Intro to Model-View-ViewModel (MVVM) Pattern for WPF in C#

Introduction tutorial of the Model-View-ViewModel architectural design pattern for WPF in C# that covers the basic fundamentals of the pattern, its purpose, and how to use it.
Source Code:
www.danderson.io/posts/mvvm-se...
#wpf #mvvm #dcomengineering

[@MateusGomes-hp3jr]

9 years later and it is still one of the best MVVM tutorials. Great explanation.

[@aleksey1799]

The most approachable wpf mvvm basics short lesson I've seen!

[@rickd32]

Thanks David! This is by far the best C#/WPF tutorial I have come across. Very well explained and easy to follow along. I'm looking forward checking out the rest of your posts.

[@DX7Dev]

Thanks, glad to hear! Uploaded a new one recently!

[@chandantiwari2441]

New to MVVM, looking for right source to start with, Go for this tutorial, you will not be disappointed believe me !. This is the simplest possible explanation I ever had seen on youtube.

[@Orww]

I'm a complete newbie to WPF/MVVM and this has helped me greatly, as opposed to some other resources out there. Thank you!

[@scotolivera8207]

almost 9 years passed, and still helpful, thanks

[@jamesvalery9367]

Thank you so much for this!! Short and simple.

[@neeleshbodgal7479]

I am glad that such a tut exists which explains the MVVM with easy and focus on essentials. I have visited reading about patterns but relatively this is more easy to understand the basic essence of MVVM and related features of wpf too. Thanks for making it. Looking forward to more tuts that would give more insight on problems faced in the pattern and suggestions to overcome in design if any.

[@michor10]

I know this is an old video but I just wanted to say that it is great and really helpful. Excellent production. Thanks!

[@NoOne-wf6hm]

"Mr. Anderson..." Good Job! (Thumbs Up)

[@danielfridman8317]

Finally, simple and clear explanation!

[@PaulSebastianM]

Finally, how long I have searched! Thank you!

[@rajguru01583]

Simply Awesome! Thanks for Sharing! Short and Effectively!

[@rezaahmadi6128]

Really nice video! Thanks David! Keep doing awesome work.

[@frederickfoster3218]

Oh that is great point regarding Models. When I first started looking at MVVM. I got impression that VM was getting too much responsibility... but I like this a lot "(eg. Customer > CustomerModel > ViewModel > View)." Thanks for taking your time - this was very helpful, I almost went the wrong the way with my design :)

[@daveconnors62]

brilliant tutorial. finally understand what MVVM is aiming to achieve, and how it achieves it

[@levkhromov4852]

Great. Best WPF tutorial I've seen. Hope you will continue gladdening our hearts and minds :)

[@DX7Dev]

Thanks! I really appreciate it!

[@lilyflowerangel]

Amazing tutorial. Thank you for this!

[@swingymcswing]

I'm slowly getting into WPF/MVVM for work(C# 7yrs) and I can say that your videos have helped me get a grasp of what is going on in this pattern. I was truly clueless before, and still, a long way to go.

[@thomashcullen3253]

swingymcswing Hi swingymcswing.. You deserve a house, for free.

[@DX7Dev]

I'm glad you were able to get it working, and thank you for the feedback. Glad you like my video. :)

[@davidnstevenson]

Quite the best, most practical introduction to MVVM I've seen. Excellent.

[@thomashcullen3253]

David Stevenson Hi David.. You deserve a house, for free.

[@invaden5605]

Great presentations, Congrats and thank you. These 3 videos were very helpfull.

[@pranavsv]

I must say I've been every where on Internet looking for something that could get me started "How to actually use MVVM"? All those 300+ pages books must be good for later reading but trust me...if you want to start MVVM, this video is the place!! David you rock!! Thanks.

[@04Bovo]

Thank YOU!! this helped me sooooo much! wonderful video!

[@Twisterzemun]

Awesome tutorial, thanks alot for this! :D

[@ChristopherLoyd1]

Great Video. I'm brand new to .NET programming, C# and the MVVM patterns and principles - this video helped bridge some gaps for me on exactly how MVVM worked with WPF. Thank you so much!

