DotNetTools.Wpfkit 1.0.1

DotNetTools.Wpfkit

A comprehensive WPF toolkit library that provides essential components for building modern Windows desktop applications with the MVVM pattern, logging capabilities, and configuration management.

📑 Table of Contents

• Overview
• Features
• Installation
• Requirements
• Usage
  • MVVM Components
  • Logging
  • Configuration Management
• API Reference
• Contributing
• License
• Contact

📋 Overview

DotNetTools.Wpfkit is a modern .NET library designed to accelerate WPF application development by providing reusable, production-ready components. Built on .NET 10.0, it embraces modern C# features including nullable reference types, implicit usings, and follows best practices for WPF development.

✨ Features

MVVM Pattern Support

• ObservableObject: Base class implementing INotifyPropertyChanged with helper methods
• BaseViewModel: Feature-rich view model base class with common UI properties
• ObservableRangeCollection<T>: Enhanced observable collection supporting bulk operations

Logging Infrastructure

• Serilog Integration: Built-in support for structured logging
• LogManager: Simplified logger creation with context-aware logging
• UserName Enricher: Custom enrichers for enhanced log metadata

Configuration Management

• AppSettingsUpdater: Utility for runtime appsettings.json manipulation
• Connection String Management: Easy database connection string updates

📦 Installation

NuGet Package

dotnet add package DotNetTools.Wpfkit

Or via Package Manager Console in Visual Studio:

Install-Package DotNetTools.Wpfkit

Or add directly to your .csproj:

<PackageReference Include="DotNetTools.Wpfkit" Version="1.0.0" />

Manual Installation

1. Clone the repository
2. Build the project
3. Reference the DLL in your WPF application

git clone https://github.com/omostan/DotNetTools.Wpfkit
cd DotNetTools.Wpfkit
dotnet build

📋 Requirements

• .NET 10.0 or later
• Windows OS (for WPF support)
• Visual Studio 2022 or later (recommended)

Dependencies

• Serilog (v4.3.0+): Structured logging
• Tracetool.DotNet.Api (v14.0.0+): Advanced tracing capabilities

🚀 Usage

MVVM Components

ObservableObject

Base class for implementing property change notifications:

using DotNetTools.Wpfkit.MvvM;

public class MyModel : ObservableObject
{
    private string _name;
    public string Name
    {
        get => _name;
        set => SetProperty(ref _name, value);
    }
    
    private int _age;
    public int Age
    {
        get => _age;
        set => SetProperty(ref _age, value, onChanged: () => {
            // Execute when age changes
            OnPropertyChanged(nameof(IsAdult));
        });
    }
    
    public bool IsAdult => Age >= 18;
}

BaseViewModel

Rich view model base class with common UI properties:

using DotNetTools.Wpfkit.MvvM;

public class MainViewModel : BaseViewModel
{
    public MainViewModel()
    {
        Title = "My Application";
        Subtitle = "Welcome Screen";
        Icon = "icon.png";
    }
    
    public async Task LoadDataAsync()
    {
        IsBusy = true;
        try
        {
            // Load data
        }
        finally
        {
            IsBusy = false;
        }
    }
}

Available Properties:

• Title: Main title text
• Subtitle: Secondary descriptive text
• Icon: Icon path or resource
• IsBusy: Indicates loading state
• IsNotBusy: Inverse of IsBusy
• CanLoadMore: Pagination support
• Header: Header content
• Footer: Footer content

ObservableRangeCollection<T>

Enhanced collection with bulk operations:

using DotNetTools.Wpfkit.MvvM;

var collection = new ObservableRangeCollection<string>();

// Add multiple items efficiently
var items = new[] { "Item1", "Item2", "Item3" };
collection.AddRange(items);

// Replace entire collection
collection.ReplaceRange(newItems);

// Remove multiple items
collection.RemoveRange(itemsToRemove);

// Replace with single item
collection.Replace(singleItem);

AddRange Notification Modes:

• NotifyCollectionChangedAction.Add: Notify for each added item (default)
• NotifyCollectionChangedAction.Reset: Single reset notification

Logging

Setting Up the Logger

using DotNetTools.Wpfkit.Logging.Extensions;
using Serilog;

public class MyService
{
    // Get logger for current class
    private static readonly ILogger Log = LogManager.GetCurrentClassLogger();
    
    public void DoWork()
    {
        Log.Me().Information("Starting work at line {LineNumber}");
        
        try
        {
            // Your code here
            Log.Me().Debug("Processing item");
        }
        catch (Exception ex)
        {
            Log.Me().Error(ex, "Failed to process item");
        }
    }
}

