Customizing Commands

Updated on Sep 23, 2026

This article provides a description and examples of how to customize RadCollectionNavigator’s commands in a MVVM-friendly way.

Please note that Telerik introduced this functionality in Q1 2016.

The CollectionNavigatorBaseCommandProvider is a public class that exposes the “execute” and “can-execute” logic of all commands used by RadCollectionNavigator. RadCollectionNavigator processes these commands according to its current provider.

Execute logic methods

The methods listed below in Example 1 identify the logic that is executed when a certain command’s invocation takes place.

Example 1: RadCollectionNavigator's executable commands

C#

void MoveCurrentToFirst() { }
void MoveCurrentToLast() { }
void MoveCurrentToNext() { }
void MoveCurrentToPrevious() { }
void BeginEdit() { }
void Delete() { }
void AddNew() { }

VB.NET

Sub MoveCurrentToFirst()
Sub MoveCurrentToLast()
Sub MoveCurrentToNext()
Sub MoveCurrentToPrevious()
Sub BeginEdit()
Sub Delete()
Sub AddNew()

Can-execute logic methods

With the help of the methods listed in Example 2 you can identify whether a certain command can be executed or not.

Example 2:RadCollectionNavigator "can-execute" methods

C#

bool CanMoveCurrentToFirstExecute() { return yourBoolValue; }
bool CanMoveCurrentToLastExecute() { return yourBoolValue; }
bool CanMoveCurrentToNextExecute() { return yourBoolValue; }
bool CanMoveCurrentToPreviousExecute() { return yourBoolValue; }
bool CanBeginEditExecute() { return yourBoolValue; }
bool CanDeleteExecute() { return yourBoolValue; }
bool CanAddNewExecute() { return yourBoolValue; }

VB.NET

Function CanMoveCurrentToFirstExecute() As Boolean
Function CanMoveCurrentToLastExecute() As Boolean
Function CanMoveCurrentToNextExecute() As Boolean
Function CanMoveCurrentToPreviousExecute() As Boolean
Function CanBeginEditExecute() As Boolean
Function CanDeleteExecute() As Boolean
Function CanAddNewExecute() As Boolean

Designing a custom CommandProvider

The first step is to create your own class that inherits from CollectionNavigatorBaseCommandProvider.

Example 3: Creating a class that provides the custom commands

C#

public class CustomCommandProvider : CollectionNavigatorBaseCommandProvider
{
    public CustomCommandProvider() : base(null)
    {
    }
    public CustomCommandProvider(RadCollectionNavigator collectionNavigator)
        : base(collectionNavigator)
    {
    }
    //. . .
}

VB.NET

Public Class CustomCommandProvider
    Inherits CollectionNavigatorBaseCommandProvider
    Public Sub New()
        MyBase.New(Nothing)
    End Sub
    Public Sub New(ByVal collectionNavigator As RadCollectionNavigator)
        MyBase.New(collectionNavigator)
    End Sub
    '. . .
End Class

You need to override the methods of the commands that will be customized. In the following example we will customize: MoveCurrentToNext, MoveCurrentToPrevious.

MoveCurrentToNext and MoveCurrentToPrevious

If we have a requirement to prompt for the user's approval when moving through the items, the following change in the methods can be done:

Example 4: Overriding the default commands

C#

public override void MoveCurrentToNext()
{
    MessageBoxResult result = MessageBox.Show("MoveCurrentToNext ?", "MoveCurrentToNext", MessageBoxButton.OKCancel);
    if (result == MessageBoxResult.OK)
    {
        this.CollectionNavigator.MoveCurrentToNext();
    }
}
public override void MoveCurrentToPrevious()
{
    MessageBoxResult result = MessageBox.Show("MoveCurrentToPrevious ?", "MoveCurrentToPrevious", MessageBoxButton.OKCancel);
    if (result == MessageBoxResult.OK)
    {
        this.CollectionNavigator.MoveCurrentToPrevious();
    }
}

VB.NET

Public Overrides Sub MoveCurrentToNext()
    Dim result As MessageBoxResult = MessageBox.Show("MoveCurrentToNext ?", "MoveCurrentToNext", MessageBoxButton.OKCancel)
    If result = MessageBoxResult.OK Then
        Me.CollectionNavigator.MoveCurrentToNext()
    End If
End Sub
Public Overrides Sub MoveCurrentToPrevious()
    Dim result As MessageBoxResult = MessageBox.Show("MoveCurrentToPrevious ?", "MoveCurrentToPrevious", MessageBoxButton.OKCancel)
    If result = MessageBoxResult.OK Then
        Me.CollectionNavigator.MoveCurrentToPrevious()
    End If
End Sub

The last thing to be done is to set the CommandProvider property of the RadCollectionNavigator to be the newly-created CustomCommandProvider class.

Example 5: Assigning the CommandProvider

XAML

<telerik:RadCollectionNavigator x:Name="CollectionNavigator"
              			Source="{Binding Employees}"/>

Example 5: Assigning the CommandProvider

C#

this.CollectionNavigator.CommandProvider = new CustomCommandProvider(this.CollectionNavigator);

VB.NET

Me.CollectionNavigator.CommandProvider = New CustomCommandProvider(Me.CollectionNavigator)

Modifying the methods will result in the action shown in the image below when trying to move to the next item:

Figure 1: RadCollectionNavigator with customized MoveCurrentToNext command

See Also

• Overview

• Getting Started