Data binding to SelectedItem in a WPF Treeview

Question

How can I retrieve the item that is selected in a WPF-treeview? I want to do this in XAML, because I want to bind it.

You might think that it is SelectedItem

Answer 1

I suggest an addition to the behavior provided by Steve Greatrex. His behavior doesn't reflects changes from the source because it may not be a collection of TreeViewItems. So it is a matter of finding the TreeViewItem in the tree which datacontext is the selectedValue from the source. The TreeView has a protected property called "ItemsHost", which holds the TreeViewItem collection. We can get it through reflection and walk the tree searching for the selected item.

private static void OnSelectedItemChanged(DependencyObject sender, DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs e)
    {
        var behavior = sender as BindableSelectedItemBehaviour;

        if (behavior == null) return;

        var tree = behavior.AssociatedObject;

        if (tree == null) return;

        if (e.NewValue == null) 
            foreach (var item in tree.Items.OfType<TreeViewItem>())
                item.SetValue(TreeViewItem.IsSelectedProperty, false);

        var treeViewItem = e.NewValue as TreeViewItem; 
        if (treeViewItem != null)
        {
            treeViewItem.SetValue(TreeViewItem.IsSelectedProperty, true);
        }
        else
        {
            var itemsHostProperty = tree.GetType().GetProperty("ItemsHost", System.Reflection.BindingFlags.NonPublic | System.Reflection.BindingFlags.Instance);

            if (itemsHostProperty == null) return;

            var itemsHost = itemsHostProperty.GetValue(tree, null) as Panel;

            if (itemsHost == null) return;

            foreach (var item in itemsHost.Children.OfType<TreeViewItem>())
                if (WalkTreeViewItem(item, e.NewValue)) break;
        }
    }

    public static bool WalkTreeViewItem(TreeViewItem treeViewItem, object selectedValue) {
        if (treeViewItem.DataContext == selectedValue)
        {
            treeViewItem.SetValue(TreeViewItem.IsSelectedProperty, true);
            treeViewItem.Focus();
            return true;
        }

        foreach (var item in treeViewItem.Items.OfType<TreeViewItem>())
            if (WalkTreeViewItem(item, selectedValue)) return true;

        return false;
    }

This way the behavior works for two-way bindings. Alternatively, it is possible to move the ItemsHost acquisition to the Behavior's OnAttached method, saving the overhead of using reflection every time the binding updates.

Answer 2

I tried all solutions of this questions. No one solved my problem fully. So I think it's better to use such inherited class with redefined property SelectedItem. It will work perfectly if you choose tree element from GUI and if you set this property value in your code

public class TreeViewEx : TreeView
{
    public TreeViewEx()
    {
        this.SelectedItemChanged += new RoutedPropertyChangedEventHandler<object>(TreeViewEx_SelectedItemChanged);
    }

    void TreeViewEx_SelectedItemChanged(object sender, RoutedPropertyChangedEventArgs<object> e)
    {
        this.SelectedItem = e.NewValue;
    }

    #region SelectedItem

    /// <summary>
    /// Gets or Sets the SelectedItem possible Value of the TreeViewItem object.
    /// </summary>
    public new object SelectedItem
    {
        get { return this.GetValue(TreeViewEx.SelectedItemProperty); }
        set { this.SetValue(TreeViewEx.SelectedItemProperty, value); }
    }

    // Using a DependencyProperty as the backing store for MyProperty.  This enables animation, styling, binding, etc...
    public new static readonly DependencyProperty SelectedItemProperty =
        DependencyProperty.Register("SelectedItem", typeof(object), typeof(TreeViewEx),
        new FrameworkPropertyMetadata(null, FrameworkPropertyMetadataOptions.BindsTwoWayByDefault, SelectedItemProperty_Changed));

    static void SelectedItemProperty_Changed(DependencyObject dependencyObject, DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs e)
    {
        TreeViewEx targetObject = dependencyObject as TreeViewEx;
        if (targetObject != null)
        {
            TreeViewItem tvi = targetObject.FindItemNode(targetObject.SelectedItem) as TreeViewItem;
            if (tvi != null)
                tvi.IsSelected = true;
        }
    }                                               
    #endregion SelectedItem   

    public TreeViewItem FindItemNode(object item)
    {
        TreeViewItem node = null;
        foreach (object data in this.Items)
        {
            node = this.ItemContainerGenerator.ContainerFromItem(data) as TreeViewItem;
            if (node != null)
            {
                if (data == item)
                    break;
                node = FindItemNodeInChildren(node, item);
                if (node != null)
                    break;
            }
        }
        return node;
    }

    protected TreeViewItem FindItemNodeInChildren(TreeViewItem parent, object item)
    {
        TreeViewItem node = null;
        bool isExpanded = parent.IsExpanded;
        if (!isExpanded) //Can't find child container unless the parent node is Expanded once
        {
            parent.IsExpanded = true;
            parent.UpdateLayout();
        }
        foreach (object data in parent.Items)
        {
            node = parent.ItemContainerGenerator.ContainerFromItem(data) as TreeViewItem;
            if (data == item && node != null)
                break;
            node = FindItemNodeInChildren(node, item);
            if (node != null)
                break;
        }
        if (node == null && parent.IsExpanded != isExpanded)
            parent.IsExpanded = isExpanded;
        if (node != null)
            parent.IsExpanded = true;
        return node;
    }
} 

