Implementing INotifyPropertyChanged - does a better way exist?

Question

Microsoft should have implemented something snappy for INotifyPropertyChanged, like in the automatic properties, just specify {get; set; notify;} I

Answer 1

I created an Extension Method in my base Library for reuse:

public static class INotifyPropertyChangedExtensions
{
    public static bool SetPropertyAndNotify(this INotifyPropertyChanged sender,
               PropertyChangedEventHandler handler, ref T field, T value, 
               [CallerMemberName] string propertyName = "",
               EqualityComparer equalityComparer = null)
    {
        bool rtn = false;
        var eqComp = equalityComparer ?? EqualityComparer.Default;
        if (!eqComp.Equals(field,value))
        {
            field = value;
            rtn = true;
            if (handler != null)
            {
                var args = new PropertyChangedEventArgs(propertyName);
                handler(sender, args);
            }
        }
        return rtn;
    }
}

This works with .Net 4.5 because of CallerMemberNameAttribute. If you want to use it with an earlier .Net version you have to change the method declaration from: ...,[CallerMemberName] string propertyName = "", ... to ...,string propertyName, ...

Usage:

public class Dog : INotifyPropertyChanged
{
    public event PropertyChangedEventHandler PropertyChanged;
    string _name;

    public string Name
    {
        get { return _name; }
        set
        {
            this.SetPropertyAndNotify(PropertyChanged, ref _name, value);
        }
    }
}