Get/Set Property in a Class vs IValueConverter

Question

So i've been going through some of my old code from the time i was learning the basics of wpf and i found something intresting.

I had a class in the format below

public class TempClass
{
    public bool IsValued { get; set; }
    private SolidColorBrush _isValuedColour;
    public SolidColorBrush IsValuedColor
    get
    {
        if (this.IsValued)
        {
            _accepted = new SolidColorBrush(Colors.DarkGreen);
        }
        else
        {
            _accepted = new SolidColorBrush(Colors.Transparent);
        }
        return _accepted;
    }
    set { _accepted = value; }
}

If you see, I created a SolidColorBrush based off my IsValued Property to return a Color Property. This code was from 2013 and I believe I started learning in this way maybe because of the websites that i was going through to learn xaml

Come 2015 I checked another project and noticed that I started using IValueConverter I was able to achieve the same without creating a new property.

<Button Foreground="{Binding IsValued, Converter={StaticResource boolConverter}}">

and here is my Implementation.

class BoolToColorConverter : IValueConverter
{
    public object Convert(object value, Type targetType, object parameter, string language)
    {
        SolidColorBrush brush = new SolidColorBrush();
        if ((bool)value)
        {
            brush = new SolidColorBrush(Colors.Gold);
        }
        else
        {
            brush = new SolidColorBrush(Colors.Transparent);
        }
        return brush;
    }

    public object ConvertBack(object value, Type targetType, object parameter, string language)
    {
        throw new NotImplementedException();
    }
}

While both does the job for me, i would like to know which route is better. Is creating new property with getters and setteres a good way or using converters a good way?

Thanks for enlightening me.

Answer 1

If it's a presentation concern, go the converter way.

If it's a business concern, add a property to the domain object.

A color is almost always a presentation concern. It could be a domain concern if the exact color has a deep meaning to the business.

So I'd go the converter way unless I have a very specific reason to have the color in the domain.

Update

On a coding methodology point of view, this is an application of the Single Responsability Principle, the S in SOLID. The view should only change when the specification of the presentation changes, the business object should only change when the business rules change.

If the color is part of the business rules, a change in the color specification must change the business object, so the color is a getter in the business object.

Normally, you have to change the view (and not the converter). Usage of some reusable bool-to-value converter should allow this:

<Brush x:Key="GoldBrush">Gold</Brush>
<Brush x:Key="TransparentBrush">Transparent</Brush>
<controls:BoolToValueConverter x:Key="xxxColorConverter"
    TrueConvertValue="{StaticResource GoldBrush}" 
    FalseConvertValue="{StaticResource TransparentBrush}"/>