Answer 3

All to complicated... Go with Caliburn Micro (http://caliburnmicro.codeplex.com/)

View:

<TreeView Micro:Message.Attach="[Event SelectedItemChanged] = [Action SetSelectedItem($this.SelectedItem)]" />

ViewModel:

public void SetSelectedItem(YourNodeViewModel item) {}; 

Answer 4

It can also be done using the IsSelected property of the TreeView item. Here's how I managed it,

public delegate void TreeviewItemSelectedHandler(TreeViewItem item);
public class TreeViewItem
{      
  public static event TreeviewItemSelectedHandler OnItemSelected = delegate { };
  public bool IsSelected 
  {
    get { return isSelected; }
    set 
    { 
      isSelected = value;
      if (value)
        OnItemSelected(this);
    }
  }
}

Then in the ViewModel that contains the data your TreeView is bound to, just subscribe to the event in the TreeViewItem class.

TreeViewItem.OnItemSelected += TreeViewItemSelected;

And finally, implement this handler in the same ViewModel,

private void TreeViewItemSelected(TreeViewItem item)
{
  //Do something
}

And the binding of course,

<Setter Property="IsSelected" Value="{Binding IsSelected}" />    

Answer 5

I bring you my solution which offers the following features:

• Supports 2 ways binding

• Auto updates the TreeViewItem.IsSelected properties (according to the SelectedItem)

• No TreeView subclassing

• Items bound to ViewModel can be of any type (even null)

1/ Paste the following code in your CS:

public class BindableSelectedItem
{
    public static readonly DependencyProperty SelectedItemProperty = DependencyProperty.RegisterAttached(
        "SelectedItem", typeof(object), typeof(BindableSelectedItem), new PropertyMetadata(default(object), OnSelectedItemPropertyChangedCallback));

    private static void OnSelectedItemPropertyChangedCallback(DependencyObject d, DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs e)
    {
        var treeView = d as TreeView;
        if (treeView != null)
        {
            BrowseTreeViewItems(treeView, tvi =>
            {
                tvi.IsSelected = tvi.DataContext == e.NewValue;
            });
        }
        else
        {
            throw new Exception("Attached property supports only TreeView");
        }
    }

    public static void SetSelectedItem(DependencyObject element, object value)
    {
        element.SetValue(SelectedItemProperty, value);
    }

    public static object GetSelectedItem(DependencyObject element)
    {
        return element.GetValue(SelectedItemProperty);
    }

    public static void BrowseTreeViewItems(TreeView treeView, Action<TreeViewItem> onBrowsedTreeViewItem)
    {
        var collectionsToVisit = new System.Collections.Generic.List<Tuple<ItemContainerGenerator, ItemCollection>> { new Tuple<ItemContainerGenerator, ItemCollection>(treeView.ItemContainerGenerator, treeView.Items) };
        var collectionIndex = 0;
        while (collectionIndex < collectionsToVisit.Count)
        {
            var itemContainerGenerator = collectionsToVisit[collectionIndex].Item1;
            var itemCollection = collectionsToVisit[collectionIndex].Item2;
            for (var i = 0; i < itemCollection.Count; i++)
            {
                var tvi = itemContainerGenerator.ContainerFromIndex(i) as TreeViewItem;
                if (tvi == null)
                {
                    continue;
                }

                if (tvi.ItemContainerGenerator.Status == System.Windows.Controls.Primitives.GeneratorStatus.ContainersGenerated)
                {
                    collectionsToVisit.Add(new Tuple<ItemContainerGenerator, ItemCollection>(tvi.ItemContainerGenerator, tvi.Items));
                }

                onBrowsedTreeViewItem(tvi);
            }

            collectionIndex++;
        }
    }

}

2/ Example of use in your XAML file

<TreeView myNS:BindableSelectedItem.SelectedItem="{Binding Path=SelectedItem, Mode=TwoWay}" />  

Answer 6

It answers a little more than the OP is expecting... But I hope it could help some one at least.

If you want to execute a ICommand whenever the SelectedItem changed, you can bind a command on an event and the use of a property SelectedItem in the ViewModel isn't needed anymore.

To do so:

1- Add reference to System.Windows.Interactivity

xmlns:i="clr-namespace:System.Windows.Interactivity;assembly=System.Windows.Interactivity"

2- Bind the command to the event SelectedItemChanged

<TreeView x:Name="myTreeView" Margin="1"
            ItemsSource="{Binding Directories}">
    <i:Interaction.Triggers>
        <i:EventTrigger EventName="SelectedItemChanged">
            <i:InvokeCommandAction Command="{Binding SomeCommand}"
                                   CommandParameter="
                                            {Binding ElementName=myTreeView
                                             ,Path=SelectedItem}"/>
        </i:EventTrigger>
    </i:Interaction.Triggers>
    <TreeView.ItemTemplate>
           <!-- ... -->
    </TreeView.ItemTemplate>
</TreeView>