Collection changes
The .NET framework provides a standard interface for publishing changes to a collection.
As in the Observing Property changes sample, the INotifyCollectionChanged interface can be found in the System.dll, so is available to all .NET software not just GUI applications.
namespace System.Collections.Specialized
{
public interface INotifyCollectionChanged
{
event NotifyCollectionChangedEventHandler CollectionChanged;
}
public delegate void NotifyCollectionChangedEventHandler(object sender, NotifyCollectionChangedEventArgs e);
public class NotifyCollectionChangedEventArgs : EventArgs
{
// Implementations removed...
public NotifyCollectionChangedAction Action { get; }
public IList NewItems { get; }
public IList OldItems { get; }
public int NewStartingIndex { get; }
public int OldStartingIndex { get; }
}
public enum NotifyCollectionChangedAction
{
Add,
Remove,
Replace,
Move,
Reset,
}
}The two common implementations of this interface are the ObservableCollection<T> and ReadOnlyObservableCollection<T> which can be found in WindowsBase.dll in .NET 3.0, 3.5 & 4.0 and in System.ObjectModel.dll for the newer Portable libraries (both in System.Collections.ObjectModel).
Here is an example usage of the ObservableCollection<T>.
var source = new ObservableCollection<int>();
source.CollectionChanged += (s, e) => { e.Action.Dump("CollectionChanged"); };
source.Add(1);
source.Add(2);
source.Add(3);
source.Remove(2);
source.Clear();Output
CollectionChanged Add
CollectionChanged Add
CollectionChanged Add
CollectionChanged Remove
CollectionChanged Reset
Here you can see the Action for each event as the collection was changed.
You can also get information on the items that were added and at which index they were added from.
The same is the case for removals.
var source = new ObservableCollection<int>();
source.CollectionChanged += (s, e) =>
{
e.NewStartingIndex.Dump("CollectionChanged-NewStartingIndex");
e.NewItems[0].Dump("CollectionChanged-NewItems[0]");
};
source.Add(1);
source.Add(2);Output
CollectionChanged-NewStartingIndex 0
CollectionChanged-NewItems[0] 1
CollectionChanged-NewStartingIndex 1
CollectionChanged-NewItems[0] 2
A thing to note about the implementation of NotifyCollectionChangedEventArgs is that when the Action value suggests that the NewItems or OldItems properties are not appropriate, they return null values, not empty lists.
This requires you to either check the Action property before accessing the values or checking that the values are not null.
A simple implementation of getting the collection changed data would just be to just use the Observable.FromEventPattern factory method.
Observable.FromEventPattern<NotifyCollectionChangedEventHandler, NotifyCollectionChangedEventArgs>(
h=>source.CollectionChanged += h,
h=>source.CollectionChanged -= h);Output
CollectionChanges → Action Add
NewItems IList (1 item) {1}
OldItems null
NewStartingIndex 0
OldStartingIndex -1
CollectionChanges → Action Add
NewItems IList (1 item) {2}
OldItems null
NewStartingIndex 1
OldStartingIndex -1
CollectionChanges → Action Add
NewItems IList (1 item) {3}
OldItems null
NewStartingIndex 2
OldStartingIndex -1
CollectionChanges → Action Remove
NewItems null
OldItems IList (1 item) {2}
NewStartingIndex -1
OldStartingIndex 1
CollectionChanges → Action Reset
NewItems null
OldItems null
NewStartingIndex -1
OldStartingIndex -1
However this would require us to check the value of the NewItems and OldItems for null each time, or risk incurring a NullReferenceException.
I prefer to project the NotifyCollectionChangedEventArgs type into a custom type that removes the NullReferenceException risk for me.
public sealed class CollectionChangedData<T>
{
private readonly NotifyCollectionChangedAction _action;
private readonly ReadOnlyCollection<T> _newItems;
private readonly ReadOnlyCollection<T> _oldItems;
public CollectionChangedData(NotifyCollectionChangedEventArgs collectionChangedEventArgs):
this(collectionChangedEventArgs.OldItems, collectionChangedEventArgs.NewItems)
{
_action = collectionChangedEventArgs.Action;
}
public CollectionChangedData(T changedItem)
{
_action = NotifyCollectionChangedAction.Replace;
_newItems = new ReadOnlyCollection<T>(new T[] { changedItem });
_oldItems = new ReadOnlyCollection<T>(new T[] { });
}
public CollectionChangedData(IEnumerable oldItems, IEnumerable newItems)
{
_newItems = newItems == null
? new ReadOnlyCollection<T>(new T[] { })
: new ReadOnlyCollection<T>(newItems.Cast<T>().ToList());
_oldItems = oldItems == null
? new ReadOnlyCollection<T>(new T[] { })
: new ReadOnlyCollection<T>(oldItems.Cast<T>().ToList());
_action = _newItems.Count == 0
? NotifyCollectionChangedAction.Reset
: NotifyCollectionChangedAction.Replace;
}
public NotifyCollectionChangedAction Action
{
get { return _action; }
}
public ReadOnlyCollection<T> NewItems
{
get { return _newItems; }
}
public ReadOnlyCollection<T> OldItems
{
get { return _oldItems; }
}
}Now using this class we can project the sequence into a value without null values.
