Hi,

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 screen showing a list of users, and I display the details of the selected user on the right-hand side with editable textboxes. I then have a Save button which is DataBound, but I would only like this button to display when data has actually changed. ie - I need to check for "dirty data".

I have a fully MVVM example in which I have a Model called User:

namespace Test.Model
{
    class User
    {
        public string UserName { get; set; }
        public string Surname { get; set; }
        public string Firstname { get; set; }
    }
}

Then, the ViewModel looks like this:

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

namespace Test.ViewModel
{
    class UserViewModel : ViewModelBase
    {
        //Private variables
        private ObservableCollection<User> _users;
        RelayCommand _userSave;

        //Properties
        public ObservableCollection<User> User
        {
            get
            {
                if (_users == null)
                {
                    _users = new ObservableCollection<User>();
                    //I assume I need this Handler, but I am stuggling to implement it successfully
                    //_users.CollectionChanged += HandleChange;

                    //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;
            }
        }

        //Not sure what to do with this?!?!

        //private void HandleChange(object sender, NotifyCollectionChangedEventArgs e)
        //{
        //    if (e.Action == NotifyCollectionChangedAction.Remove)
        //    {
        //        foreach (TestViewModel item in e.NewItems)
        //        {
        //            //Removed items
        //        }
        //    }
        //    else if (e.Action == NotifyCollectionChangedAction.Add)
        //    {
        //        foreach (TestViewModel item in e.NewItems)
        //        {
        //            //Added items
        //        }
        //    } 
        //}

        //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
        }

        bool UserSaveCanExecute
        {
            get
            {
                //This is where I would like to know whether the currently selected item has been edited and is thus "dirty"
                return false;
            }
        }

        //constructor
        public UserViewModel()
        {

        }

    }
}

The "RelayCommand" is just a simple wrapper class, as is the "ViewModelBase". (I'll attach the latter though just for clarity)

using System;
using System.ComponentModel;

namespace Test.ViewModel
{
    public abstract class ViewModelBase : INotifyPropertyChanged, IDisposable
    {
        protected ViewModelBase()
        { 
        }

        public event PropertyChangedEventHandler PropertyChanged;

        protected virtual void OnPropertyChanged(string propertyName)
        {
            PropertyChangedEventHandler handler = this.PropertyChanged;
            if (handler != null)
            {
                var e = new PropertyChangedEventArgs(propertyName);
                handler(this, e);
            }
        }

        public void Dispose()
        {
            this.OnDispose();
        }

        protected virtual void OnDispose()
        {
        }
    }
}

Finally - the XAML

<Window x:Class="Test.MainWindow"
        xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
        xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
        xmlns:vm="clr-namespace:Test.ViewModel"
        Title="MainWindow" Height="350" Width="525">
    <Window.DataContext>
        <vm:UserViewModel/>
    </Window.DataContext>
    <Grid>
        <ListBox Height="238" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Margin="12,12,0,0" Name="listBox1" VerticalAlignment="Top" 
                 Width="197" ItemsSource="{Binding Path=User}" IsSynchronizedWithCurrentItem="True">
            <ListBox.ItemTemplate>
            <DataTemplate>
                <StackPanel>
                        <TextBlock Text="{Binding Path=Firstname}"/>
                        <TextBlock Text="{Binding Path=Surname}"/>
                </StackPanel>
            </DataTemplate>
            </ListBox.ItemTemplate>
        </ListBox>
        <Label Content="Username" Height="28" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Margin="232,16,0,0" Name="label1" VerticalAlignment="Top" />
        <TextBox Height="23" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Margin="323,21,0,0" Name="textBox1" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="120" Text="{Binding Path=User/UserName}" />
        <Label Content="Surname" Height="28" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Margin="232,50,0,0" Name="label2" VerticalAlignment="Top" />
        <TextBox Height="23" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Margin="323,52,0,0" Name="textBox2" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="120" Text="{Binding Path=User/Surname}" />
        <Label Content="Firstname" Height="28" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Margin="232,84,0,0" Name="label3" VerticalAlignment="Top" />
        <TextBox Height="23" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Margin="323,86,0,0" Name="textBox3" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="120" Text="{Binding Path=User/Firstname}" />
        <Button Content="Button" Height="23" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Margin="368,159,0,0" Name="button1" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="75" Command="{Binding Path=UserSave}" />
    </Grid>
</Window>

So basically, when I edit a surname, the Save button should be enabled; and if I undo my edit - well then it should be Disabled again as nothing has changed.

I have seen this in many examples, but have not yet found out how to do it.

Any help would be much appreciated! Brendan