Raising an INotifyPropertyChanged event requires a string containing the affected property’s name. Developers want a simple, clean and performance-efficient way to populate this string. New versions of .Net have brought developers closer and closer to achieving this goal.
Let’s review how INotifyPropertyChanged implementation options have improved over the years. Then, let’s consider an idea on how these options might be made even better. Continue reading
With the recent release of .Net 4.5/C# 5, I’ve spent time experimenting with the new async/await functionality. To my surprise, these new keywords didn’t have the effect I anticipated. Based on my skimming of pre-release information, I was under the impression that the appropriate use of these keywords would cause a normally-synchronous method to execute asynchronously.
Wrong! Continue reading
Segmenting unit tests from release code by placing the tests in a separate assembly (e.g. in a separate Microsoft Visual Studio project) is a good idea. However, making release code classes public in order to allow the unit test assembly to access them isn’t a good practice. Continue reading
Why, oh why isn’t <Label Content=”{Binding Amount, StringFormat=C}” />‘s output formatted as currency? Instead of displaying $123.90, the label shows 123.9. My StringFormat is ignored! Is WPF broken?! Continue reading
Confusion exists on whether .Net’s GC.Collect() simply suggests or actually forces garbage collection (GC). Thankfully, developers don’t usually need to worry about such mundane details. However, in unusual circumstances—like WeakReference testing (which may rely on predictable, guaranteed destruction of unneeded objects)—particulars like this become vitally important. Continue reading
The design specification calls for two Grids. One column in each is to auto-size its width to its content. “No problem—<ColumnDefinition Width=”Auto” /> will take care of that,” you think. Then you notice a footnote: “The widths both auto-sized columns should match. Both columns should be the width of the wider column’s content.”
How do you implement this? Continue reading
A hidden source code file is auto-generated for each WPF XAML file. The names used for this file and for the class it contains are based off the XAML file’s filename. In a C# application, the file MyWindow.xaml will have a hidden code-behind file named MyWindow.g.cs containing a class named MyWindow.
The contained class inherits from the WPF core class corresponding to the associated XAML file’s root element. If the root element in the XAML file is <Window>, the class in the hidden code-behind file will inherit from Window.
A ListView’s data display needs to be updated. The revised dataset, retrieved from the service layer, is contained in a new collection containing new object instances. Setting this IList<T> as the control’s new ItemsSource causes the control to display the revised data and…whoa…clears the currently selected item.
From the technical perspective, this clearing makes sense. A new collection has been displayed making the selected item from the previous collection irrelevant. However, from the user’s perspective, the same collection is displayed both before and after the refresh (albeit with revised data), so the current item selection is still pertinent and should be maintained.
The typical WPF application—as viewed in Solution Explorer—consists primarily of XAML files (.xaml) paired with code-behind files (.xaml.cs) and ordinary source code files (.cs). None of these files contains a static Main() method—the starting point of execution in a C# program. Where then does execution begin in a C#.Net WPF application?
Crash! The offending XAML sets a control’s style property to a StaticResource (e.g. <Button Style=”{StaticResource myStyle}” />). The named style is defined in <Application.Resources>. Why then the XamlParseException “Cannot find resource…” exception?