Question

I was wondering if it’s possible to raise a PropertyChanged event when the user pauses while typing text into a TextBox? Or more specifically, I want to run a method X seconds after the user stops typing in a TextBox.

For example, I have a form with a TextBox and nothing else. The user types in a 1-9 digit Id value into the TextBox, a fairly resource-intensive background process loads the record.

I do not want to use the UpdateSouceTrigger=PropertyChanged because that would cause the resource-intensive background process to run whenever a character gets typed, so a 9-digit ID number starts off 9 of these processes.

I also don’t want to use UpdateSourceTrigger=LostFocus because there is nothing else on the form to make the TextBox lose focus.

So is there a way to cause my background process to run only after the user pauses when typing in the Id number?

Answer 1

Prepare for code-dump.

I’ve done this with a WPF Fake Behavior (an attached DP that acts like a behavior). This code works, but it isn’t pretty and it may result in leaks. Probably need to replace all the references with weak references, etc.

Here’s the Behavior class:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Windows;
using System.Windows.Threading;
using System.Windows.Data;
using System.ComponentModel;

namespace BehaviorForDelayedTrigger
{
    public static class DelayedUpdateBehavior
    {
        #region TargetProperty Attached DependencyProperty
        /// <summary>
        /// An Attached <see cref="DependencyProperty"/> of type <see cref="DependencyProperty"/> defined on <see cref="DependencyObject">DependencyObject instances</see>.
        /// </summary>
        public static readonly DependencyProperty TargetPropertyProperty = DependencyProperty.RegisterAttached(
          TargetPropertyPropertyName,
          typeof(DependencyProperty),
          typeof(DelayedUpdateBehavior),
          new FrameworkPropertyMetadata(null, OnTargetPropertyChanged)
        );

        /// <summary>
        /// The name of the <see cref="TargetPropertyProperty"/> Attached <see cref="DependencyProperty"/>.
        /// </summary>
        public const string TargetPropertyPropertyName = "TargetProperty";

        /// <summary>
        /// Sets the value of the <see cref="TargetPropertyProperty"/> on the given <paramref name="element"/>.
        /// </summary>
        /// <param name="element">The <see cref="DependencyObject">target element</see>.</param>
        public static void SetTargetProperty(DependencyObject element, DependencyProperty value)
        {
            element.SetValue(TargetPropertyProperty, value);
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// Gets the value of the <see cref="TargetPropertyProperty"/> as set on the given <paramref name="element"/>.
        /// </summary>
        /// <param name="element">The <see cref="DependencyObject">target element</see>.</param>
        /// <returns><see cref="DependencyProperty"/></returns>
        public static DependencyProperty GetTargetProperty(DependencyObject element)
        {
            return (DependencyProperty)element.GetValue(TargetPropertyProperty);
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// Called when <see cref="TargetPropertyProperty"/> changes
        /// </summary>
        /// <param name="d">The <see cref="DependencyObject">event source</see>.</param>
        /// <param name="e"><see cref="DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs">event arguments</see></param>
        private static void OnTargetPropertyChanged(DependencyObject d, DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs e)
        {
            var prop = e.NewValue as DependencyProperty;
            if(prop == null)
                return;
            d.Dispatcher.BeginInvoke(
                (Action<DependencyObject, DependencyProperty>)
                    ((target, p) => new PropertyChangeTimer(target, p)), 
                DispatcherPriority.ApplicationIdle, 
                d, 
                prop);

        }
        #endregion
        #region Milliseconds Attached DependencyProperty
        /// <summary>
        /// An Attached <see cref="DependencyProperty"/> of type <see cref="int"/> defined on <see cref="DependencyObject">DependencyObject instances</see>.
        /// </summary>
        public static readonly DependencyProperty MillisecondsProperty = DependencyProperty.RegisterAttached(
          MillisecondsPropertyName,
          typeof(int),
          typeof(DelayedUpdateBehavior),
          new FrameworkPropertyMetadata(1000)
        );

        /// <summary>
        /// The name of the <see cref="MillisecondsProperty"/> Attached <see cref="DependencyProperty"/>.
        /// </summary>
        public const string MillisecondsPropertyName = "Milliseconds";