[@kennethkiiza8026]

Way to go man. Just starting out - in anticipation of a major WPF project coming my way soon. Looking forward to the next offering.

[@asbmud]

Great video tutorial. Congrats!

[@cmtyler]

Great explanation of MVVM!! Easy to understand. Thanks!

[@borisprymost]

Thanks a lot! Very nice tutorial. I was always kinda scared to use bindings. Mostly because i didn't understand them. But now i see how awesome they are.

[@eitzhadas]

Thanks for the great video! Btw, I see you constantly copy/paste text in order to reorder lines, you should know this - you can use the Alt-Arrows keys to do the same much quicker, efficient, and cleaner.

[@DX7Dev]

Thanks for the tip!

[@mariasarabia1958]

Paw patrol

[@jespersails]

Very nicely done david ! Your video cleared all the doubts i had in my mind !

[@kernildojunior]

Excellent video ! Well explained ... thanks a lot for sharing knowledge and congratulations !

[@robertthomas8813]

Good instruction and clear voice, nice demo !!

[@damianzelazny5785]

Excellent explanation ! Thanks for great tutorial.

[@Faygris]

I can't believe you added the whole OnPropertyChanged logic via a custom code-snippet without explaining it at all

[@DX7Dev]

It's a bit assumed that it's prerequisite knowledge these days! Change notification has been around for awhile now!

[@nemanjaq]

Thank you very much. Very interesting and clear step by step guide. Cheers!

[@DX7Dev]

Thanks for the feedback. I usually put links to the code in my video descriptions, but if you would like all three packaged into a single project, may I recommend holding out for the next MVVM video. The next MVVM video we will go through making an entire MVVM application. Something simple, but from start to finish, including unit tests.

[@gimmyig]

Nice Tutorial! Thanks

[@ahmadfatahian5368]

Thanks David. Great Turorial.

[@tdkboxster]

Fantastic video, great effort. Truly appreciate it.

[@rosspatel3526]

This might be the best c# tutorial I have seen on youtube. Very well explained, not just code to re-type. Thanks.

[@RobertButterworth]

It is a pretty good tutorial! it's a shame that you end up with so much more code when using MVVM than straight winforms :S

[@SteveTheodore480BC]

Up to a point - but afterwards I find it's less work, since using bindings and observable collections usually removes a ton of irritating 'if this is selected then highlight that' boilerplate. For things like rich lists its a big win

[@RobertButterworth]

Yep, just got to make sure that your app hits that point and continues for a bit. I'm in the middle of said point. :S

[@SteveTheodore480BC]

Of course, there's the whole "I just got comfortable with WPF and now its obsolete" thing to consider too...

[@RobertButterworth]

Lol!!!

[@Itelfig]

Thanks for clearing those things out for me :)

[@user-fk7mt5st4n]

This is a really good tutorial. You just write code and dont explain every single letter as if the listener was an idiot. Thanks

[@MrProgrammer101]

Awesome video super clear and simple. It was a big help thank you!

[@DX7Dev]

You're welcome! Thanks for the feedback!

[@DX7Dev]

Thanks for the feedback. I have made a note of this from multiple comments regarding hotkey usage and will make an effort to point these things out.

[@sudani1969]

Wow i was looking fr simple and clear tutorial...and here it is looking for more tutorials

[@DavidAnderson-cj3ux]

Thank for the feedback. I just uploaded a new video this morning, and there are more on the way :)

[@TheAjr10]

Thank you! Great content.

[@undtakr]

David I wrote earlier about the app.xaml causing an exception. I figured out what it was and it works now. This is a great video since I'm new to the whole MVVM and wpf stuff.

[@ethanwint3930]

I'm new to WPF this was extremely helpful

[@DX7Dev]

Thank you for the feedback. I do know that you can set the data context directly from Xaml, though I don't remember why I chose not to demonstrate that in this particular video. At any rate, in Session 03 I use that technique which prevents any code-behind at all. Glad you liked the videos, more to come for sure.

