I have a WPF application that displays a window with various information in it. In my code I create an instance of a custom class that I created which reads information from RFID card reader. To keep it simple - every now and then someone would swipe their card using the card reader which would generate a string that I successfully capture using my custom class.
The problem that I have is that I need to return that value to the window application so that I can update the information displayed in the window based on the value read. This is not as simple as calling a function in the custom class and returning a value as I don't know when exactly someone would swipe their card.
One solution that I could think of was to make a timer and pool the custom class every second or so to check if someone swiped their card, however, I don't think that's an effective solution.
Since I'm relatively new to WPF I'm assuming that the right way to do it is using INotifyProperyChanged but I'm unsure how to do it. Open to any other suggestions as well, thank you!
Create an event on your CardReader class that you can listen to on your ViewModel.
class CardInfo
{
public string CardDetails { get; set; }
}
class CardSwipedEventArgs
: EventArgs
{
public CardInfo SwipedCard { get; set; }
}
interface ICardReader
{
event EventHandler<CardSwipedEventArgs> CardSwiped;
}
class MyViewModel : INotifyPropertyChanged
{
private ICardReader _cardReader;
private string _lastCardSwiped;
public ICardReader CardReader
{
get
{
return _cardReader;
}
set
{
_cardReader = value;
_cardReader.CardSwiped += OnCardSwiped;
}
}
private void OnCardSwiped(object sender, CardSwipedEventArgs e)
{
LastCardSwiped = e.SwipedCard.CardDetails;
}
public string LastCardSwiped
{
get
{
return _lastCardSwiped;
}
set
{
_lastCardSwiped = value;
this.OnPropertyChanged("LastCardSwiped");
}
}
public event PropertyChangedEventHandler PropertyChanged;
protected virtual void OnPropertyChanged(string propertyName)
{
PropertyChangedEventHandler handler = this.PropertyChanged;
if (handler != null)
{
handler(this, new PropertyChangedEventArgs(propertyName));
}
}
}
Thank you all for your posts. Using events was definitely the way but it wasn't easy to understand how they worked. Your feedback definitely helped but this article helped me understand how events worked best and how to implement them so I could deal with the issue successfully:
http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/9355/Creating-advanced-C-custom-events
Create an event on the class that reads the data from RFID.
public class CardSweepedEventArgs : EventArgs {
private readonly string _data;
public string Data { get { return _data; } }
public CardSweepedEventArgs(string data) {
_data = data;
}
}
public class YourReadinClass {
public EventHandler<CardSweepedEventArgs> CardSweeped;
// rest of logic.
}
In your class then subscribe to the event and do the necessary.
Related
I don't understand why when I update a object, my bound controls do not update.
The data displays fine initially, but when I want to refresh the data displayed in the UI nothing happens when I update the object. The object updates fine. The ViewModel does use INotifyPropertyChanged on all fields.
However if I update individual items directly, I can update my UI. As commented below.
I guess I've made a school boy error somewhere here?
UPDATE: I've added the model to the question. While I understand the answers, I don't understand how to implement it. Attempted to implement a collection changed event without success. Can I have some pointers please?
