MVVM - implementing 'IsDirty' functionality to a ModelView in order to save data

Question

Being new to WPF & MVVM I struggling with some basic functionality.

Let me first explain what I am after, and then attach some example code...

I have a scree

Answer 1

I have come up with a working solution. This may of course not be the best way, but I am sure I can work on it as I learn more...

When I run the project, if I cange any item, the list box is disabled, and the save button enabled. If I undo my edits, then the list box is enabled again, and the save button disabled.

I have changed my User Model to implement INotifyPropertyChanged, and I have also created a set of private variables to store the "original values" and some logic to check for "IsDirty"

using System.ComponentModel;
namespace Test.Model
{
    public class User : INotifyPropertyChanged
    {
    //Private variables
    private string _username;
    private string _surname;
    private string _firstname;

    //Private - original holders
    private string _username_Orig;
    private string _surname_Orig;
    private string _firstname_Orig;
    private bool _isDirty;

    //Properties
    public string UserName
    {
        get
        {
            return _username;
        }
        set
        {
            if (_username_Orig == null)
            {
                _username_Orig = value;
            }
            _username = value;
            SetDirty();
        }
    }
    public string Surname
    {
        get { return _surname; }
        set
        {
            if (_surname_Orig == null)
            {
                _surname_Orig = value;
            }
            _surname = value;
            SetDirty();
        }
    }
    public string Firstname
    {
        get { return _firstname; }
        set
        {
            if (_firstname_Orig == null)
            {
                _firstname_Orig = value;
            }
            _firstname = value;
            SetDirty();
        }
    }

    public bool IsDirty
    {
        get
        {
            return _isDirty;
        }
    }

    public void SetToClean()
    {
        _username_Orig = _username;
        _surname_Orig = _surname;
        _firstname_Orig = _firstname;
        _isDirty = false;
        OnPropertyChanged("IsDirty");
    }

    private void SetDirty()
    {
        if (_username == _username_Orig && _surname == _surname_Orig && _firstname == _firstname_Orig)
        {
            if (_isDirty)
            {
                _isDirty = false;
                OnPropertyChanged("IsDirty");
            }
        }
        else
        {
            if (!_isDirty)
            {
                _isDirty = true;
                OnPropertyChanged("IsDirty");
            }
        }
    }

    public event PropertyChangedEventHandler PropertyChanged;

    protected void OnPropertyChanged(string propertyName)
    {
        PropertyChangedEventHandler handler = PropertyChanged;

        if (handler != null)
        {
            handler(this, new PropertyChangedEventArgs(propertyName));
        }
    }
}

Then, my ViewModel has changed a bit too....

using System.Collections.ObjectModel;
using System.Collections.Specialized;
using System.Windows.Input;
using Test.Model;
using System.ComponentModel;

namespace Test.ViewModel
{
    class UserViewModel : ViewModelBase
    {
        //Private variables

    private ObservableCollection _users;
    RelayCommand _userSave;
    private User _selectedUser = new User();

    //Properties
    public ObservableCollection User
    {
        get
        {
            if (_users == null)
            {
                _users = new ObservableCollection();
                _users.CollectionChanged += (s, e) =>
                {
                    if (e.Action == NotifyCollectionChangedAction.Add)
                    {
                        // handle property changing
                        foreach (User item in e.NewItems)
                        {
                            ((INotifyPropertyChanged)item).PropertyChanged += (s1, e1) =>
                                {
                                    OnPropertyChanged("EnableListBox");
                                };
                        }
                    }
                };
                //Populate with users
                _users.Add(new User {UserName = "Bob", Firstname="Bob", Surname="Smith"});
                _users.Add(new User {UserName = "Smob", Firstname="John", Surname="Davy"});
            }
            return _users;
        }
    }

    public User SelectedUser
    {
        get { return _selectedUser; }
        set { _selectedUser = value; }
    }

    public bool EnableListBox
    {
        get { return !_selectedUser.IsDirty; }
    }

    //Commands
    public ICommand UserSave
    {
        get
        {
            if (_userSave == null)
            {
                _userSave = new RelayCommand(param => this.UserSaveExecute(), param => this.UserSaveCanExecute);
            }
            return _userSave;
        }
    }

    void UserSaveExecute()
    {
        //Here I will call my DataAccess to actually save the data
        //Save code...
        _selectedUser.SetToClean();
        OnPropertyChanged("EnableListBox");
    }

    bool UserSaveCanExecute
    {
        get
        {
            return _selectedUser.IsDirty;
        }
    }

    //constructor
    public UserViewModel()
    {

    }

}

Finally, the XAML I changed the bindings on the Username, Surname & Firstname to include UpdateSourceTrigger=PropertyChanged And then I bound the listbox's SelectedItem and IsEnabled

As I said in the beginning - it may not be the best solution, but it seems to work...