How to handle many checkboxes in MVVM (WPF)?

Question

I have a list of extensions each with it's own checkbox that user needs to choose from:

In the end I need to have a List or an ObservableCollection of all the extensions chosen.

Doing this non-MVVM is quite straight forward. I create the event of Checked or Unchecked, and I add the content of the sender.

View:

<CheckBox Checked="ToggleButton_OnChecked" Unchecked="ToggleButton_OnUnchecked">exe</CheckBox>

Code Behind:

    private void ToggleButton_OnChecked(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
    {
        var ext = ((CheckBox) sender).Content.ToString();
        Model.FirstRun.ExcludeExt.Add(ext);
    }

    private void ToggleButton_OnUnchecked(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
    {
        var ext = ((CheckBox)sender).Content.ToString();
        Model.FirstRun.ExcludeExt.Remove(ext);
    }

If I want to do this MVVM style, as far as I know - I have to create a property for each one of the checkboxes and bind them to the UI. This is a lot of work.

Is there any simpler way?

don't you think the UI little weird with lots of checkboxes? how about having combo box with check box in it? — Sushil Mate
– Sushil Mate, Commented Jul 4, 2017 at 8:43
@SushilMate would that make it easier to implement the binding in MVVM ? — Maverick Meerkat
– Maverick Meerkat, Commented Jul 4, 2017 at 8:46
btw this is just the barebone UI, a designer will later improve it. — Maverick Meerkat
– Maverick Meerkat, Commented Jul 4, 2017 at 8:47
You should first create a model. I.e class myCheckBox { boo Active; string Name; } class myCheckBoxList { List<myCheckBox >() ; ... Add(myCheckBox paramMyCheckBox ) { myCheckBox .Add (paramMyCheckBox ); } } After Render the model on view *Sorry but I do not have a compiler here to write correct code — BruceOverflow
– BruceOverflow, Commented Jul 4, 2017 at 8:48

Mighty Badaboom · Accepted Answer · 2017-07-04 09:06:27Z

9

You should think about a structure first and then it is not that much work and pretty straight forward to use.

For example: you have groups of extensions. I would create somethink like this (just pseudo code; e.g. no INotifyPropertyChanged implemented).

public class ExtensionGroup
{
    public string Name {get; set;}
    public ObservableCollection<ExtensionInfo> ExtensionInfos {get; set;}
}

public class ExtensionInfo
{
    public string Extension {get; set;}
    public bool IsChecked {get; set;}

    public ExtensionInfo(string extension)
    {
        Extension = extension;
    }
}

And in your ViewModel you can create

public ObservableCollection<ExtensionGroup> ExtensionGroups {get; set;}

Now you have to add the data like this

var extensionGroup = new ExtensionGroup{Name = "Executables"};
extensionGroup.ExtensionInfos.Add(new ExtensionInfo("exe");
extensionGroup.ExtensionInfos.Add(new ExtensionInfo("bat");

and after that you have a list with all groups including the extensions.

In you view you can bind this data and you're done. For the view you could use a ListView with a DataTemplate or some other items control.

Your view will get a lot easier with less code because you just have to specify the layout one time.

/edit This is a sample implementation of the xaml. I used a ItemsControl instead of a ListView.

<ItemsControl ItemsSource="{Binding ExtensionGroups}">
    <ItemsControl.ItemTemplate>
        <DataTemplate>
            <StackPanel>
                <Label Content="{Binding Name}"/>
                <ItemsControl ItemsSource="{Binding ExtensionInfos}">
                    <ItemsControl.ItemsPanel>
                        <ItemsPanelTemplate>
                            <WrapPanel />
                        </ItemsPanelTemplate>
                    </ItemsControl.ItemsPanel>
                    <ItemsControl.ItemTemplate>
                        <DataTemplate>
                            <CheckBox IsChecked="{Binding IsChecked}"
                                      Content="{Binding Extension}"/>
                        </DataTemplate>
                    </ItemsControl.ItemTemplate>
                </ItemsControl>
            </StackPanel>
        </DataTemplate>
    </ItemsControl.ItemTemplate>
</ItemsControl>

Looks like this (just added two groups with two extensions).

edited Jul 4, 2017 at 9:06

answered Jul 4, 2017 at 8:52

Mighty Badaboom

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3 Comments

Maverick Meerkat Over a year ago

And then how would you do the binding?

Maverick Meerkat Over a year ago

Amazing - I'm going to try it out :-)

Maverick Meerkat Over a year ago

Works like a charm. You just forgot (in the answer) to initalize (

ExtensionGroups = new ObservableCollection<ExtensionGroup>();             var extensionGroup = new ExtensionGroup { Name = "Executables", ExtensionInfos = new ObservableCollection<ExtensionInfo>()};

) and to add the extensionGroup to ExtensionGroups ( ExtensionGroups.Add(extensionGroup); )

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