public partial class CisArrivalsPanel : UserControl
{
private ApiDataArrivalsDepartures _theArrivalsDepartures;
public CisArrivalsPanel()
{
InitializeComponent();
_theArrivalsDepartures = new ApiDataArrivalsDepartures();
_theArrivalsDepartures = MakeQuery.LiveTrainArrivals("London Kings Cross");
this.DataContext = _theArrivalsDepartures;
ListBoxArr.ItemsSource = _theArrivalsDepartures.StationMovementList;
}
void Reload()
{
//This does not update the UI**
_theArrivalsDepartures = MakeQuery.LiveTrainArrivals("London Paddington");
//However this (when uncommented, and I comment out the above line) does update the UI**
//_theArrivalsDepartures.StationMovementList[0].OriginName = "test";
//_theArrivalsDepartures.StationMovementList[0].Platform = "0";
//_theArrivalsDepartures.StationMovementList[0].BestArrivalEstimateMins = "999";
//_theArrivalsDepartures.StationName = "test";
}
private void StationHeader_OnPreviewMouseDown(object sender, MouseButtonEventArgs e)
{
Reload();
Debug.WriteLine(_theArrivalsDepartures.StationName);
foreach (var a in _theArrivalsDepartures.StationMovementList)
{
Debug.WriteLine(a.OriginName);
Debug.WriteLine(a.BestArrivalEstimateMins);
}
}
}
EDIT : Added Model
public class ApiDataArrivalsDepartures : INotifyPropertyChanged
{
private string _stationName;
[JsonProperty(PropertyName = "station_name")]
public string StationName {
get
{
return _stationName;
}
set
{
_stationName = value;
NotifyPropertyChanged("StationName");
}
}
private List<StationListOfMovements> _stationMovementList;
public List<StationListOfMovements> StationMovementList
{
get
{
return _stationMovementList;
}
set
{
_stationMovementList = value;
NotifyPropertyChanged("StationMovementList");
}
}
public event PropertyChangedEventHandler PropertyChanged;
private void NotifyPropertyChanged(string property)
{
if (PropertyChanged != null)
{
PropertyChanged(this, new PropertyChangedEventArgs(property));
}
}
}
public class StationListOfMovements : INotifyPropertyChanged
{
private string _originName;
[JsonProperty(PropertyName = "origin_name")]
public string OriginName {
get
{
return _originName;
}
set
{
_originName = value;
NotifyPropertyChanged("OriginName");
}
}
[JsonProperty(PropertyName = "destination_name")]
public string DestinationName { get; set; }
private string _platform;
[JsonProperty(PropertyName = "Platform")]
public string Platform {
get
{
return _platform;
}
set
{
_platform = value;
NotifyPropertyChanged("Platform");
}
}
private string _bestArrivalEstimateMins;
[JsonProperty(PropertyName = "best_arrival_estimate_mins")]
public string BestArrivalEstimateMins {
get
{
return _bestArrivalEstimateMins;
}
set
{
_bestArrivalEstimateMins = value;
NotifyPropertyChanged("BestArrivalEstimateMins");
}
}
public event PropertyChangedEventHandler PropertyChanged;
private void NotifyPropertyChanged(string property)
{
if (PropertyChanged != null)
{
PropertyChanged(this, new PropertyChangedEventArgs(property));
}
}
}
There are two pieces here pertaining to your collection (technically three):
If you want a new collection to propagate, the collection property has to raise PropertyChanged (sounds like it does)
If you want add/remove on the collection to propagate, you need to use a collection that implements INotifyCollectionChanged. ObservableCollection is a good choice.
If you want changes to the items in the container to propagate, then those items need to implement INotifyPropertyChanged and raise the PropertyChanged event.
Make sure all those are covered, and the changes should appear on the UI as you expect.
You should update the DataContext and ItemsSource too.
void Reload()
{
//This does not update the UI**
_theArrivalsDepartures = MakeQuery.LiveTrainArrivals("London Paddington");
DataContext = theArrivalsDepartures;
ListBoxArr.ItemsSource = _theArrivalsDepartures.StationMovementList;
}
Use for the collection ObservableCollection , this class notify the ui when change to the collection occurred
your reload function works because the there is PropertyChanged on all the fields include this one
it notify the ui and reload the correct collection
I'm using a BindingSource to connect a single large data-structure to numerous controls (no SQL, just one data-structure, lots of controls). Old-style Windows Forms application, Visual Studio 2012 Express. I have managed to wrap numerous GUI components with properties to work around the lack of direct support for control binding of things like radio button groups, multi-select listboxes, the title bar, etc. All this works great, updates flow nicely in both directions between the GUI and the data-structure.
I need to track if any changes to the data-structure have been made via any control on the GUI, but I can't see how to do this (I did look at previous related questions here)... This is needed to provide a simple indication of "changes made but not saved", with an asterisk in the title bar and a warning if the user tries to exit the application without saving changes.
Thanks in advance for any help !
You'll have to implement the INotifyPropertyChanged interface from within your object classes, then catch whenever a change occurs through proper event handlers for your type class within your DataSource BindingSource property.