Observable.FromEventPattern<NotifyCollectionChangedEventHandler, NotifyCollectionChangedEventArgs>(
h => source.CollectionChanged += h,
h => source.CollectionChanged -= h)
.Select(e => new CollectionChangedData<int>(e.EventArgs))
.Dump("CollectionChanges");Output:
CollectionChanges → Action Add
NewItems ReadOnlyCollection<Int32> (1 item) {1}
OldItems ReadOnlyCollection<Int32> (0 item) {}
CollectionChanges → Action Add
NewItems ReadOnlyCollection<Int32> (1 item) {2}
OldItems ReadOnlyCollection<Int32> (0 item) {}
CollectionChanges → Action Add
NewItems ReadOnlyCollection<Int32> (1 item) {3}
OldItems ReadOnlyCollection<Int32> (0 item) {}
CollectionChanges → Action Remove
NewItems ReadOnlyCollection<Int32> (0 item) {}
OldItems ReadOnlyCollection<Int32> (1 item) {2}
CollectionChanges → Action Reset
NewItems ReadOnlyCollection<Int32> (0 item) {}
OldItems ReadOnlyCollection<Int32> (0 item) {}
I haven't kept the NewStartingIndex and OldStartingIndex properties on the new class as I have yet to have a need for them.
Feel free to add them if your requirements dictate obviously.
Here are samples of the implementation as an extension method for both ObservableCollection<T> and ReadOnlyObservableCollection<T>:
public static IObservable<CollectionChangedData<TItem>> CollectionChanges<TItem>(this ObservableCollection<TItem> collection)
{
return CollectionChangesImp<ObservableCollection<TItem>, TItem>(collection);
}
public static IObservable<CollectionChangedData<TItem>> CollectionChanges<TItem>(
this ReadOnlyObservableCollection<TItem> collection)
{
return CollectionChangesImp<ReadOnlyObservableCollection<TItem>, TItem>(collection);
}
private static IObservable<CollectionChangedData<TItem>> CollectionChangesImp<TCollection, TItem>(
TCollection collection)
where TCollection : IList<TItem>, INotifyCollectionChanged
{
return Observable.FromEventPattern<NotifyCollectionChangedEventHandler, NotifyCollectionChangedEventArgs>(
h => collection.CollectionChanged += h,
h => collection.CollectionChanged -= h)
.Select(e => new CollectionChangedData<TItem>(e.EventArgs));
}Collection's Items change notification
An interesting progression from just getting notifications when a collection changes, is to get notified when a property on an item in that collection changes.
For example if we have a collection of Person objects, we may want to be notified if one of those objects had their Name property changed.
For this we can leverage the patterns we had in the Property Changed sample.
public static IObservable<CollectionChangedData<TItem>> CollectionItemsChange<TItem, TProperty>(
this ObservableCollection<TItem> collection,
Expression<Func<TItem, TProperty>> property)
where TItem : INotifyPropertyChanged
{
var propertyName = property.GetPropertyInfo().Name;
return CollectionItemsChange<ObservableCollection<TItem>, TItem>(collection, propName => propName == propertyName);
}
private static IObservable<CollectionChangedData<TItem>> CollectionItemsChange<TCollection, TItem>(
TCollection collection,
Predicate<string> isPropertyNameRelevant)
where TCollection : IList<TItem>, INotifyCollectionChanged
{
return Observable.Create<CollectionChangedData<TItem>>(
o =>
{
var trackedItems = new List<INotifyPropertyChanged>();
PropertyChangedEventHandler onItemChanged =
(sender, e) =>
{
if (isPropertyNameRelevant(e.PropertyName))
{
var payload = new CollectionChangedData<TItem>((TItem)sender);
o.OnNext(payload);
}
};
Action<IEnumerable<TItem>> registerItemChangeHandlers =
items =>
{
foreach (var notifier in items.OfType<INotifyPropertyChanged>())
{
trackedItems.Add(notifier);
notifier.PropertyChanged += onItemChanged;
}
};
Action<IEnumerable<TItem>> unRegisterItemChangeHandlers =
items =>
{
foreach (var notifier in items.OfType<INotifyPropertyChanged>())
{
notifier.PropertyChanged -= onItemChanged;
trackedItems.Remove(notifier);
}
};
registerItemChangeHandlers(collection);
var collChanged = Observable.FromEventPattern<NotifyCollectionChangedEventHandler, NotifyCollectionChangedEventArgs>(
h => collection.CollectionChanged += h,
h => collection.CollectionChanged -= h);
return collChanged
.Finally(() => unRegisterItemChangeHandlers(collection))
.Select(e => e.EventArgs)
.Subscribe(
e => {
if (e.Action == NotifyCollectionChangedAction.Reset)
{
foreach (var notifier in trackedItems)
{
notifier.PropertyChanged -= onItemChanged;
}
var payload = new CollectionChangedData<TItem>(trackedItems, collection);
trackedItems.Clear();
registerItemChangeHandlers(collection);
o.OnNext(payload);
}
else
{
var payload = new CollectionChangedData<TItem>(e);
unRegisterItemChangeHandlers(payload.OldItems);
registerItemChangeHandlers(payload.NewItems);
o.OnNext(payload);
}
});
});
}Now we can add, remove and modify items in a collection and get notified about it.
var people = new ObservableCollection<Person>();
people.CollectionItemsChange(p=>p.Name)
.SelectMany(changes=>changes.NewItems)
.Select(person=>person.Name)
.Dump("CollectionItemsChange");
people.Add(new Person(){Name="John"});
people.Add(new Person(){Name="Jack"});
people.Add(new Person(){Name="Jack"});
people[0].Name = "Jon";Output:
CollectionItemsChange →John
CollectionItemsChange →Jack
CollectionItemsChange →Jack
CollectionItemsChange →Jon
The full LinqPad sample in available as ObservableCollectionSample.linq