        /// <summary>
        /// Sets the value of the <see cref="MillisecondsProperty"/> on the given <paramref name="element"/>.
        /// </summary>
        /// <param name="element">The <see cref="DependencyObject">target element</see>.</param>
        public static void SetMilliseconds(DependencyObject element, int value)
        {
            element.SetValue(MillisecondsProperty, value);
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// Gets the value of the <see cref="MillisecondsProperty"/> as set on the given <paramref name="element"/>.
        /// </summary>
        /// <param name="element">The <see cref="DependencyObject">target element</see>.</param>
        /// <returns><see cref="int"/></returns>
        public static int GetMilliseconds(DependencyObject element)
        {
            return (int)element.GetValue(MillisecondsProperty);
        }
        #endregion
        private class PropertyChangeTimer
        {
            private DispatcherTimer _timer;
            private BindingExpression _expression;
            public PropertyChangeTimer(DependencyObject target, DependencyProperty property)
            {
                if (target == null)
                    throw new ArgumentNullException("target");
                if (property == null)
                    throw new ArgumentNullException("property");
                if (!BindingOperations.IsDataBound(target, property))
                    return;
                _expression = BindingOperations.GetBindingExpression(target, property);
                if (_expression == null)
                    throw new InvalidOperationException("No binding was found on property "+ property.Name + " on object " + target.GetType().FullName);
                DependencyPropertyDescriptor.FromProperty(property, target.GetType()).AddValueChanged(target, OnPropertyChanged);
            }

            private void OnPropertyChanged(object sender, EventArgs e)
            {
                if (_timer == null)
                {
                    _timer = new DispatcherTimer();
                    int ms = DelayedUpdateBehavior.GetMilliseconds(sender as DependencyObject);
                    _timer.Interval = TimeSpan.FromMilliseconds(ms);
                    _timer.Tick += OnTimerTick;
                    _timer.Start();
                    return;
                }
                _timer.Stop();
                _timer.Start();
            }

            private void OnTimerTick(object sender, EventArgs e)
            {
                _expression.UpdateSource();
                _expression.UpdateTarget();
                _timer.Stop();
                _timer = null;
            }
        }
    }
}

And here’s an example of how it is used:

<Window
    x:Class="BehaviorForDelayedTrigger.MainWindow"
    xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
    xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
    xmlns:t="clr-namespace:BehaviorForDelayedTrigger">
    <Grid>
        <Grid.RowDefinitions>
            <RowDefinition />
            <RowDefinition
                Height="auto" />
        </Grid.RowDefinitions>
        <Viewbox>
            <TextBlock
                x:Name="TargetTextBlock"
                Background="Red" />
        </Viewbox>
        <TextBox
            t:DelayedUpdateBehavior.TargetProperty="{x:Static TextBox.TextProperty}"
            t:DelayedUpdateBehavior.Milliseconds="1000"
            Grid.Row="1"
            Text="{Binding Text, ElementName=TargetTextBlock, UpdateSourceTrigger=Explicit}" />
    </Grid>
</Window>

The gist of this is…

You set the attached property on the bound UIElement, passing in the DP you wish to delay. At this point, I have the target of the attached property and the property to be delayed, so I can set things up. I do have to wait until the binding is available, so I have to use the Dispatcher to instantiate my watcher class after databinding has been set up. Fail to do this and you can’t grab the binding expression.

The watcher class grabs the binding and adds an update listener to the DependencyProperty. In the listener, I set up a timer (if we haven’t updated) or reset the timer. Once the Timer ticks, I fire off the binding expression.

Again, it works, but it definitely needs cleanup. Also, you can just use the DP via its name with the following code snippet:

FieldInfo fieldInfo = instance.GetType()
                             .GetField(name, 
                                 BindingFlags.Public | 
                                 BindingFlags.Static | 
                                 BindingFlags.FlattenHierarchy);
return (fieldInfo != null) ? (DependencyProperty)fieldInfo.GetValue(null) : null;

You might have to tack “Property” onto name, but that’s easy compared to using x:Static.