Here's an example:
using System;
using System.ComponentModel;
namespace ConsoleApplication1
{
internal class Program
{
class Notifications
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
var daveNadler = new Person {Name = "Dave"};
daveNadler.PropertyChanged += PersonChanged;
}
static void PersonChanged(object sender, PropertyChangedEventArgs e)
{
Console.WriteLine("Something changed!");
Console.WriteLine(e.PropertyName);
}
}
}
public class Person : INotifyPropertyChanged
{
private string _name = string.Empty;
private string _lastName = string.Empty;
private string _address = string.Empty;
public string Name
{
get { return this._name; }
set
{
this._name = value;
NotifyPropertyChanged("Name");
}
}
public string LastName
{
get { return this._lastName; }
set
{
this._lastName = value;
NotifyPropertyChanged("LastName");
}
}
public string Address
{
get { return this._address; }
set
{
this._address = value;
NotifyPropertyChanged("Address");
}
}
public event PropertyChangedEventHandler PropertyChanged;
private void NotifyPropertyChanged(string info)
{
if (PropertyChanged != null)
{
PropertyChanged(this, new PropertyChangedEventArgs(info));
}
}
}
}
I would like to notify a program immediately when there is a change in a bool variable that is a public variable of an object. For example;
say, an instance of class conn is created within a windows form application.
there is a Ready variable, a public variable of the class conn is present.
I would like to get notified whenever there is a change in this variable.
I did a quick research to solve this problem within stackoverflow but the answers suggested the use of property, which, I think is not suitable for my application.
I will assume you are referring to a field when you say public variable.
With few exceptions, it is preferable to not have public fields in C# classes, but rather private fields with public accessors:
class BadClass
{
public int Value; // <- NOT preferred
}
class GoodClass
{
private int value;
public int Value
{
get { return this.value; }
set { this.value = value; }
}
}
One of the reasons to structure your code this way is so you can do more than one thing in the property's getter and setters. An example that applies to your scenario is property change notification:
class GoodClass : INotifyPropertyChanged
{
private int value;
public int Value
{
get { return this.value; }
set
{
this.value = value;
this.OnPropertyChanged("Value");
}
}
public event PropertyChangedEventHandler PropertyChanged;
private void OnPropertyChanged(string name)
{
if (this.PropertyChanged != null)
{
this.PropertyChanged(this, new PropertyChangedEventArgs(name);
}
}
}
If you were to implement your class like this, you could use it this way:
void SomeMethod()
{
var instance = new GoodClass();
instance.PropertyChanged += this.OnPropertyChanged;
}
void OnPropertyChanged(object sender, PropertyChangedEventArgs e)
{
if (e.PropertyName == "Value")
{
// Do something here.
}
}
If you change the Value property, not only will it change the value of the underlying field, but it will also raise the PropertyChanged event, and call your event handler.
You want to use the Observer pattern for this. The most straight forward way to do this in .NET is the event system. In the class conn, create an event:
public event EventHandler ReadyChanged;
and then when you create an instance of conn, subscribe to that event:
o.ReadyChanged += (s, e) =>
{
// do something
}
and then finally, when the flag changes in conn, fire the event via a new method named OnReadyChanged:
protected virtual void OnReadyChanged()
{
if (ReadyChanged != null) { ReadyChanged(this, new EventArgs()); }
}
I'm writing a simple tool for troubleshooting computers. Basically its just a WPF Window with a ListBox bound to an ObservableCollection<ComputerEntry> where ComputerEntry is a simple class containing the computer host name, and Status. All the tool does is ping each compute name in the list, and if a response is received ComputerEntry.Status is updated to indicate the computer is connected to the network somewhere...
Pinging however can take some time, up to a couple seconds per computer depending on if it has to timeout or not. So I'm running the actual ping in a BackgroundWorker and using the ReportProgress method to update the UI.
Unfortunately the ObservableCollection does not seem raise the PropertyChanged event after the objects are updated. The collection does update with the new information, but the status never changes in the ListBox. Presumably because it does not know that the collection has changed.
[EDIT]
Per fantasticfix, the key here is: "The ObservableCollection fires just when the list gets changed (added, exchanged, removed)." Since I was setting the properties of the object instead of modifying it, the ObservableCollection was not notifying the list of the change -- it didn't know how. After implenting INotifyPropertyChanged everything works fine. Conversly, replacing the object in the list with a new updated instance will also fix the problem.
[/EDIT]
Btw I'm using C# 3.5 and I'm not in a position where I can add additional dependancies like TPL.
