WPF: Cancel a user selection in a databound ListBox?

Question

How do I cancel a user selection in a databound WPF ListBox? The source property is set correctly, but the ListBox selection is out of sync.

I have an MVVM app that

Answer 1

Got it! I am going to accept majocha's answer, because his comment underneath his answer led me to the solution.

Here is wnat I did: I created a SelectionChanged event handler for the ListBox in code-behind. Yes, it's ugly, but it works. The code-behind also contains a module-level variable, m_OldSelectedIndex, which is initialized to -1. The SelectionChanged handler calls the ViewModel's Validate() method and gets a boolean back indicating whether the Document is valid. If the Document is valid, the handler sets m_OldSelectedIndex to the current ListBox.SelectedIndex and exits. If the document is invalid, the handler resets ListBox.SelectedIndex to m_OldSelectedIndex. Here is the code for the event handler:

private void OnSearchResultsBoxSelectionChanged(object sender, SelectionChangedEventArgs e)
{
    var viewModel = (MainViewModel) this.DataContext;
    if (viewModel.Validate() == null)
    {
        m_OldSelectedIndex = SearchResultsBox.SelectedIndex;
    }
    else
    {
        SearchResultsBox.SelectedIndex = m_OldSelectedIndex;
    }
}

Note that there is a trick to this solution: You have to use the SelectedIndex property; it doesn't work with the SelectedItem property.

Thanks for your help majocha, and hopefully this will help somebody else down the road. Like me, six months from now, when I have forgotten this solution...