I am currently implementing an Eclipse-Plugin which is using the standard properties view, connected to a Navigator. It also features a textual editor, which is able to connect regions within its' document to certain objects that can supply properties to the PropertiesView (i.e. the same objects, that are displayed in the Navigator).
However, the Tuturials I found only dealt with Views that used a pre-implemented Viewer, which already supported passing on the selected element to the Properties View.
The TextEditor does not do that (I am using jface and a subclass of the AbstractTextEditor class), because it's SelectionProvider returns informations about the offset and the length of the selection only.
How do I have to modify the SelectionProvider of my TextEditor, such that it provides information usable to the Properties View?
Thank you in advance
Okay, I have managed to find the solution myself.
First of all, I had to implement the getAdapter() method in my subclass of TextEditor such that it returns an Adapter for IPropertySourceProvider, that can deal with the type of elements that are selected in my AbstractTextEditor.
Then, I implemented an ISelection that extended TextSelection, in order to not interfere with any selection-specific mechanism supplied by the AbstractTextEditor, and implements the interface IStructuredSelection, because the Properties View works with this interface of ISelection only.
An IStructuredSelection features basic methods of an array, however, in my case it is only possible to ever select only a single element, so implementation of these methods were trivial.
The last step was to get my ISelection to the right place. Overwriting the getSelection()-method of the ISelectionProvider of the AbstractTextEditor did not suffice, because obviously, the methods of firing SelectionChangedEvents does not use this method.
Thus, instead of using a standard SourceViewer, I used my own implementation in which I basically overrid the methods fireSelectionChanged(int offset, int length) and firePostSelectionChanged(int offset, int lenght), such that they use events containing my ISelection.
The rest is implementing the handling of my Objects in the Adapter for IPropertySourceProvider in a way that it returns an IPropertySource for the given Object, as it is shown in various tutorials.
Related
How many instance does binding creates internally for converters.
<Image x:Uid="DisplayedImageUrl" Style="{StaticResource ImageStyle}"
Source="{Binding DisplayedImageURL, Converter={StaticResource ImageLogoConverter}}" />
How many instance does of ImageLogoConverter will be there?
Is it good idea to use converter in ViewModel, if not then what is the best way to access converted value of ViewModel property.
Is it good idea to use converter in ViewModel?
No. Why would you use a converter in a view model where you can return the converted value directly? Converters are used in the view, typically to convert a non-view friendly value that the view model returns.
If not then what is the best way to access converted value of ViewModel property?
You can simpy return an already converted value from the view model, i.e. instead of binding to a Uri property, you may bind directly to an ImageSource property.
This is the recommnded approach if you for example intend to display a lot of elements in a ItemsControl. Then you probably don't want to invoke a converter for each visible element for performance reasons.
I suppose you created the converter as a resource like this:
The number of instances now depends on the scope where the converter resource is declared. If you create it in <Page.Resources>, one instance will be created to be used by the page. If you create it in App.xaml in <Application.Resources> it will be an application-wide instance. Of course, you can even use a narrower scope - create it as a resource of a single control in your XAML tree for example - in any case, a single instance is created when instance of the parent is created.
The situation gets a bit more interesting if you embed it in a ItemTemplate of a list control. Thanks to virtualization, the system will not actually create one instance for each item. Instead, it will create only so many instances as fit on the screen and they get reused when the user scrolls.
Some MVVM developers don't like value converters, but others use them extensively. It really is a matter of preference. In cas you expect the underlying data to change often, it is advisable to keep the code in the converter as performant as possible as it runs on the UI thread.
I've edited the question to make what I want to obtain clearer.
Here's the original question:
I'm working on a class that inherits from Control which will be used in my View and includes some Dependency Properties.
One of these DPs is an IEnumerable(Of RfidTag) and will be bound to an ObservableCollection(Of RfidTag) inside the VM.
The class RfidTag is defined as public class in the same file where the VM's class resides.
