Retaining invalid data in bound controls

[sthomaso@phmining.com]

I'm of the opinion that users should be able to TEMPORARILY have invalid data in a bound control. To enable this, I set Form.AutoValidate to EnableAllowFocusChange so they can leave a control even if there is invalid data. I bind these controls to an object that implements IDataErrorInfo & INotifyPropertyChanged, with property procedures like this:

Private _x As Double
Public Property X() As Double
  Get
    Return _x
  End Get
  Set(ByVal value As Double)
    If _x <> value Then
      If value < 0 OrElse value > 10 Then
        _item("X") = "X must be between 0 and 10!" ' For IDataErrorInfo.Item
      Else
        _item("X") = ""
        _x = value
        RaiseEvent PropertyChanged(Me, New PropertyChangedEventArgs("X"))
      End If
    End If
  End Set
End Property

Now let's say I enter an "a" into a textbox bound to this property, then I tab out of the textbox into another bound control, edit it, and then leave THAT control, too. This causes the controls to be refreshed with the value of the properties, which means that my invalid "a" gets changed to zero, the value of _x.

My question is: How can I set things up so the invalid "a" gets left in the control until the user decides to re-enter it and change the value?
---scott

 

[jmcilhinney]

Are you using a BindingSource?

SuspendBinding and ResumeBinding are two methods that allow the temporary suspension and resumption of data binding in a simple-binding scenario. You would typically suspend data binding if the user must be allowed to make several edits to data fields before validation occurs. For example, if one field must be changed in accordance with a second, but where validating the first field would cause the second field to be in error.