Set ListBoxItem.IsSelected when child TextBox is Focused

Question

Hi, I have a typical MVVM scenario: I have a ListBox that is binded to a List of StepsViewModels. I define a DataTemplate so that StepViewModels are rendered as StepViews. The StepView UserControl have a set of labels and TextBoxs.

What I want to do is to select the ListBoxItem that is wrapping the StepView when a textBox is focused. I've tried to create a style for my TextBoxs with the following trigger:

<Trigger Property="IsFocused" Value="true">
    <Setter TargetName="{Binding RelativeSource={RelativeSource Mode=FindAncestor, AncestorType={x:Type ListBoxItem}}}" Property="IsSelected" Value="True"/>
</Trigger>

But I get an error telling me that TextBoxs don't have an IsSelected property. I now that but the Target is a ListBoxItem. How can I make it work?

Answer 1

One way to achieve that is by implementing a custom behavior using an attached property. Basically, the attached property would be applied to the ListBoxItem using a style, and would hook up to their GotFocus event. That even fires if any descendant of the control gets the focus, so it is suitable for this task. In the event handler, IsSelected is set to true.

I wrote up a small example for you:

The Behavior Class:

public class MyBehavior
{
    public static bool GetSelectOnDescendantFocus(DependencyObject obj)
    {
        return (bool)obj.GetValue(SelectOnDescendantFocusProperty);
    }

    public static void SetSelectOnDescendantFocus(
        DependencyObject obj, bool value)
    {
        obj.SetValue(SelectOnDescendantFocusProperty, value);
    }

    public static readonly DependencyProperty SelectOnDescendantFocusProperty =
        DependencyProperty.RegisterAttached(
            "SelectOnDescendantFocus",
            typeof(bool),
            typeof(MyBehavior),
            new UIPropertyMetadata(false, OnSelectOnDescendantFocusChanged));

    static void OnSelectOnDescendantFocusChanged(
        DependencyObject d, DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs e)
    {
        ListBoxItem lbi = d as ListBoxItem;
        if (lbi == null) return;
        bool ov = (bool)e.OldValue;
        bool nv = (bool)e.NewValue;
        if (ov == nv) return;
        if (nv)
        {
            lbi.GotFocus += lbi_GotFocus;
        }
        else
        {
            lbi.GotFocus -= lbi_GotFocus;
        }
    }

    static void lbi_GotFocus(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
    {
        ListBoxItem lbi = sender as ListBoxItem;
        lbi.IsSelected = true;
    }
}

The Window XAML:

<Window x:Class="q2960098.MainWindow"
        xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
        xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
        xmlns:sys="clr-namespace:System;assembly=mscorlib"
        Title="MainWindow" Height="350" Width="525" xmlns:my="clr-namespace:q2960098">
    <Window.Resources>
        <DataTemplate x:Key="UserControlItemTemplate">
            <Border BorderBrush="Black" BorderThickness="5" Margin="10">
                <my:UserControl1/>
            </Border>
        </DataTemplate>
        <XmlDataProvider x:Key="data">
            <x:XData>
                <test xmlns="">
                    <item a1="1" a2="2" a3="3" a4="4">a</item>
                    <item a1="a" a2="b" a3="c" a4="d">b</item>
                    <item a1="A" a2="B" a3="C" a4="D">c</item>
                </test>
            </x:XData>
        </XmlDataProvider>
        <Style x:Key="MyBehaviorStyle" TargetType="ListBoxItem">
            <Setter Property="my:MyBehavior.SelectOnDescendantFocus" Value="True"/>
        </Style>
    </Window.Resources>
    <Grid>
        <ListBox ItemTemplate="{StaticResource UserControlItemTemplate}"
                 ItemsSource="{Binding Source={StaticResource data}, XPath=//item}"
                 HorizontalContentAlignment="Stretch"
                 ItemContainerStyle="{StaticResource MyBehaviorStyle}">

        </ListBox>
    </Grid>
</Window>

The User Control XAML:

<UserControl x:Class="q2960098.UserControl1"
             xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
             xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
             xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006" 
             xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008" 
             mc:Ignorable="d" 
             d:DesignHeight="300" d:DesignWidth="300">
    <UniformGrid>
        <TextBox Margin="10" Text="{Binding XPath=@a1}"/>
        <TextBox Margin="10" Text="{Binding XPath=@a2}"/>
        <TextBox Margin="10" Text="{Binding XPath=@a3}"/>
        <TextBox Margin="10" Text="{Binding XPath=@a4}"/>
    </UniformGrid>
</UserControl>

Answer 2

There is a read-only property IsKeyboardFocusWithin that will be set to true if any child is focused. You can use this to set ListBoxItem.IsSelected in a Trigger:

<ListBox ItemsSource="{Binding SomeCollection}" HorizontalAlignment="Left">
    <ListBox.ItemContainerStyle>
        <Style TargetType="{x:Type ListBoxItem}">
            <Style.Triggers>
                <Trigger Property="IsKeyboardFocusWithin" Value="True">
                    <Setter Property="IsSelected" Value="True" />
                </Trigger>
            </Style.Triggers>
        </Style>
    </ListBox.ItemContainerStyle>
    <ListBox.ItemTemplate>
        <DataTemplate>
            <TextBox Width="100" Margin="5" Text="{Binding Name}"/>
        </DataTemplate>
    </ListBox.ItemTemplate>
</ListBox>