LogManager Features:

• GetCurrentClassLogger(): Automatically creates logger with calling class context
• Me() extension: Adds line number information to log entries

Serilog Configuration Example

using Serilog;
using DotNetTools.Wpfkit.Logging.Enrichers;

Log.Logger = new LoggerConfiguration()
    .MinimumLevel.Debug()
    .Enrich.With<UserNameEnricher>()
    .WriteTo.Console()
    .WriteTo.File("logs/app.log", rollingInterval: RollingInterval.Day)
    .CreateLogger();

Configuration Management

Updating Connection Strings

using DotNetTools.Wpfkit.Database;

// Update connection string in appsettings.json
string connectionString = "Data Source=myserver;Initial Catalog=mydb;";
AppSettingsUpdater.UpdateConnectionString(connectionString);

Features:

• Automatically locates appsettings.json in application directory
• Safely updates ConnectDatabase property
• Handles "Data Source=" prefix trimming
• Comprehensive error handling and logging
• Writes formatted JSON (indented)

appsettings.json Structure:

{
  "ConnectDatabase": "path/to/database.db",
  "OtherSettings": "..."
}

📚 API Reference

MvvM Namespace

ObservableObject

protected bool SetProperty<T>(
    ref T backingStore, 
    T value,
    string propertyName = "",
    Action onChanged = null,
    Func<T, T, bool> validateValue = null)

• backingStore: Reference to the backing field
• value: New value to set
• propertyName: Property name (auto-filled via CallerMemberName)
• onChanged: Optional callback when value changes
• validateValue: Optional validation function
• Returns: true if property changed, false otherwise

BaseViewModel Properties

ObservableRangeCollection<T> Methods

void AddRange(IEnumerable<T> collection, NotifyCollectionChangedAction notificationMode = Add)
void RemoveRange(IEnumerable<T> collection, NotifyCollectionChangedAction notificationMode = Reset)
void Replace(T item)
void ReplaceRange(IEnumerable<T> collection)

Logging Namespace

LogManager

static ILogger GetCurrentClassLogger()
static ILogger Me(this ILogger logger, int sourceLineNumber = 0)

Database Namespace

AppSettingsUpdater

static void UpdateConnectionString(string connectionString)

🏗️ Architecture

Project Structure

DotNetTools.Wpfkit/
├── MvvM/
|   ├── ObservableObject.cs          # Base observable implementation
|   ├── BaseViewModel.cs             # Rich view model base class
|   ├── ObservableRangeCollection.cs # Bulk operations collection
├── Logging/
|   ├── Extensions/
|   |   └── LogManager.cs            # Logger factory
|   |   └── UserName.cs              # Username helper
|   └── Enrichers/
|       └── UserNameEnricher.cs      # Serilog enricher
├── Database/
|   └── AppSettingsUpdater.cs        # Configuration management
└── DotNetTools.Wpfkit.csproj

Design Principles

• SOLID Principles: Clean, maintainable code architecture
• Separation of Concerns: Each component has a single responsibility
• Reusability: Generic, flexible implementations
• Performance: Optimized bulk operations in collections
• Type Safety: Leverages nullable reference types

🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please follow these guidelines:

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch (git checkout -b feature/AmazingFeature)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add some AmazingFeature')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/AmazingFeature)
5. Open a Pull Request

Coding Standards

• Follow C# coding conventions
• Use meaningful variable and method names
• Add XML documentation comments
• Include unit tests for new features
• Maintain the existing copyright header format

📜 License

Copyright © 2025 Omotech Digital Solutions
Licensed under the MIT License.

This project is open source software created by Stanley Omoregie.

📧 Contact

Author: Stanley Omoregie
Organization: Omotech Digital Solutions
Created: November 20, 2025

For questions, issues, or feature requests, please open an issue on the repository.

🔖 Version History

Version 1.0.0 (2025-11-20)

• Initial release
• MVVM pattern components (ObservableObject, BaseViewModel, ObservableRangeCollection)
• Serilog logging integration
• AppSettings configuration management
• .NET 10.0 support

📖 Learning Resources

WPF & MVVM

• Microsoft WPF Documentation
• MVVM Pattern Guide

Serilog

• Serilog Official Documentation
• Structured Logging Concepts

.NET 10

• What's New in .NET 10

Built with ❤️ using .NET 10.0 and modern C# features