Child property of an ObservableProperty is not updating - maui

Question

Something isn't right with the XAML but it's not sticking out at me.
I've been working on the layout of one of my .net Maui XAML pages. I added a collectionView when I noticed that the top data was no longer showing. The other pages are working fine.
What's weird is that the data is there and while running the app in debug mode if I highlight, shift-delete, then paste it back in the bound data appears. I also noticed if I change the {Binding EditEvent.name} by removing the "name" from EditEvent then adding it back on, the view displays the data as well.
But if I leave and navigate back in the data won't show up until I repeat the above process. It's like the viewModel isn't updating the view when the data changes. But if I force the view to update by deleting and re-pasting it will show it.
Anyone have an idea what possibly could be the issue?
I've got 2 ObservableProperties in my ViewModel:
using CommunityToolkit.Mvvm.ComponentModel;
using CommunityToolkit.Mvvm.Input;
using Newtonsoft.Json;
using SharedModels;
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Collections.ObjectModel;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
namespace MyApp.ViewModels
{
public partial class EditEventViewModel : ObservableObject
{
#region XAML page Observables
[ObservableProperty]
attEventDx editEvent;
[ObservableProperty]
ObservableCollection<groupReturn> groupsItems;
#endregion
// pass object to edit into this view
public async void SetEditEvent(attEventDx incomingEvent)
{
editEvent = incomingEvent;
//await LoadGroupsAsync();
}
...
}
And this is the view:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<ContentPage xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/dotnet/2021/maui"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2009/xaml"
x:Class="MyApp.Pages.EditEventPage"
Title="Edit Event"
xmlns:viewmodel="clr-namespace:MyApp.ViewModels"
xmlns:dm="clr-namespace:SharedModels;assembly=SharedModels"
x:DataType="viewmodel:EditEventViewModel"
NavigatedTo="ContentPage_NavigatedTo">
<VerticalStackLayout>
<Grid HorizontalOptions="Center" VerticalOptions="Start" Padding="0,40,0,0">
<Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<ColumnDefinition></ColumnDefinition>
<ColumnDefinition></ColumnDefinition>
</Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<Grid.RowDefinitions>
<RowDefinition></RowDefinition>
<RowDefinition></RowDefinition>
<RowDefinition></RowDefinition>
<RowDefinition></RowDefinition>
</Grid.RowDefinitions>
<Label Text="Event Name" VerticalOptions="Center" HorizontalOptions="Center" Grid.Column="0" Grid.Row="0"/>
<Entry Text="{Binding EditEvent.name}" WidthRequest="200" Grid.Column="1" Grid.Row="0"/>
<Label Text="Event Date" VerticalOptions="Center" HorizontalOptions="Center" Grid.Column="0" Grid.Row="1"/>
<Entry Text="{Binding EditEvent.happeningOn}" WidthRequest="200" Grid.Column="1" Grid.Row="1"/>
</Grid>
<Label Text="Selectable Groupings" VerticalOptions="Center" HorizontalOptions="Center" Padding="20"/>
<CollectionView ItemsSource="{Binding GroupsItems}" SelectionMode="None">
<CollectionView.ItemTemplate>
<DataTemplate x:DataType="dm:groupReturn">
<SwipeView>
<SwipeView.RightItems>
<SwipeItem Text="Delete" BackgroundColor="Red"/>
</SwipeView.RightItems>
<Grid Padding="0,5">
<Label Text="Groups"/>
<ScrollView>
<Frame>
<Frame.GestureRecognizers>
<TapGestureRecognizer
Command="{Binding Source={RelativeSource AncestorType={x:Type viewmodel:EditEventViewModel}}, Path=TapCommand}"
CommandParameter="{Binding .}" />
</Frame.GestureRecognizers>
<Label Text="{Binding groupName}" FontSize="20" FontAttributes="Bold"/>
</Frame>
</ScrollView>
</Grid>
</SwipeView>
</DataTemplate>
</CollectionView.ItemTemplate>
</CollectionView>
</VerticalStackLayout>
this is my xaml.cs for that page:
public partial class EditEventPage : ContentPage, IQueryAttributable
{
EditEventViewModel _vm;
attEventDx _editEvent;
public EditEventPage( EditEventViewModel vm)
{
InitializeComponent();
_vm = vm;
BindingContext = _vm;
}
public void ApplyQueryAttributes(IDictionary<string, object> query)
{
_editEvent = query["EditEvent"] as attEventDx;
}
private void ContentPage_NavigatedTo(object sender, NavigatedToEventArgs e)
{
_vm.SetEditEvent(_editEvent);
}
}
attEventDx for reference (sits in another shared project between Azure Functions and the mobile app):
namespace SharedModels
{
public class attEventDx
{
public Guid? publicId { get; set; }
public int? createdBy { get; set; }
public string name { get; set; }
public DateTime dateCreated { get; set; }
public DateTime? happeningOn { get; set; }
}
}
As I referred to this is the page that IS working:
xaml.cs:
public partial class EventPage : ContentPage
{
EventViewModel _vm;
public EventPage(EventViewModel vm)
{
InitializeComponent();
_vm = vm;
BindingContext= _vm;
}
private async void ContentPage_NavigatedTo(object sender, NavigatedToEventArgs e)
{
await _vm.LoadEventData();
}
private void ImageButton_Clicked(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
}
}
ViewModel:
public partial class EventViewModel : ObservableObject
{
#region XAML page Observables
[ObservableProperty]
ObservableCollection<attEventDx> eventItems;
[ObservableProperty]
attEventDx selectedEvent;
[ObservableProperty]
string text;
#endregion
public EventViewModel()
{
//EventItems = new ObservableCollection<attEventDx>();
}
[RelayCommand]
public async Task LoadEventData()
{
MyApp.globals.SetHttpClient();
try
{
var response = await MyApp.globals.httpClient.GetAsync(MyApp.globals.APIURL + "getEvents");
var allEvents = response.Content.ReadAsStringAsync().Result;
if (allEvents != null)
{
List<attEventDx> listOfEvents = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<List<attEventDx>>(allEvents);
if (listOfEvents != null)
{
EventItems = new ObservableCollection<attEventDx>(listOfEvents);
}
}
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
Console.WriteLine(ex.Message + "\r\b" + ex.StackTrace);
}
}
[RelayCommand]
async Task Add()
{
await Shell.Current.GoToAsync($"{nameof(AddEventPage)}");
}
[RelayCommand]
async Task Tap(attEventDx sender)
{
selectedEvent = sender;
var navigationParameter = new Dictionary<string, object>
{
["EditEvent"] = selectedEvent
};
await Shell.Current.GoToAsync($"{nameof(EditEventPage)}", navigationParameter);
}
[RelayCommand]
async Task Refresh()
{
await LoadEventData();
}
}
And the view of the working page:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<ContentPage xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/dotnet/2021/maui" xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2009/xaml"
x:Class="MyApp.EventPage"
Title="Events"
xmlns:viewmodel="clr-namespace:MyApp.ViewModels"
xmlns:dm="clr-namespace:SharedModels;assembly=SharedModels"
x:DataType="viewmodel:EventViewModel"
NavigatedTo="ContentPage_NavigatedTo">
<Grid RowDefinitions="100, Auto, 30, *"
ColumnDefinitions=".50*, .25*, .25*"
Padding="10">
<Image Grid.ColumnSpan="3"
Source="logo.png"
BackgroundColor="Transparent"/>
<ImageButton Source="plus.png" Grid.Row="0" Grid.Column="2" Scale=".7" Command="{Binding AddCommand}"></ImageButton>
<Label Text="New Event" Grid.Column="2" Grid.Row="0" HorizontalOptions="Center" VerticalOptions="End"></Label>
<!--<Entry Placeholder="Enter Text" Grid.Row="1" Text="{Binding Text}" />-->
<!--<Button Text="Search" Grid.Row="1" Grid.Column="1" />-->
<!--<Button Text="Add" Grid.Row="1" Grid.Column="2" Command="{Binding AddCommand}"/>-->
<Label Text="Upcoming Events" FontSize="22" Grid.Row="2"/>
<!--<Button Text="Refresh" Grid.Row="2" Grid.Column="2" Command="{Binding RefreshCommand}"/>-->
<CollectionView Grid.Row="3" Grid.ColumnSpan="3" ItemsSource="{Binding EventItems}" SelectionMode="None">
<CollectionView.ItemTemplate>
<DataTemplate x:DataType="dm:attEventDx">
<SwipeView>
<SwipeView.RightItems>
<SwipeItem Text="Delete" BackgroundColor="Red"/>
</SwipeView.RightItems>
<Grid Padding="0,5">
<Label Text="Event"/>
<ScrollView>
<Frame>
<Frame.GestureRecognizers>
<TapGestureRecognizer
Command="{Binding Source={RelativeSource AncestorType={x:Type viewmodel:EventViewModel}}, Path=TapCommand}"
CommandParameter="{Binding .}" />
</Frame.GestureRecognizers>
<Label Text="{Binding name}" FontSize="20" FontAttributes="Bold"/>
</Frame>
</ScrollView>
<Label Text="{Binding happeningOn}" HorizontalOptions="End" VerticalOptions="Center" Padding="0,0,5,0"></Label>
</Grid>
</SwipeView>
</DataTemplate>
</CollectionView.ItemTemplate>
</CollectionView>
</Grid>

