EventArgs.Empty);
}
}
public RelayCommand CloseCommand
{
get;
private set;
}
}
Your view model, inherits it
public class MyViewModel : CloseableViewModel
Then on you view
public MyView()
{
var viewModel = new StudyDataStructureViewModel(studyId);
this.DataContext = viewModel;
//InitializeComponent(); ...
viewModel.ClosingRequest += (sender, e) => this.Close();
}

Given a way, Please check
https://stackoverflow.com/a/30546407/3659387
Short Description
Derive your ViewModel from INotifyPropertyChanged
Create a observable property CloseDialog in ViewModel, Change CloseDialog property whenever you want to close the dialog.
Attach a Handler in View for this property change
Now you are almost done. In the event handler make DialogResult = true

first of all give your window a name like
x:Name="AboutViewWindow"
on my close button I've defined Command and Command Parameter like
CommandParameter="{Binding ElementName=AboutViewWindow}"
Command="{Binding CancelCommand}"
then in my view model
private ICommand _cancelCommand;
public ICommand CancelCommand
{
get
{
if (_cancelCommand == null)
{
_cancelCommand = new DelegateCommand<Window>(
x =>
{
x?.Close();
});
}
return _cancelCommand;
}
}

Most MVVM-compliant solution using HanumanInstitute.MvvmDialogs
Implement ICloseable interface in your ViewModel and that's it!
No code in your view whatsoever.

How to bring window to front with wpf and using mvvm

I have a window that essentially runs a timer. When the timer hits 0 I want to bring the window to the front so that it is visible and not hidden behind some other application.
From what I can gather I would simply call window.activate() to accomplish this but with mvvm my view model doesn't have a reference to window.

A "purist" MVVM solution is to use a behavior. Below is a behavior for a Window with an Activated property. Setting the property to true will activate the window (and restore it if it is minimized):
public class ActivateBehavior : Behavior<Window> {
Boolean isActivated;
public static readonly DependencyProperty ActivatedProperty =
DependencyProperty.Register(
"Activated",
typeof(Boolean),
typeof(ActivateBehavior),
new PropertyMetadata(OnActivatedChanged)
);
public Boolean Activated {
get { return (Boolean) GetValue(ActivatedProperty); }
set { SetValue(ActivatedProperty, value); }
}
static void OnActivatedChanged(DependencyObject dependencyObject, DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs e) {
var behavior = (ActivateBehavior) dependencyObject;
if (!behavior.Activated || behavior.isActivated)
return;
// The Activated property is set to true but the Activated event (tracked by the
// isActivated field) hasn't been fired. Go ahead and activate the window.
if (behavior.AssociatedObject.WindowState == WindowState.Minimized)
behavior.AssociatedObject.WindowState = WindowState.Normal;
behavior.AssociatedObject.Activate();
}
protected override void OnAttached() {
AssociatedObject.Activated += OnActivated;
AssociatedObject.Deactivated += OnDeactivated;
}
protected override void OnDetaching() {
AssociatedObject.Activated -= OnActivated;
AssociatedObject.Deactivated -= OnDeactivated;
}
void OnActivated(Object sender, EventArgs eventArgs) {
this.isActivated = true;
Activated = true;
}
void OnDeactivated(Object sender, EventArgs eventArgs) {
this.isActivated = false;
Activated = false;
}
}
The behavior requires a reference to System.Windows.Interactivity.dll. Fortunately, this is now available on NuGet in the Blend.Interactivity.Wpf package.
The behavior is attached to a Window in XAML like this:
<Window ...>
<i:Interaction.Behaviors>
<Behaviors:ActivateBehavior Activated="{Binding Activated, Mode=TwoWay}"/>
</i:Interaction.Behaviors>
The view-model should expose a boolean Activated property. Setting this property to true will activate the window (unless it is already activated). As an added bonus it will also restore a minimized window.

You could go about it in a couple of ways - adding a reference to the window could work since the viewmodel is not coupled with the view but related to it, but I don't really like that approach since it pretty much does couple your view to your viewmodel - which is not really the point of MVVM
A better approach may be to have your viewmodel raise an event or a command which the view can handle. This way the view gets to decide what UI action is associated with the command/event
e.g. simply
class SomeView
{
void HandleSomeCommandOrEvent()
{
this.Activate();
}
}
Of course how you wire this up is up to you but I'd probably try and get routed commands happening
Edit: You can't really 'bind' a simple event, since it's invoked from the viewmodel.
A simple event based example is just to add the event to the viewmodel and handle it directly ... e.g. imagine the following MainWindow with a ViewModel property
public partial class MainWindow : Window
{
MainWindowViewModel ViewModel { get; set; }
public MainWindow()
{
InitializeComponent();
ViewModel = new MainWindowViewModel();
ViewModel.ShowMessage += ViewModel_ShowMessage;
this.DataContext = ViewModel;
}
void ViewModel_ShowMessage(object sender, ShowMessageEventArgs e)
{
MessageBox.Show(e.Message, "Some caption", MessageBoxButton.OK);
}
}
Then the ViewModel can just fire the event:
// The view model
public class MainWindowViewModel
{
// The button click command
public RelayCommand ButtonClickCommand { get; set; }
// The event to fire
public event EventHandler<ShowMessageEventArgs> ShowMessage;
public MainWindowViewModel()
{
ButtonClickCommand = new RelayCommand(ButtonClicked);
}
void ButtonClicked(object param)
{
// This button is wired up in the view as normal and fires the event
OnShowMessage("You clicked the button");
}
// Fire the event - it's up to the view to decide how to implement this event and show a message
void OnShowMessage(string message)
{
if (ShowMessage != null) ShowMessage(this, new ShowMessageEventArgs(message));
}
}
public class ShowMessageEventArgs : EventArgs
{
public string Message { get; private set; }
public ShowMessageEventArgs(string message)
{
Message = message;
}
}
The XAML would be:
<Button Command="{Binding ButtonClickCommand}">Click me!</Button>
So the button invokes the command, which in turn fires the event which the view (MainWindow) handles and shows a messagebox. This way the view/UI decides on the course of action based on the type of event raised. Of course it could be your timer which fired the event
You can always go down the more involved route such as some of the answers on this question...
How should the ViewModel close the form?
but to be honest, it depends if you really need it - a simple event works well - some people overcomplicate things for the sake of elegance, but at the detriment of simplicity and productivity!

I would go this way:
using GalaSoft.MvvmLight;
using GalaSoft.MvvmLight.Command;
using GalaSoft.MvvmLight.Messaging;
// View
public partial class TestActivateWindow : Window
{
public TestActivateWindow() {
InitializeComponent();
Messenger.Default.Register<ActivateWindowMsg>(this, (msg) => Activate());
}
}
// View Model
public class MainViewModel: ViewModelBase
{
ICommand _activateChildWindowCommand;
public ICommand ActivateChildWindowCommand {
get {
return _activateChildWindowCommand?? (_activateChildWindowCommand = new RelayCommand(() => {
Messenger.Default.Send(new ActivateWindowMsg());
}));
}
}
}
public class ActivateWindowMsg
{
}