How to: Disable an Action When the Current View Has Unsaved Changes

Aug 28, 2025

This topic demonstrates how to disable an Action when business objects loaded to the current Object Space are changed. For this purpose, the IObjectSpace.ModifiedChanged event is handled, and the ActionBase.Enabled property is set based on the IObjectSpace.IsModified property.

csharp

using DevExpress.ExpressApp;
using DevExpress.ExpressApp.Actions;
using System;
// ...
public class ViewController1 : ViewController {
    SimpleAction action1;
    public ViewController1() {
        action1 = new SimpleAction(this, "Action1", DevExpress.Persistent.Base.PredefinedCategory.View);
    }
    protected override void OnActivated() {
        base.OnActivated();
        ObjectSpace.ModifiedChanged += ObjectSpace_ModifiedChanged;
        UpdateActionState();
    }
    void ObjectSpace_ModifiedChanged(object sender, EventArgs e) {
        UpdateActionState();
    }
    protected virtual void UpdateActionState() {
        action1.Enabled["ObjectSpaceIsModified"] = !ObjectSpace.IsModified;
    }
    protected override void OnDeactivated() {
        base.OnDeactivated();
        ObjectSpace.ModifiedChanged -= ObjectSpace_ModifiedChanged;
    }
}

As a result, the Action1 is grayed out in the UI when there are unsaved changes in the current View. It is impossible to execute the Action until changes are saved to a data store (e.g., using the Save Action). When the changes are saved, the Action1 reverts to its normal state.