Answer 1

Well, what ToolmakerSteve told me kind of worked, the items were initially displaying but not updating.
I then decided to build out another page in the app and do some experimenting along the way and figured out the issue.
When I created the new page by hand, I still had this issue and was doubting my sanity. I then partially copied in the page that was working and it worked! In comparing the two pages closely, I finally discovered what the problem was.
I was right, the CommunityToolkit's [ObservableProprerty] DOES work for all child items in an object; this is why I selected using this library from the start. I wasn't going crazy... (At least not on this)
This particular app was started a few months ago but then I got pulled into another project in another platform for a few months so what I had learned was partially forgotten when I picked it back up recently.
When you define a [ObservableProperty] like this:
[ObservableProperty]
myObject usedVariable;
The "usedVariable" will contain the data, but not the framework for INotifyPropertyChanged. CommunityToolkit builds out the framework on "UsedVariable".
While this code is "legal" in the ViewModel:
usedVariable = new myObject();
It will assign the data, but not the notification framework.
Instead it needs to be:
UsedVariable = new myObject();
Once the variable is defined with lowercase, you will never reference the variable that way again (as far as I can tell anyway). Instead, you will use the uppercase "UsedVariable".
When I referenced the lowercase version of the variable, I didn't see the data on the app page when it started. However, if I had the page open and I removed the XAML code for that control and pasted it back in, the data did show.
It's always something simple that causes the most grief...