The questions are:
1. is it a good practice to expose a VM-related class to a Control class?
2. is the VM source file a good place for the RfidTag class?
UPDATE 1
In my application logic (I think I could say in my Model) there is an event published throught an Eventaggregator. The event's payload is a List of ModelRfidTag (that is the model class).
My VM subscribes to this event and I made the RfidTag class to wrap my Model class and provides some additional properties related only to the VM.
When the event handler inside the VM is executed, it makes an ObservableCollection(Of RfidTag) bindable from the view.
Then in the View I've a bounch of my control instances like that
<c:RfidTagPresenter
TagPosition="1"
Collection="{Binding RfidTagList, Mode=OneWay}" />
Then in my RfidTagPresenter (the class that inherits from Control) I've a DP of type RfidTag (called RfidTagResult) that returns the object in the OC which has the Position property (property available inside the RfidTag class) equal to the value set by the TagPosition DP.
In this way, the ControlTemplate of the RfidTagPresenter can bind its elements to the desired object.
This is the simplification of what I want to make. In the actual application there are some other DPs on which the RfidTagResult selection is performed
UPDATE 2
After a bit of research, seem that I can solve one problem with an indexed property that return (in the get method) the object from the collection I want to bind.
However a problem still exist: My control need to have a DP of type of RfidTag so that the relative ControlTemplate can bind to the property declared in the RfidTag class.
So: Is it possible (read: a good practice) to have a DP of a type that is a VM related class?
In other words: Can a custom control know about the class type used by the VM?
I will try to go all over your question (if I miss something let me know) but first you should explain the purpose of binding a Collection in a control as a DP.
is it a good practice to expose a VM-related class to a Control class?
RfidTag, I suppose, is a Model. What you are really doing here is binding a Model in your control which go against the MVVM pattern. You should think about the next question... Do you really need all your RfidTag to be shown in the View ? If you need to show a name, an ID... you could just create an IEnumerable<string> as DP (which is correct) and then in your VM instead of an ObservableCollection<RfidTag> you would have an ObservableCollection<string>.
Some simple theory. In MVVM, VM adapts the Model to the View. So your VM should have everything that will be shown in your View.
is the VM source file a good place for the RfidTag class?
RfidTag is a Model so there's no better place for it :)
I have splitted my application into two main areas.
Part(A)
PartStashContainer(B)
The content of A should be set based on what user wants.
So basically i can have 1..N classes which could be used in Class URI of Part in application model.
I don't know if i should replace the whole Part(A) with new dynamically created Part(C) which has content i want, or i should somehow to modify the existing Part (call setContributionURI, or setObject methods on Part object?).
It does make more sense to me to modify the existing Part, because it is defined in Application model and therefore already describing the location where the content should be.
Possible solutions:
Modify the Part object so it "reload" its content based on new setup (But how? Can setContributionURI or setObject methods help?)
Remove the old Part and add dynamically on same place in Application model the new Part (using EModelService and EPartService).
other solution??
If you want to reuse the Part then do something like:
MPart part = find or inject your part
MyClass myClass = (MyClass)part.getObject();
... call a method of MyClass to change the contents
MyClass is the class you specify for the object in the application model. You should add a method to that to let you change the contents.
Don't try to call setObject, this is really only for use by Eclipse. I don't think setContributionURI would do anything after the part is created (but I am not sure).
If you want to use different classes for the different data then you really should use different Parts.
On my first project trying out Caliburn.Micro, I like a lot of the things :-)
One thing I miss (or havn't discovered yet) is how to separate the viewmodel and a command.
CM doesn't support ICommand, as it's way of doing things is superior. I'm sure it's true, so I would love a small push in the right direction to achieve this or perhaps discover a better way.
As I understand you have to put the "Execute" method and "CanExecute" property directly in the viewmodel, named to match the control in the view, to get the magic to work.
I would like to put the "Execute" and "CanExecute" in a different object that is property on the viewmodel and then CM would automatically bind to that object, using the control name and property names as usually.
