c# and date picker, how to change format?

Question

I have a datepicker in my C# 4.0 (WPF) application and I would like to change the format of the date that is visible in the textBox to yyyy/MM/dd. Now I see the format dd/MM

Answer 1

you can try the following solution.

First create the following converter :

public class StringToDateTimeConverter : IValueConverter
{

    public object Convert(object value, Type targetType, object parameter, CultureInfo culture)
    {
        if (value == null)
        {
            return null;
        }
        return ((DateTime)value).ToString(parameter as string, CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);
    }

    public object ConvertBack(object value, Type targetType, object parameter, CultureInfo culture)
    {
        if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(value as string))
        {
            return null;
        }
        try
        {
            DateTime dt = DateTime.ParseExact(value as string, parameter as string, CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);
            return dt as DateTime?;
        }
        catch (Exception)
        {
            return null;
        }
    }
}

Then in the xaml, you will have to create an instance of the converter and use it in the textbox of the DatePicker

<Window x:Class="TestDatePicker.MainWindow"
    ... 
    xmlns:converters="clr-namespace:TestDatePicker"
    Title="MainWindow" Height="350" Width="525">
<Window.Resources>
    ...
    <converters:StringToDateTimeConverter x:Key="StringToDateTimeConverter" />
</Window.Resources>
<Grid DataContext="{StaticResource MainWindowVM}">
    ...
    <DatePicker Height="25" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Margin="5,36,0,0" Name="dtpStartDate"
                SelectedDate="{Binding StartDateSelectedDate}" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="115">
        <DatePicker.Resources>
            <Style TargetType="{x:Type DatePickerTextBox}">
                <Setter Property="Control.Template">
                    <Setter.Value>
                        <ControlTemplate>
                            <TextBox x:Name="PART_TextBox" 
                                Text="{Binding Path=SelectedDate, RelativeSource={RelativeSource AncestorType={x:Type DatePicker}}, Converter={StaticResource StringToDateTimeConverter}, ConverterParameter=yyyy/MM/dd}" />
                        </ControlTemplate>
                    </Setter.Value>
                </Setter>
            </Style>
        </DatePicker.Resources>
    </DatePicker>
    ...
</Grid>

Finally, in the viewmodel, the property must be of type DateTime? (i.e a nullable DateTime).

    private DateTime? _startDateSelectedDate;
    public DateTime? StartDateSelectedDate
    {
        get { return _startDateSelectedDate; }
        set
        {
            if (_startDateSelectedDate != value)
            {
                _startDateSelectedDate = value;
                RaisePropertyChanged(() => this.StartDateSelectedDate);
            }
        }
    }

I hope this will help you

Regards

Claude

Answer 2

defaultly the DateTimerPicker does not support null values.

Maybe this post from MSDN with the same topic can help you.

There you will find other ideas how to implement it or some code project for nullable date time picker.