Catel framework - Lazy property

Question

I'm trying to create a lazy property with Catel framework. Is there a way to do it?

When I'm creating a property in ViewModel like this:

#region Photos property

/// <summary>
/// Gets or sets the Photos value.
/// </summary>
public FastObservableCollection<Photo> Photos
{
    get
    {
        var temp = GetValue<FastObservableCollection<Photo>>(PhotosProperty);
        if (temp == null)
            Photos = SelectedPatient.GetPhotos();
        return GetValue<FastObservableCollection<Photo>>(PhotosProperty);
    }
    set { SetValue(PhotosProperty, value); }
}

/// <summary>
/// Photos property data.
/// </summary>
public static readonly PropertyData PhotosProperty = RegisterProperty("Photos", typeof (FastObservableCollection<Photo>));

#endregion

the get function is called even without binding, so my lazy property initializes while ViewModel is initializing.

Is there a way to do it?

Answer 1

There is only 1 way to implement "lazy properties", and that is by using the Lazy<> class. The reason for this is that for some mappings (such as view model to model, etc), Catel uses SetValue directly instead of the property wrapper (compare Catel properties with dependency properties).