Repost from the forum on Caliburn Micro, I didn't get any answers so I'm trying my luck here.
You should try to avoid invalidating the Law of Demeter. Therefore, on your view model you can have an execute method, and a CanExecute property (usually calculated), and these can call into the containing model where appropriate, e.g:
public void Save
{
// .. save logic
}
public bool CanSave
{
get
{
return this.model.CanSave ... and other logic etc.
}
}
You must remember to notify a change in the calculated property when the can save state changes, e.g:
public void CodeThatGetsRunWhenAPropertyOfTheModelChanges()
{
this.NotifyOfPropertyChanged(() => this.CanSave);
}
If you have e.g. a Button on your view with x:Name="Save", then Caliburn.Micro will automatically invoke your Save verb on the view model when the button is clicked, and will automatically enable and disable the button when the CanSave property value changes.
To avoid fat ViewModels you also need to avoid fat Views. Caliburn.Micro allows you to compose Views/ViewModels as described in Screens, Conductors and Composition.
The short version is, you can include a "DetailView" and "DetailViewModel" pair in a "MasterView"/"MasterViewModel" shell by defining a DetailViewModel-typed property in MasterViewModel and adding a ContentControl named after it in MasterView. Binding and actions work as usual, so you avoid both fat models/views and routing of commands.
Another option is to bind a MasterView element to a DetailViewModel property or action, by prepending the detail's property to the target's name. I can't find the specific URL yet, so the example is from memory.
Assuming you have the following classes:
public class MasterViewModel:Screen
{
public property DetailViewModel MyDetails{get;set;}
}
and
public class DetailViewModel:Screen
{
public property string SomeText{get;set;}
public void DoTheBoogie(){}
}
You can add a control in you MasterView named 'MyDetails_SomeText' to bind to the DetailViewModel.SomeText. You can also bind to DoTheBoogie the same way.
I prefer to create a separate View though, named DetailView and add a ContentControl named "MyDetails" in MasterView. This results in a cleaner and more modular design
i learned how to implement my own SuggestionOracle("AuSuggestOracle") and own
Suggestions("AuMultiWordSuggestion"). In my case the suggestion object
is constructed with a DTO. On a selection event i need this dto (or
some fields of it) to react appropriate.
I implemented a widget containing 3 suggest boxes with this special
oracle and some logic between them. Now i want to apply MVP pattern -
split this widget in presenter and view.
At the moment the presenters display interface look like that:
public interface Display {
HasSelectionHandlers<Suggestion> getFedLand();
HasSelectionHandlers<Suggestion> getCounty();
HasSelectionHandlers<Suggestion> getCommunity();
AuSuggestOracle getFedLandOracle();
AuSuggestOracle getCountyOracle();
AuSuggestOracle getCommunityOracle();
void clearCounty();
void clearCommunity();
void activateForm();
Widget asWidget();
}
the problem is the implicit knowledge about my model in methods
returning "AuSuggestOracle". so my question is how to get the view/
interface "humble". in my case the displayed suggestion-strings are
ambiguous and i need at least the "id" of a selected item to know what
DTObject is selected.
The way I got around this is by leaving out the getters for the Oracle since once my presenter sets it my view doesn't need any information about it. So, my interface looked like this:
public interface Display {
...
void setSuggestionOracle(SuggestOracle oracle);
HasSelectionHandlers<SuggestOracle.Suggestion> getSelectionListener();
}
The problem I encountered was being able to add the suggestion to the SuggestBox after it was instantiated. To get around this, I initialized with a blank SuggestBox and then removed it from the view, updated in, and inserted it back into position.
After that, you can write your handler (in the presenter) to check if the suggestion is an instance of your custom suggestion and your presenter can handle the selection and push the relevant information back down to your view.
By doing this, all your view knows is that it will be taking generic suggestions for something, and that at some later time it will be updating with information (which will be as a result of the suggestion, but the view is to 'humble' to know that).