Accessing the Parent Form Fields in the UIModel class of a Dataform Extension

Keegan Wade · June 2023

I have a dataform extension with a UIModel class, whose parent is the Edit Relationship form in CRM. The purpose of the extension is to transfer field values between the Edit Relationship form and the dataform extension, triggered by certain user events that occur in the form. Does anyone have a snippet I could use showing how to reference the parent form fields from the UIModel code of a dataform extension? C# would be ideal, although VB.NET would be great too.

Todd O · June 2023

@Keegan Wade Here is some of the code for a UIModel on an extension used for the out of the box add and edit event forms. It pulls values from the parent UIModel and updates every time they are changed. The null checks look weird but I needed them to prevent a crash. Its been a while but I believe the parent UIModel isn't initialized until a field in the parent form is touched.

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using Blackbaud.AppFx.UIModeling.Core;

namespace MyCatalog.UIModel
{

public partial class EventFormExtensionUIModel
{
private Blackbaud.AppFx.UIModeling.Core.DataFormUIModel hostModel;
private string localValue_NAME = string.Empty;
private string localCaption_NAME = string.Empty;
private string localValue_DESCRIPTION = string.Empty;
private string localCaption_DESCRIPTION = string.Empty;

private void EventFormExtensionUIModel_Loaded(object sender, Blackbaud.AppFx.UIModeling.Core.LoadedEventArgs e)
{
hostModel = (Blackbaud.AppFx.UIModeling.Core.DataFormUIModel)this.HostModel;
SetLocalHostModelValues();
}

private void EventFormExtensionUIModel_HostModelChanged(object sender, Blackbaud.AppFx.UIModeling.Core.HostModelChangedEventArgs e)
{
if (hostModel == null)
{
hostModel = (Blackbaud.AppFx.UIModeling.Core.DataFormUIModel)this.HostModel;
}

if (hostModel != null)
{
if (hostModel is Blackbaud.AppFx.Event.UIModel.EventAddFormUIModel)
{
((Blackbaud.AppFx.Event.UIModel.EventAddFormUIModel)hostModel).NAME.ValueChanged += HostModel_NAME_ValueChanged;
((Blackbaud.AppFx.Event.UIModel.EventAddFormUIModel)hostModel).DESCRIPTION.ValueChanged += HostModel_DESCRIPTION_ValueChanged;
}
else if (hostModel is Blackbaud.AppFx.Event.UIModel.EventEditForm3UIModel)
{
((Blackbaud.AppFx.Event.UIModel.EventEditForm3UIModel)hostModel).NAME.ValueChanged += HostModel_NAME_ValueChanged;
((Blackbaud.AppFx.Event.UIModel.EventEditForm3UIModel)hostModel).DESCRIPTION.ValueChanged += HostModel_DESCRIPTION_ValueChanged;
}

//the HostModel often(always?) comes into "Loaded" as not initialized yet. Any action "HostModelChanged"
//add 2nd chance here for Edit form where NAME/DESCRIPTION are not changed or Add form getting a default value.
SetLocalHostModelValues();
}
else
{
if (hostModel is Blackbaud.AppFx.Event.UIModel.EventAddFormUIModel)
{
((Blackbaud.AppFx.Event.UIModel.EventAddFormUIModel)hostModel).NAME.ValueChanged -= HostModel_NAME_ValueChanged;
((Blackbaud.AppFx.Event.UIModel.EventAddFormUIModel)hostModel).DESCRIPTION.ValueChanged -= HostModel_DESCRIPTION_ValueChanged;
}
else if (hostModel is Blackbaud.AppFx.Event.UIModel.EventEditForm3UIModel)
{
((Blackbaud.AppFx.Event.UIModel.EventEditForm3UIModel)hostModel).NAME.ValueChanged -= HostModel_NAME_ValueChanged;
((Blackbaud.AppFx.Event.UIModel.EventEditForm3UIModel)hostModel).DESCRIPTION.ValueChanged -= HostModel_DESCRIPTION_ValueChanged;
}
}
}

private void SetLocalHostModelValues()
{
if (hostModel != null)
{
if (hostModel is Blackbaud.AppFx.Event.UIModel.EventAddFormUIModel)
{
Blackbaud.AppFx.Event.UIModel.EventAddFormUIModel eventAddHostModel = (Blackbaud.AppFx.Event.UIModel.EventAddFormUIModel)hostModel;
localValue_NAME = eventAddHostModel.NAME.Value;
localCaption_NAME = eventAddHostModel.NAME.Caption;
localValue_DESCRIPTION = eventAddHostModel.DESCRIPTION.Value;
localCaption_DESCRIPTION = eventAddHostModel.DESCRIPTION.Caption;
}
else if (hostModel is Blackbaud.AppFx.Event.UIModel.EventEditForm3UIModel)
{
Blackbaud.AppFx.Event.UIModel.EventEditForm3UIModel eventEditHostModel = (Blackbaud.AppFx.Event.UIModel.EventEditForm3UIModel)hostModel;
localValue_NAME = eventEditHostModel.NAME.Value;
localCaption_NAME = eventEditHostModel.NAME.Caption;
localValue_DESCRIPTION = eventEditHostModel.DESCRIPTION.Value;
localCaption_DESCRIPTION = ((Blackbaud.AppFx.Event.UIModel.EventEditForm3UIModel)hostModel).DESCRIPTION.Caption;
}

localValue_NAME = string.IsNullOrEmpty(localValue_NAME) ? string.Empty : localValue_NAME;
localValue_DESCRIPTION = string.IsNullOrEmpty(localValue_DESCRIPTION) ? string.Empty : localValue_DESCRIPTION;
}
}

private void HostModel_NAME_ValueChanged(object sender, Blackbaud.AppFx.UIModeling.Core.ValueChangedEventArgs e)
{
SetLocalHostModelValues();
}

private void HostModel_DESCRIPTION_ValueChanged(object sender, Blackbaud.AppFx.UIModeling.Core.ValueChangedEventArgs e)
{
SetLocalHostModelValues();
}

#region "Event handlers"

partial void OnCreated()
{
this.Loaded += EventFormExtensionUIModel_Loaded;
this.HostModelChanged += EventFormExtensionUIModel_HostModelChanged;
}

#endregion

}

Keegan Wade · June 2023

Thank you @Todd O , that's exactly what I was looking for. The HostModel seemed to always be null, so I couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong to access it properly. But as you pointed out there is some kind of glitch whereby it doesn't get populated until that “HostModelEvent” fires.

Keegan Wade · February 26

@Todd O, I now also need to change some of the HostModel field values based on certain UI actions that take place in the form. e.g.

hostModel.SENDMAIL.Value = false;

After I make hostmodel field value changes like this, the UI doesn't automatically refresh to reflect the new values. I am searching for a way to trigger it to do this. Ideas?

Todd O · March 11

@Keegan Wade
If hostModel is the actual type, and not Blackbaud.AppFx.UIModeling.Core.DataFormUIModel like in my sample code, that should work. Maybe the host model isn't loaded yet when your local model event fires?

Accessing the Parent Form Fields in the UIModel class of a Dataform Extension

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