How to change format (e.g. dd/MMM/yyyy) of DateTimePicker in WPF application

Question

I want to Change the Format of date selected in DateTimePicker in WPF Application

Answer 1

Thanks to @Fernando García for the basis of this.

I have written a DateFormat attached property for DatePicker that lets you provide a format string for display and input.

For input it will attempt to parse using the provided format, falling back to trying to parse it with the current culture's format.

Example usage with the question's format:

The DateFormat attached property is:

public class DatePickerDateFormat
{
    public static readonly DependencyProperty DateFormatProperty =
        DependencyProperty.RegisterAttached("DateFormat", typeof (string), typeof (DatePickerDateFormat),
                                            new PropertyMetadata(OnDateFormatChanged));

    public static string GetDateFormat(DependencyObject dobj)
    {
        return (string) dobj.GetValue(DateFormatProperty);
    }

    public static void SetDateFormat(DependencyObject dobj, string value)
    {
        dobj.SetValue(DateFormatProperty, value);
    }

    private static void OnDateFormatChanged(DependencyObject dobj, DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs e)
    {
        var datePicker = (DatePicker) dobj;

        Application.Current.Dispatcher.BeginInvoke(
            DispatcherPriority.Loaded, new Action(ApplyDateFormat), datePicker);
    }

    private static void ApplyDateFormat(DatePicker datePicker)
    {
        var binding = new Binding("SelectedDate")
            {
                RelativeSource = new RelativeSource {AncestorType = typeof (DatePicker)},
                Converter = new DatePickerDateTimeConverter(),
                ConverterParameter = new Tuple(datePicker, GetDateFormat(datePicker))
            };
        var textBox = GetTemplateTextBox(datePicker);
        textBox.SetBinding(TextBox.TextProperty, binding);

        textBox.PreviewKeyDown -= TextBoxOnPreviewKeyDown;
        textBox.PreviewKeyDown += TextBoxOnPreviewKeyDown;

        datePicker.CalendarOpened -= DatePickerOnCalendarOpened;
        datePicker.CalendarOpened += DatePickerOnCalendarOpened;
    }

    private static TextBox GetTemplateTextBox(Control control)
    {
        control.ApplyTemplate();
        return (TextBox) control.Template.FindName("PART_TextBox", control);
    }

    private static void TextBoxOnPreviewKeyDown(object sender, KeyEventArgs e)
    {
        if (e.Key != Key.Return)
            return;

        /* DatePicker subscribes to its TextBox's KeyDown event to set its SelectedDate if Key.Return was
         * pressed. When this happens its text will be the result of its internal date parsing until it
         * loses focus or another date is selected. A workaround is to stop the KeyDown event bubbling up
         * and handling setting the DatePicker.SelectedDate. */

        e.Handled = true;

        var textBox = (TextBox) sender;
        var datePicker = (DatePicker) textBox.TemplatedParent;
        var dateStr = textBox.Text;
        var formatStr = GetDateFormat(datePicker);
        datePicker.SelectedDate = DatePickerDateTimeConverter.StringToDateTime(datePicker, formatStr, dateStr);
    }

    private static void DatePickerOnCalendarOpened(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
    {
        /* When DatePicker's TextBox is not focused and its Calendar is opened by clicking its calendar button
         * its text will be the result of its internal date parsing until its TextBox is focused and another
         * date is selected. A workaround is to set this string when it is opened. */

        var datePicker = (DatePicker) sender;
        var textBox = GetTemplateTextBox(datePicker);
        var formatStr = GetDateFormat(datePicker);
        textBox.Text = DatePickerDateTimeConverter.DateTimeToString(formatStr, datePicker.SelectedDate);
    }

    private class DatePickerDateTimeConverter : IValueConverter
    {
        public object Convert(object value, Type targetType, object parameter, CultureInfo culture)
        {
            var formatStr = ((Tuple) parameter).Item2;
            var selectedDate = (DateTime?) value;
            return DateTimeToString(formatStr, selectedDate);
        }

        public object ConvertBack(object value, Type targetType, object parameter, CultureInfo culture)
        {
            var tupleParam = ((Tuple) parameter);
            var dateStr = (string) value;
            return StringToDateTime(tupleParam.Item1, tupleParam.Item2, dateStr);
        }

        public static string DateTimeToString(string formatStr, DateTime? selectedDate)
        {
            return selectedDate.HasValue ? selectedDate.Value.ToString(formatStr) : null;
        }

        public static DateTime? StringToDateTime(DatePicker datePicker, string formatStr, string dateStr)
        {
            DateTime date;
            var canParse = DateTime.TryParseExact(dateStr, formatStr, CultureInfo.CurrentCulture,
                                                  DateTimeStyles.None, out date);

            if (!canParse)
                canParse = DateTime.TryParse(dateStr, CultureInfo.CurrentCulture, DateTimeStyles.None, out date);

            return canParse ? date : datePicker.SelectedDate;
        }
    }
}