MVVM pattern violation: MediaElement.Play()

italianogrosso picture italianogrosso · May 17, 2012 · Viewed 9.9k times · Source

I understand that ViewModel shouldn't have any knowledge of View, but how can I call MediaElement.Play() method from ViewModel, other than having a reference to View (or directly to MediaElement) in ViewModel?
Other (linked) question: how can I manage View's controls visibility from ViewModel without violating MVVM pattern?

Answer

ken2k picture ken2k · May 17, 2012

1) Do not call Play() from the view model. Raise an event in the view model instead (for instance PlayRequested) and listen to this event in the view:

view model:

public event EventHandler PlayRequested;
...
if (this.PlayRequested != null)
{
    this.PlayRequested(this, EventArgs.Empty);
}

view:

ViewModel vm = new ViewModel();
this.DataContext = vm;
vm.PlayRequested += (sender, e) =>
{
    this.myMediaElement.Play();
};

2) You can expose in the view model a public boolean property, and bind the Visibility property of your controls to this property. As Visibility is of type Visibility and not bool, you'll have to use a converter.

You can find a basic implementation of such a converter here. This related question might help you too.