Question

I try to implement DateTimeFormatCultureConverter to the DataGridTextColumn.

It works and I can debug it but it doesn’t change the DateTime format at all. So I cannot see any visible changes…

(I can always use return formated; // DateTime.Parse(formated);
But in that case to sort field by ASC/DESC doesn’t work.)

Any clue why?

Thank you!

CODE

public class DateTimeFormatCultureConverter: IValueConverter
{

public object Convert(object value, Type targetType, object parameter, System.Globalization.CultureInfo culture)
     {
           DateTime originalValue = (DateTime)value;

           CultureInfo currentUICulture = Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentUICulture;

           if (currentUICulture.EnglishName.Contains("Spanish") || currentUICulture.EnglishName.Contains("Portuguese"))
           {
                string formated = string.Format("{0}/{1}/{2}", originalValue.Day, originalValue.Month, originalValue.Year);
                return DateTime.Parse(formated);
           }
           else
           {
                string formated = string.Format("{0}/{1}/{2}", originalValue.Month, originalValue.Day, originalValue.Year);
                return DateTime.Parse(formated);                  
            }
   }

   public object ConvertBack(object value, Type targetType, object parameter, System.Globalization.CultureInfo culture)
   {
       throw new NotImplementedException();
   }
}

DataGrid

<sdk:DataGridTextColumn x:Name="txcInstalled" 
CanUserReorder="True" 
CanUserResize="True" 
CanUserSort="True" 
Width="Auto" 
Binding="{Binding Installed, Converter={StaticResource DateTimeFormatCultureConverter}}"
IsReadOnly="True" />

Answer 1

You are returning a DateTime variable, instead of the formatted string. Remove the return DateTime.Parse(formated);, and instead return formated;. That should do the trick for you.

Edit Without using a value converter, you can instead use the StringFormat Binding property. See http://blogs.msdn.com/b/mikehillberg/archive/2008/05/29/trying-out-binding-stringformat.aspx

The following should give you a culture-specific string, which is what you are looking for, I think:

<sdk:DataGridTextColumn x:Name="txcInstalled" 
CanUserReorder="True" 
CanUserResize="True" 
CanUserSort="True" 
Width="Auto" 
Binding="{Binding Installed, StringFormat={}{0:d}}"
IsReadOnly="True" />