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Hooking a command to validation automatically

It is possible to hook the CanExecute of a Command to the IValidationSummary automatically. This way, there is no need to check for errors manually in the CanExecute method. The example below first adds a validation summary to a view model to get the validation result. Then, it uses this validation summary to automatically determine whether a command can be executed.

1. Add validation to a person view model (note how the validation adds the tag PersonValidation to a validation):

/// <summary>
/// Validates the field values of this object. Override this method to enable
/// validation of field values.
/// </summary>
/// <param name="validationResults">The validation results, add additional results to this list.</param>
protected override void ValidateFields(System.Collections.Generic.List<IFieldValidationResult> validationResults)
{
    if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(FirstName))
    {
        validationResults.Add(FieldValidationResult.CreateErrorWithTag(FirstNameProperty, "First name cannot be empty", "PersonValidation"));
    }

    if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(LastName))
    {
        validationResults.Add(FieldValidationResult.CreateErrorWithTag(LastNameProperty, "Last name cannot be empty", "PersonValidation"));
    }
}

2. Add a property to the view model containing the validation summary using the ValidationToViewModel attribute.

[ValidationToViewModel(Tag = "PersonValidation")]
public IValidationSummary PersonValidationSummary { get; set; }

Define a command on the view model:

/// <summary>
/// Gets the Save command.
/// </summary>
public Command Save { get; private set; }

/// <summary>
/// Method to invoke when the Save command is executed.
/// </summary>
private void OnSaveExecute()
{
    // TODO: Handle command logic here
}

Create the command that automatically uses the validation summary using the CommandHelper class:

Save = CommandHelper.CreateCommand(OnSaveExecute, () => PersonValidationSummary);

With this example, the Save command on the view model can only be executed when there are no errors with the PersonValidation tag.

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Hooking a command to validation automatically

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