So as a simplified example [that won't compile without more work...]:
//Real one does more but hey its an example...
public class ComputerEntry
{
public string ComputerName { get; private set; }
public string Status { get; set; }
public ComputerEntr(string ComputerName)
{
this.ComptuerName = ComputerName;
}
}
//...*In Window Code*...
private ObservableCollection<ComputerEntry> ComputerList { get; set; }
private BackgroundWorker RefreshWorker;
private void Init()
{
RefreshWorker = new BackgroundWorker();
RefreshWorker.WorkerReportsProgress = true;
RefreshWorker.DoWork += new DoWorkEventHandler(RefreshWorker_DoWork);
RefreshWorker.ProgressChanged += new ProgressChangedEventHandler(RefreshWorker_ProgressChanged);
}
private void Refresh()
{
RefreshWorker.RunWorkerAsync(this.ComputerList);
}
private void RefreshWorker_DoWork(object sender, DoWorkEventArgs e)
{
List<ComputerEntry> compList = e as List<ComputerEntry>;
foreach(ComputerEntry o in compList)
{
ComputerEntry updatedValue = new ComputerEntry();
updatedValue.Status = IndicatorHelpers.PingTarget(o.ComputerName);
(sender as BackgroundWorker).ReportProgress(0, value);
}
}
private void RefreshWorker_ProgressChanged(object sender, ProgressChangedEventArgs e)
{
ComputerEntry updatedValue = new ComputerEntry();
if(e.UserState != null)
{
updatedValue = (ComputerEntry)e.UserState;
foreach(ComputerEntry o in this.ComputerList)
{
if (o.ComputerName == updatedValue.ComputerName)
{
o.Status = updatedValue.Status;
}
}
}
}
Sorry for the jumble but its rather long with all the support code. Anyways, void Refresh() is called from a DispatcherTimer (which isn't shown), that starts RefreshWorker.RunWorkerAsync(this.ComputerList);.
I've been fighting this for a few days so I'm now to the point where I'm not actually attempting to modify the objects referenced in the ObservableCollection directly anymore. Hence the ugly looping through the ComputerList collection and setting the properties directly.
Any idea whats going on here and how I can fix it?
The observableCollection wont fire when you change properties of items which are inside of the collection (how should it even know that). The ObservableCollection fires just when the list gets changed (added, exchanged, removed).
If you want to detect the changes of the properties of the ComputerEntry the class has to Implement the INotifyPropertyChange interface (if you know MVVM, its like a lightweight MVVM pattern)
public class ComputerEntry : INotifyPropertyChanged
{
#region INotifyPropertyChanged Members
public event PropertyChangedEventHandler PropertyChanged;
#endregion
private void RaisePropertyChanged(String propertyName)
{
if (this.PropertyChanged != null)
{
this.PropertyChanged(this, new PropertyChangedEventArgs(propertyName));
}
}
private String _ComputerName;
public String ComputerName
{
get
{
return _ComputerName;
}
set
{
if (_ComputerName != value)
{
_ComputerName = value;
this.RaisePropertyChanged("ComputerName");
}
}
}
}
Haven't used this in a long time, but don't you need something like INotifyPropertyChanged implemented?
I was wondering if I can use automatic properties and still be able to fire events on property changed. Here are my current classes. (The actual User class got way more properties/fields of course).
public delegate void UserEventHandler(object sender, EventArgs e);
public class User
{
public event UserEventHandler Changed;
private string _UserName;
public string UserName
{
get
{
return _UserName;
}
private set
{
_UserName = value;
this.OnChanged(EventArgs.Empty);
}
}
protected void OnChanged(EventArgs e)
{
if (Changed != null)
{
Changed(this, e);
}
}
}
So I was wondering if there is a way I could take advantage of the automatic properties and still be able to fire the OnChanged events.
In other words : Are semi-automatic properties possible?
You can use PostSharp.
Example
Very late to the party, but this question still appears on google.
There's a package which works in much the same way as the PostSharp example, but is free: Fody.Propertychanged.
The project's README, and the wiki pages it links to, do a very good job of explaining it.
I modified your code a little for the event can be accessed and using the ready made EventHandler.
public class User
{
public event EventHandler AgeChanged;
private string _UserName;
public string UserName
{
get
{
return _UserName;
}
set
{
_UserName = value;
this.OnAgeChanged(this,EventArgs.Empty);
}
}
protected virtual void OnAgeChanged(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
if (AgeChanged != null)
{
AgeChanged(sender, e);
}
}
}
How to Set Events:
var user = new User();
//subscribe to events
user.AgeChanged+= (s,e) => Console.WriteLine("UserNamed changed to {0}",user.UserName);
//modify UserName and now event is fired
user.UserName="Jack";
see a working demo