RelayCommand Won't Execute On Button Click

Question 1

To give you a more detailed start into MVVM and RelayCommands:

You do not have to declare your ViewModel in Xaml, this is mostly done programmatically on application root level, maybe with some DI.

When sticking to this MSDN Article your RelayCommand should look like this:

public class RelayCommand : ICommand
{
    #region Fields

    readonly Action<object> _execute;
    readonly Predicate<object> _canExecute;

    #endregion // Fields

    #region Constructors

    public RelayCommand(Action<object> execute)
        : this(execute, null)
    {
    }

    public RelayCommand(Action<object> execute, Predicate<object> canExecute)
    {
        if (execute == null)
            throw new ArgumentNullException("execute");

        _execute = execute;
        _canExecute = canExecute;
    }
    #endregion // Constructors

    #region ICommand Members

    [DebuggerStepThrough]
    public bool CanExecute(object parameter)
    {
        return _canExecute == null ? true : _canExecute(parameter);
    }

    public event EventHandler CanExecuteChanged
    {
        add { CommandManager.RequerySuggested += value; }
        remove { CommandManager.RequerySuggested -= value; }
    }

    public void Execute(object parameter)
    {
        _execute(parameter);
    }

    #endregion // ICommand Members
}

Additionally you can define a generic RelayCommand to handle Commandparameters like this:

public class GenericRelayCommand<T> : ICommand
{
    private readonly Action<T> _execute;
    public Predicate<T> CanExecuteFunc { get; private set; }

    public GenericRelayCommand(Action<T> execute) : this(execute, p => true)
    {}

    public GenericRelayCommand(Action<T> execute, Predicate<T> canExecuteFunc)
    {
        _execute = execute;
        CanExecuteFunc = canExecuteFunc;
    }

    public bool CanExecute(object parameter)
    {
        var canExecute = CanExecuteFunc((T)parameter);
        return canExecute;
    }

    public void Execute(object parameter)
    {
        _execute((T)parameter);
    }

    public event EventHandler CanExecuteChanged
    {
        add
        {
            CommandManager.RequerySuggested += value;
        }
        remove
        {
            CommandManager.RequerySuggested -= value;
        }
    }
}

In your ViewModel the RelayCommands should be definied like this (I implemented INotifyPropertyChanged as well for further WPF Xaml Property handling example):

public class ViewModel : INotifyPropertyChanged
{
    private string _comment;
    public string Comment
    {
        get { return _comment; }
        set { _comment = value; OnPropertyChanged("Comment"); }
    }

    public GenericRelayCommand<string> SubmitComment1Command { get; set; }
    public RelayCommand SubmitComment2Command { get; set; }

    public ViewModel()
    {
        Comment = "Hello World!";
        SubmitComment1Command = new GenericRelayCommand<string>(OnSubmitComment1);
        SubmitComment2Command = new RelayCommand(OnSubmitComment2);
    }

    private void OnSubmitComment1(string obj)
    {
        //Save Comment Mock with CommandParameter
        MessageBox.Show(obj);    
    }

    private void OnSubmitComment2(object obj)
    {
        //Save Comment Mock with Property
        MessageBox.Show(Comment);
    }

    public event PropertyChangedEventHandler PropertyChanged;

    protected virtual void OnPropertyChanged(string propertyName = null)
    {
        var handler = PropertyChanged;
        if (handler != null) handler(this, new PropertyChangedEventArgs(propertyName));
    }
}

I put your Button Example into a fresh WPF Application like this:

<Window x:Class="WpfApplication1.MainWindow"
        xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
        xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
        Title="MainWindow"
        Width="525"
        Height="350">
    <Grid>
        <Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
            <ColumnDefinition />
            <ColumnDefinition />
        </Grid.ColumnDefinitions>

        <StackPanel Grid.Column="0"
                    Orientation="Horizontal">
            <TextBox Name="textBox"
                     Width="200"
                     Text="{Binding Comment,
                                    Mode=TwoWay,
                                    UpdateSourceTrigger=PropertyChanged}" />
            <Button x:Name="SubmitButton1"
                    Grid.Column="0"
                    Margin="5"
                    HorizontalAlignment="Right"
                    Command="{Binding Path=SubmitComment1Command}"
                    CommandParameter="{Binding ElementName=textBox,
                                               Path=Text}"
                    Content="Submit1" />
        </StackPanel>


        <Button x:Name="SubmitButton2"
                Grid.Column="1"
                Margin="5"
                HorizontalAlignment="Right"
                Command="{Binding Path=SubmitComment2Command}"
                Content="Submit2" />
    </Grid>
</Window>

And set the DataContext like this for simplicity reasons (As stated before, this is normally done through some kind of DI at root level):

public partial class MainWindow : Window
{
    public MainWindow()
    {
        InitializeComponent();
        DataContext = new ViewModel();
    }
}

Then everything should work fine.

Question 2

I solved this issue by telling the Model about data context in XAML instead of .cs file.

First: Tell Model the namespace in which you placed your view model, mine was like below:

xmlns:Local="clr-namespace:MKPL.Views.A01.S020"

Second: Add your ViewModel in XAML Resources like:

<UserControl.Resources>  
        <Local:ViewModel x:Key="dvm"/>   
</UserControl.Resources>

Third: Add DataContext to the parent container,in my case that is Grid.

<Grid x:Name="LayoutRoot" DataContext="{Binding Source={StaticResource dvm}}">

Fourth: In your button code add the data context like:

<Button Grid.Column="2" x:Name="SubmitButton" Command="{Binding Path=SubmitCommentCommand, Source={StaticResource dvm}}"
                        Content="Submit" HorizontalAlignment="Right" Margin="5"/>

Hope it will help you