INotifyPropertyChanged Interface
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.NET Framework Class Library
INotifyPropertyChanged Interface

Updated: January 2010

Notifies clients that a property value has changed.

Namespace:  System.ComponentModel
Assembly:  System (in System.dll)
Syntax

'Usage

Dim instance As INotifyPropertyChanged

'Declaration

Public Interface INotifyPropertyChanged
Remarks

The INotifyPropertyChanged interface is used to notify clients, typically binding clients, that a property value has changed.

For example, consider a Person object with a property called FirstName. To provide generic property-change notification, the Person type implements the INotifyPropertyChanged interface and raises a PropertyChanged event when FirstName is changed.

For change notification to occur in a binding between a bound client and a data source, your bound type should either:

  • Implement the INotifyPropertyChanged interface (preferred).

  • Provide a change event for each property of the bound type.

Do not do both.

Examples

The following code example demonstrates the how to implement the INotifyPropertyChanged interface. When you run this example, you will notice the bound DataGridView control reflects the change in the data source without requiring the binding to be reset.

Imports System
Imports System.Collections.Generic
Imports System.ComponentModel
Imports System.Data
Imports System.Data.Common
Imports System.Diagnostics
Imports System.Drawing
Imports System.Data.SqlClient
Imports System.Windows.Forms

' This form demonstrates using a BindingSource to bind
' a list to a DataGridView control. The list does not
' raise change notifications, however the DemoCustomer type 
' in the list does.

Public Class Form1
    Inherits System.Windows.Forms.Form
    ' This button causes the value of a list element to be changed.
    Private changeItemBtn As New Button()

    ' This DataGridView control displays the contents of the list.
    Private customersDataGridView As New DataGridView()

    ' This BindingSource binds the list to the DataGridView control.
    Private customersBindingSource As New BindingSource()

    Public Sub New()
        ' Set up the "Change Item" button.
        Me.changeItemBtn.Text = "Change Item"
        Me.changeItemBtn.Dock = DockStyle.Bottom
        AddHandler Me.changeItemBtn.Click, AddressOf changeItemBtn_Click
        Me.Controls.Add(Me.changeItemBtn)

        ' Set up the DataGridView.
        customersDataGridView.Dock = DockStyle.Top
        Me.Controls.Add(customersDataGridView)

        Me.Size = New Size(800, 200)
        AddHandler Me.Load, AddressOf Form1_Load

    End Sub 'New

    Private Sub Form1_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, _
        ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Me.Load

        ' Create and populate the list of DemoCustomer objects
        ' which will supply data to the DataGridView.
        Dim customerList As New BindingList(Of DemoCustomer)

        customerList.Add(DemoCustomer.CreateNewCustomer())
        customerList.Add(DemoCustomer.CreateNewCustomer())
        customerList.Add(DemoCustomer.CreateNewCustomer())

        ' Bind the list to the BindingSource.
        Me.customersBindingSource.DataSource = customerList

        ' Attach the BindingSource to the DataGridView.
        Me.customersDataGridView.DataSource = Me.customersBindingSource

    End Sub 'Form1_Load

    ' This event handler changes the value of the CompanyName
    ' property for the first item in the list.
    Private Sub changeItemBtn_Click(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As EventArgs)
        ' Get a reference to the list from the BindingSource.
        Dim customerList As BindingList(Of DemoCustomer) = _
            CType(customersBindingSource.DataSource, BindingList(Of DemoCustomer))

        ' Change the value of the CompanyName property for the 
        ' first item in the list.
        customerList(0).CustomerName = "Tailspin Toys"

    End Sub



    <STAThread()> _
    Shared Sub Main()
        Application.EnableVisualStyles()
        Application.Run(New Form1())

    End Sub
End Class

' This class implements a simple customer type 
' that implements the IPropertyChange interface.

Public Class DemoCustomer
    Implements INotifyPropertyChanged

    ' These fields hold the values for the public properties.
    Private idValue As Guid = Guid.NewGuid()
    Private customerNameValue As String = String.Empty
    Private phoneNumberValue As String = String.Empty

    Public Event PropertyChanged As PropertyChangedEventHandler _
        Implements INotifyPropertyChanged.PropertyChanged

    Private Sub NotifyPropertyChanged(ByVal info As String)
        RaiseEvent PropertyChanged(Me, New PropertyChangedEventArgs(info))
    End Sub

    ' The constructor is private to enforce the factory pattern.
    Private Sub New()
        customerNameValue = "Customer"
        phoneNumberValue = "(555)555-5555"

    End Sub

    ' This is the public factory method.
    Public Shared Function CreateNewCustomer() As DemoCustomer
        Return New DemoCustomer()

    End Function

    ' This property represents an ID, suitable
    ' for use as a primary key in a database.
    Public ReadOnly Property ID() As Guid
        Get
            Return Me.idValue
        End Get
    End Property


    Public Property CustomerName() As String
        Get
            Return Me.customerNameValue
        End Get

        Set(ByVal value As String)
            If Not (value = customerNameValue) Then
                Me.customerNameValue = value
                NotifyPropertyChanged("CustomerName")
            End If
        End Set
    End Property


    Public Property PhoneNumber() As String
        Get
            Return Me.phoneNumberValue
        End Get

        Set(ByVal value As String)
            If Not (value = phoneNumberValue) Then
                Me.phoneNumberValue = value
                NotifyPropertyChanged("PhoneNumber")
            End If

        End Set
    End Property
End Class


Platforms

Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP SP2, Windows XP Media Center Edition, Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, Windows XP Starter Edition, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2000 SP4, Windows Millennium Edition, Windows 98, Windows CE, Windows Mobile for Smartphone, Windows Mobile for Pocket PC, Xbox 360, Zune

The .NET Framework and .NET Compact Framework do not support all versions of every platform. For a list of the supported versions, see .NET Framework System Requirements.
Version Information

.NET Framework

Supported in: 3.5, 3.0, 2.0

.NET Compact Framework

Supported in: 3.5, 2.0

XNA Framework

Supported in: 3.0, 2.0, 1.0
See Also

Reference

Change History

Date

History

Reason

January 2010

Removed incorrect remark.

Content bug fix.

Community Content

See Also could usefully include a link to INotifyCollectionChanged
Added by:LukeSkywalker
For those looking to implement this pattern on a collection, and if the ObservableCollection<T> class is not appropriate for your scenario, the CollectionChanged event in the INotifyCollectionChanged interface may be what you're looking for.

The IBindingList interface supports more complex binding situations.

What does "Merge" mean here?
Added by:JJChen
If your data source implements the INotifyPropertyChanged and you are performing asynchronous operations you should not make changes to the data source on a background thread. Instead, you should read the data on a background thread and merge the data into a list on the UI thread.

Here "merge the data into a list on the UI thread", what does "merge" mean here? Could you show an example?
Please change the samples to follow the .NET design guidelines
Added by:omjbe
The examples of this help topic should follow the .NET design guidelines.

One of the drawbacks the sample contains: When someone inherits from DemoCustomer and creates a new property in the sub class then this property cannot raise the PropertyChanged event. This is because the method NotifyPropertyChanged is private.

Implementing the INotifyPropertyChanged interface isn’t easy at all. See this discussion for more information: http://compositeextensions.codeplex.com/Thread/View.aspx?ThreadId=53731
There is a race condition in NotifyPropertyChanged implementation here
Added by:Peter Oehlert
The NotifyPropertyChanged should make a local copy of the delegate before checking for null. Otherwise it is possible that between the null check and the execution of the delegate that another thread removes the handler and nulls out the delegate at which point a NullReferenceException will occur.
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