Need bidirectional LiveBindings between a control and an object

Question

In Delphi XE2 LiveBindings, I need to bind a VCL control of any type to a property of any type on an arbitrary (non-component) object. I can do this unidirectionally. But I ne

Answer 1

I've got this working now. I did it all in the designer, but have converted it to mostly code to share it better on SO.

Create a VCL forms project. On the form, drop each of these on the form:

TBindScope TBindingsList TButton TButton TEdit

Rename one of the buttons to btnLoad and the other to btnSave.

Paste this code over your form unit (assuming it is named Form1). Assign the click handlers for the buttons and run it. Click btnLoad to populate the edit box with TPerson object data, edit the text in the edit box to a new value then click btnSave to write it back to the TPerson object.

unit Form1;

interface

uses
  Winapi.Windows, Winapi.Messages, System.SysUtils, System.Variants, System.Classes, Vcl.Graphics,
  Vcl.Controls, Vcl.Forms, Vcl.Dialogs, Vcl.StdCtrls, System.Rtti,

  // LiveBinding units
  System.Bindings.Helper,     // Contains TBindings class
  Data.Bind.EngExt,
  Vcl.Bind.DBEngExt,
  Data.Bind.Components,
  System.Bindings.Outputs;

type
  TPerson = class(TObject)
  protected
    fName: string;
    fAge: integer;
    procedure SetName(const Value: string);
  public
    property Name: string read fName write SetName;
    property Age: integer read fAge write fAge;
  end;

type
  TForm1 = class(TForm)
    btnLoad: TButton;
    btnSave: TButton;
    BindScope1: TBindScope;
    BindingsList1: TBindingsList;
    Edit1: TEdit;
    procedure btnLoadClick(Sender: TObject);
    procedure btnSaveClick(Sender: TObject);
  private
    fInitialized: boolean;
    fPerson: TPerson;
    procedure Initialize;
  public
    procedure AfterConstruction; override;
    procedure BeforeDestruction; override;
  end;

var
  Form1: TForm1;

implementation

{$R *.dfm}

procedure TForm1.AfterConstruction;
begin
  inherited;
  Initialize;
end;

procedure TForm1.BeforeDestruction;
begin
  fPerson.Free;
  inherited;
end;

procedure TForm1.btnLoadClick(Sender: TObject);
begin
  fPerson.Name := 'Doogie Howser';
  fPerson.Age := 15;
  BindScope1.DataObject := fPerson;
end;

procedure TForm1.btnSaveClick(Sender: TObject);
begin
  TBindings.Notify(Edit1, '');

  // Could also do this:
  //BindingsList1.Notify(Edit1, '');
end;

procedure TForm1.Initialize;
var
  expression: TBindExpression;
begin
  // Create a binding expression.
  expression := TBindExpression.Create(self);
  expression.ControlComponent := Edit1;
  expression.ControlExpression := 'Text';   // The Text property of Edit1 ...
  expression.SourceComponent := BindScope1;
  expression.SourceExpression := 'Name';    // ... is bound to the Name property of fPerson
  expression.Direction := TExpressionDirection.dirBidirectional;

  // Add the expression to the bindings list.
  expression.BindingsList := BindingsList1;

  // Create a Person object.
  fPerson := TPerson.Create;
end;

{ TPerson }

procedure TPerson.SetName(const Value: string);
begin
  fName := Value;
  ShowMessage('Name changed to "'+ Value +'"');
end;

end.