[@fraukline4503]

Bravo!! Very nice. Thanks!

[@RosenmeierCPH]

Very nice tutorial. It really help me understand data bindings.

[@DX7Dev]

Thanks for the feedback cmtyler. There will be an MVVM Session 02 coming soon as well.

[@DX7Dev]

Glad everything has been sorted out for you. Hope you are having fun with WPF/MVVM!

[@DX7Dev]

Glad it helped! Happy coding!

[@jogribaer]

Thank you very much for this awesome tutorial :)

[@DX7Dev]

You're welcome! Glad you enjoyed it!

[@piggyefromhell]

Very nice tutorial!

[@benjamwondafrash4857]

Thanks undtkr! I tried "Views.MainWindow". Dot instead of "/". I am a total beginner with WPF, so your quick reply was priceless.

[@ArturMichajluk]

Nice tutorial. I'm looking for tutorial for my friend and I give him your's. Few things for you: 1. You can create DataContext in xaml and keep code behind untouched. 2. And for defining props you can use 'propfull' snippet. Or (as i've done) create similar snippet for OnPropertyChanged props. (I called it propnotify). Once again, nice tutorial.

[@bioanu]

Excellent, excellent, excellent!!!!

[@DX7Dev]

Thanks! There are two other videos in this series I did, which you can see on my channel. Definitely more to come.

[@DX7Dev]

Both are valid approaches; it just depends on your needs and how much code you want to duplicate. This is called model wrapping and is a great approach for wrapping models that do not implement INotifyPropertyChanged. I tend to wrap models when I don't want the bindings to be coupled to the model. This makes it easier to replace the model at a later date with something else if need be.

[@VongolaFamilie]

Good Video, helped me understand the System MVVM better.

[@thehope1999]

Excellent, thank you.

[@bezbos]

This is a very good explanation and demonstration of *MVVM*. Some things just clicked for me. I do however need to see how "_ICommand_" works.

[@amalshalika6803]

good one.. simple and helpful...

[@amrgaber4662]

Great Work .. thanks شكرا

[@Zooral45]

This is great and I'm looking forward for the rest. How is this not a top video by now? :/

[@DX7Dev]

It was a top video for quite a while but its pretty old now. Thanks for the feedback

[@shashikantpatil2913]

Great David.

[@upsnipster]

This video is great. I feel enlightened after watching.

[@DX7Dev]

That is the intent, so I'm glad I accomplished the goal. Thanks for the feedback!

[@supertong-things]

Thanks, it helps me a lots.

[@hansjd]

AWSOME!

[@duannguyen1550]

Great video.

[@DX7Dev]

Yeah, I use a lot of hotkeys. CTRL+. is most common, but now I've started using ReSharper and I use ALT+ENTER a lot for the refactoring options. Definitely a great tool that I highly recommend.

[@mthomsonkiwi]

Thanks David! I learned a ton. Threw me for a while when things were just appearing because your using shortcut keys etc. If you could call out what your pressing, that would be helpful for those of us that aren't power users yet! :D

[@anjnakhanna630]

Very good explanation of MVVM.

[@Suriyaakter]

Hey David, Nice, clean and simple way to talk about MVVM. Also thanks for uploading source code (at your site). It would be great help if we able to read the code while you explain in video, please increase the fonts (in coming sessions). Thanks once again.

[@cbttjm]

Thanks very much!

[@juanpedro8775]

Great Tutorial

[@DavidAnderson-cj3ux]

Thanks!

Thank you very much!

[@DX7Dev]

You are exactly right! But, sometimes to get people started it is best to take an easier approach where they can focus on smaller parts at a time. My next video will approach the major differences between a model and view model, and where models actually come from. Thanks for the feedback.

[@saml9615]

Wow. Great work man.

[@DavidAnderson-cj3ux]

Thanks man!

