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 really like Marc's solution, but I think it can be slightly improved to avoid using a "magic string" (which doesn't support refactoring). Instead of using the property name as a string, it's easy to make it a lambda expression :

private string name;
public string Name
{
    get { return name; }
    set { SetField(ref name, value, () => Name); }
}

Just add the following methods to Marc's code, it will do the trick :

protected virtual void OnPropertyChanged<T>(Expression<Func<T>> selectorExpression)
{
    if (selectorExpression == null)
        throw new ArgumentNullException("selectorExpression");
    MemberExpression body = selectorExpression.Body as MemberExpression;
    if (body == null)
        throw new ArgumentException("The body must be a member expression");
    OnPropertyChanged(body.Member.Name);
}

protected bool SetField<T>(ref T field, T value, Expression<Func<T>> selectorExpression)
{
    if (EqualityComparer<T>.Default.Equals(field, value)) return false;
    field = value;
    OnPropertyChanged(selectorExpression);
    return true;
}

BTW, this was inspired by this blog post updated URL

Answer 2

Another combined solution is using StackFrame:

public class BaseViewModel : INotifyPropertyChanged
{
    public event PropertyChangedEventHandler PropertyChanged;

    protected void Set<T>(ref T field, T value)
    {
        MethodBase method = new StackFrame(1).GetMethod();
        field = value;
        Raise(method.Name.Substring(4));
    }

    protected void Raise(string propertyName)
    {
        var temp = PropertyChanged;
        if (temp != null)
        {
            temp(this, new PropertyChangedEventArgs(propertyName));
        }
    }
}

Usage:

public class TempVM : BaseViewModel
{
    private int _intP;
    public int IntP
    {
        get { return _intP; }
        set { Set<int>(ref _intP, value); }
    }
}

Answer 3

An idea using reflection:

class ViewModelBase : INotifyPropertyChanged {

    public event PropertyChangedEventHandler PropertyChanged;

    bool Notify<T>(MethodBase mb, ref T oldValue, T newValue) {

        // Get Name of Property
        string name = mb.Name.Substring(4);

        // Detect Change
        bool changed = EqualityComparer<T>.Default.Equals(oldValue, newValue);

        // Return if no change
        if (!changed) return false;

        // Update value
        oldValue = newValue;

        // Raise Event
        if (PropertyChanged != null) {
            PropertyChanged(this, new PropertyChangedEventArgs(name));
        }//if

        // Notify caller of change
        return true;

    }//method

    string name;

    public string Name {
        get { return name; }
        set {
            Notify(MethodInfo.GetCurrentMethod(), ref this.name, value);
        }
    }//method

}//class

Answer 4

I haven't actually had a chance to try this myself yet, but next time I'm setting up a project with a big requirement for INotifyPropertyChanged I'm intending on writing a Postsharp attribute that will inject the code at compile time. Something like:

[NotifiesChange]
public string FirstName { get; set; }

Will become:

private string _firstName;

public string FirstName
{
   get { return _firstname; }
   set
   {
      if (_firstname != value)
      {
          _firstname = value;
          OnPropertyChanged("FirstName")
      }
   }
}

I'm not sure if this will work in practice and I need to sit down and try it out, but I don't see why not. I may need to make it accept some parameters for situations where more than one OnPropertyChanged needs to be triggered (if, for example, I had a FullName property in the class above)

Currently I'm using a custom template in Resharper, but even with that I'm getting fed up of all my properties being so long.

---

Ah, a quick Google search (which I should have done before I wrote this) shows that at least one person has done something like this before here. Not exactly what I had in mind, but close enough to show that the theory is good.

Answer 5

If you are using dynamics in .NET 4.5 you don't need to worry about INotifyPropertyChanged.

dynamic obj = new ExpandoObject();
obj.Name = "John";

if Name is bound to some control it just works fine.

Answer 6

I have just found ActiveSharp - Automatic INotifyPropertyChanged, I have yet to use it, but it looks good.

To quote from it's web site...

---

Send property change notifications without specifying property name as a string.

Instead, write properties like this:

public int Foo
{
    get { return _foo; }
    set { SetValue(ref _foo, value); }  // <-- no property name here
}

Note that there is no need to include the name of the property as a string. ActiveSharp reliably and correctly figures that out for itself. It works based on the fact that your property implementation passes the backing field (_foo) by ref. (ActiveSharp uses that "by ref" call to identify which backing field was passed, and from the field it identifies the property).