Synchronizing multi-select ListBox with MVVM

Question

I have two views of some data: a list view (a ListBox now, but I\'ve been meaning to switch to ListView) and a fancy graphical representation on a

Answer 1

You can create a Behavior that synchronizes ListBox.SelectedItems with a collection in your ViewModel:

public class MultiSelectionBehavior : Behavior
{
    protected override void OnAttached()
    {
        base.OnAttached();
        if (SelectedItems != null)
        {
            AssociatedObject.SelectedItems.Clear();
            foreach (var item in SelectedItems)
            {
                AssociatedObject.SelectedItems.Add(item);
            }
        }
    }

    public IList SelectedItems
    {
        get { return (IList)GetValue(SelectedItemsProperty); }
        set { SetValue(SelectedItemsProperty, value); }
    }

    public static readonly DependencyProperty SelectedItemsProperty =
        DependencyProperty.Register("SelectedItems", typeof(IList), typeof(MultiSelectionBehavior), new UIPropertyMetadata(null, SelectedItemsChanged));

    private static void SelectedItemsChanged(DependencyObject o, DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs e)
    {
        var behavior = o as MultiSelectionBehavior;
        if (behavior == null)
            return;

        var oldValue = e.OldValue as INotifyCollectionChanged;
        var newValue = e.NewValue as INotifyCollectionChanged;

        if (oldValue != null)
        {
            oldValue.CollectionChanged -= behavior.SourceCollectionChanged;
            behavior.AssociatedObject.SelectionChanged -= behavior.ListBoxSelectionChanged;
        }
        if (newValue != null)
        {
            behavior.AssociatedObject.SelectedItems.Clear();
            foreach (var item in (IEnumerable)newValue)
            {
                behavior.AssociatedObject.SelectedItems.Add(item);
            }

            behavior.AssociatedObject.SelectionChanged += behavior.ListBoxSelectionChanged;
            newValue.CollectionChanged += behavior.SourceCollectionChanged;
        }
    }

    private bool _isUpdatingTarget;
    private bool _isUpdatingSource;

    void SourceCollectionChanged(object sender, NotifyCollectionChangedEventArgs e)
    {
        if (_isUpdatingSource)
            return;

        try
        {
            _isUpdatingTarget = true;

            if (e.OldItems != null)
            {
                foreach (var item in e.OldItems)
                {
                    AssociatedObject.SelectedItems.Remove(item);
                }
            }

            if (e.NewItems != null)
            {
                foreach (var item in e.NewItems)
                {
                    AssociatedObject.SelectedItems.Add(item);
                }
            }

            if (e.Action == NotifyCollectionChangedAction.Reset)
            {
                AssociatedObject.SelectedItems.Clear();
            }
        }
        finally
        {
            _isUpdatingTarget = false;
        }
    }

    private void ListBoxSelectionChanged(object sender, SelectionChangedEventArgs e)
    {
        if (_isUpdatingTarget)
            return;

        var selectedItems = this.SelectedItems;
        if (selectedItems == null)
            return;

        try
        {
            _isUpdatingSource = true;

            foreach (var item in e.RemovedItems)
            {
                selectedItems.Remove(item);
            }

            foreach (var item in e.AddedItems)
            {
                selectedItems.Add(item);
            }
        }
        finally
        {
            _isUpdatingSource = false;
        }
    }

}

This behavior can be used as shown below:

(note that the SelectedItems collection in your ViewModel has to be initialized; the behavior won't set it, it will only change its content)