Question

I have a class that implements INotifyPropertyChanged and also has its own concept of properties, a little bit like this:

class sealed MyClass : INotifyPropertyChanged
{
    private Dictionary<string, object> _properties;

    public object GetProperty(string name)
    {
        return _properties[name];
    }

    public object SomeProperty
    {
        get
        {
            return GetProperty("SomeProperty");
        }
    }
}

Note that some common properties also have C# accessors.

I want to raise an event to notify others that a property (whose value is accessed through the GetProperty method) has changed even if this property does not have a corresponding C# accessor.

Assuming that there is no risk of a clash (i.e. inadvertantly raising a property changed event for a C# property whose value has not changed – note that this class is sealed), is there any reason why I can’t just use the INotifyPropertyChanged.PropertyChanged event to notify others, or should I add my own event for this purpose?

Answer 1

I would suggest that you add your own. Although there’s no specific reason that the code would break, INotifyPropertyChanged has a specific intended usage, and one that is understood by a lot of potential consumers. I’d not personally write code that contradicts that, just in case.