[@DX7Dev]

Thanks for the feedback. Updated the description. Also check out the other two MVVM videos on the series on my channel.

[@DX7Dev]

Thanks!

[@Alexander-jr1yk]

Now are datacontext, binding, MVVM, etc for me also crisp and clear. Thanks.

[@rajeshkhakhar6279]

excellent video.... thanks for sharing the same

[@bkboggy]

How come you moved your using statement into namespace context in the Customer class?

[@bsdisaster]

Love the tutorial. It really helped. I run into one challenge thought. I am building an app where the user controls have to be dynamically created based on values of users preferences. How do I create click events for controls I don't know will exist until runtime? This is simple to do in the code behind, but I can't even fathom how in a view model.

[@DX7Dev]

I'm more of an explicit developer for readability, which is why you will find me explicitly declaring things like internal, even though it is the default. As for the using statements, there is a small difference in putting them inside or outside a namespace, but I cannot post any links in comments so you will have to search StackOverflow for the popular answer, or just read the C# specification. Thanks for the questions and feedback.

[@DX7Dev]

CTRL+. is a built-in shortcut that brings up a menu for certain actions, such as adding missing using statements, creating new types, etc. I also have tons of extensions in Visual Studio so if you watch some of my more recent videos you may see more "shortcuts". :)

[@frederickfoster3218]

Cant wait to see more of MVVM videos - I think I might use what you covered in #3 soon :). 1 question/suggestion. When you bind Name to the textBox you use "Binding Customer.Name" - I do not like that, I would much rather have "Binding CustomerName" where CustomerName is string property in ViewModel which gets and sets Customer.Name. This way if something changes about Customer, it is less likely I would have to do anything with View I would just change VM. I would appreciate your feedback

[@eviscero]

This video was excellent. Please tell me you have one for threading.

[@kicknotes]

Good video. I think WPF+MVVM is great, but I'm always a bit turned off by the amount of standard scaffolding required for command handling without using something like IRoutedCommand or a framework like Caliburn Micro. Nonetheless, good video... will watch the others.

[@DX7Dev]

kicknotes Will be doing a Q&A video tomorrow.

[@thomashcullen3253]

kicknotes Hi kicknotes.. You deserve a house, for free.

[@DX7Dev]

You implement INotifyPropertyChanged so that if the value of a property on the model changes from your model or view model, the view is notified of that change and can update the display. Otherwise without it, WPF doesn't know when a value changes and will display an old value. You do not need to implement the interface to support changing the value from the view however.

[@russw6566]

Is it a good idea to expose the model (like you are doing) directly on the view model without wrapping it? You're creating an indirect reference from model to view through databinding. Do you think it would be better to use proxies for the properties on your customer model or not?

[@erankitmalviyans]

Thanks David

[@b0570nk4]

hello, first i'd like to thank you for this tutorial, it was really helpful. now after little bit of practice i am trying to properly apply this knowledge however i am having hard time with 2 things related to mvvm. q1 - How should i bind observeableCollection in the view's itemssource itemTemplate? let's say i have a ListView which's item's source is ObserveableCollection and with 3 gridviewColumns each binding to a property of MyModel (FirstName, Email, etc.) should i wrap the Model into ModelVM and expose model's properties in it? because currently my model has NotifyPropertyChanged and i believe it should not due to model-view separation goal we want to eachieve, correct? q2 - who is responsible for defining business logic? is it MVVM-ok if my ViewModel's class has a method lets say "ComputeChecksum"? Or should it rather be in some other class lets say "CoreFuncs" in order to keep the ViewModel businessLogic-clean? and yes - i have tried to use google, but the conversations i've found were not satisfying me

[@DX7Dev]

Normally you would create a view that contains the menu with a view model behind it. It is a bit of work, but it pays off in the end because its quite flexible, easy to maintain, and easy to change.

[@billaps]

Thank you for the video. I have one question: Since both the update button and the text area have bindings with the Customer.Name, what is the difference between them? I mean, typing a name already changes the Customer.Name property, even if the update button does not get clicked.