WPF: Cancel a user selection in a databound ListBox?

In .NET 4.5 they added the Delay field to the Binding. If you set the delay it will automatically wait to update so there is no need for the Dispatcher in the ViewModel. This works for validation of all Selector elements like the ListBox's and ComboBox's SelectedItem properties. The Delay is in milliseconds.

<ListBox 
ItemsSource="{Binding Path=SearchResults, Mode=TwoWay, UpdateSourceTrigger=PropertyChanged}" 
SelectedItem="{Binding Path=CurrentDocument, Mode=TwoWay, Delay=10}" />

For future stumblers on this question, this page is what ultimately worked for me: http://blog.alner.net/archive/2010/04/25/cancelling-selection-change-in-a-bound-wpf-combo-box.aspx

It's for a combobox, but works for a listbox just fine, since in MVVM you don't really care what type of control is calling the setter. The glorious secret, as the author mentions, is to actually change the underlying value and then change it back. It was also important to run this “undo” on a separate dispatcher operation.

private Person _CurrentPersonCancellable;
public Person CurrentPersonCancellable
{
    get
    {
        Debug.WriteLine("Getting CurrentPersonCancellable.");
        return _CurrentPersonCancellable;
    }
    set
    {
        // Store the current value so that we can 
        // change it back if needed.
        var origValue = _CurrentPersonCancellable;

        // If the value hasn't changed, don't do anything.
        if (value == _CurrentPersonCancellable)
            return;

        // Note that we actually change the value for now.
        // This is necessary because WPF seems to query the 
        //  value after the change. The combo box
        // likes to know that the value did change.
        _CurrentPersonCancellable = value;

        if (
            MessageBox.Show(
                "Allow change of selected item?", 
                "Continue", 
                MessageBoxButton.YesNo
            ) != MessageBoxResult.Yes
        )
        {
            Debug.WriteLine("Selection Cancelled.");

            // change the value back, but do so after the 
            // UI has finished it's current context operation.
            Application.Current.Dispatcher.BeginInvoke(
                    new Action(() =>
                    {
                        Debug.WriteLine(
                            "Dispatcher BeginInvoke " + 
                            "Setting CurrentPersonCancellable."
                        );

                        // Do this against the underlying value so 
                        //  that we don't invoke the cancellation question again.
                        _CurrentPersonCancellable = origValue;
                        OnPropertyChanged("CurrentPersonCancellable");
                    }),
                    DispatcherPriority.ContextIdle,
                    null
                );

            // Exit early. 
            return;
        }

        // Normal path. Selection applied. 
        // Raise PropertyChanged on the field.
        Debug.WriteLine("Selection applied.");
        OnPropertyChanged("CurrentPersonCancellable");
    }
}

Note: The author uses ContextIdle for the DispatcherPriority for the action to undo the change. While fine, this is a lower priority than Render, which means that the change will show in the UI as the selected item momentarily changing and changing back. Using a dispatcher priority of Normal or even Send (the highest priority) preempts the display of the change. This is what I ended up doing. See here for details about the DispatcherPriority enumeration.

-snip-

Well forget what I wrote above.

I just did an experiment, and indeed SelectedItem goes out of sync whenever you do anything more fancy in the setter. I guess you need to wait for the setter to return, and then change the property back in your ViewModel asynchronously.

Quick and dirty working solution (tested in my simple project) using MVVM Light helpers: In your setter, to revert to previous value of CurrentDocument

                var dp = DispatcherHelper.UIDispatcher;
                if (dp != null)
                    dp.BeginInvoke(
                    (new Action(() => {
                        currentDocument = previousDocument;
                        RaisePropertyChanged("CurrentDocument");
                    })), DispatcherPriority.ContextIdle);

it basically queues the property change on the UI thread, ContextIdle priority will ensure it will wait for UI to be in consistent state. it Appears you cannot freely change dependency properties while inside event handlers in WPF.

Unfortunately it creates coupling between your view model and your view and it's an ugly hack.

To make DispatcherHelper.UIDispatcher work you need to do DispatcherHelper.Initialize() first.