String.Format MultiBinding for WPF

Paul Stovell

Paul Stovell

— 1 min read
This is an old post and doesn't necessarily reflect my current thinking on a topic, and some links or images may not work. The text is preserved here for posterity.

One of the upcoming additions in .NET 3.5 SP1 is a StringFormat parameter you can pass along with your bindings. Sacha Barber has an example of how to use it:

<TextBlock 
    Text="{Binding Path=AccountBalance, StringFormat='You have {0:c} in your bank account.'}" 
    /></pre>

However, if you can't install the service pack or you haven't been able to upgrade to .NET 3.5, don't fret. Here's a snippet, albeit with a few more lines of code, to perform the same thing:

<TextBlock>
    <TextBlock.Text>
        <MultiBinding
            ConverterParameter="Hello {0} {1}, you have {2:c} in your account"
            Converter="{StaticResource StringFormatConverter}"
            >
            <Binding Path="FirstName" />
            <Binding Path="LastName" />
            <Binding Path="AccountBalance" />
        </MultiBinding>
    </TextBlock.Text>
</TextBlock>

The converter would be implemented as so:

class StringFormatConverter : IMultiValueConverter
{
   public object Convert(object[] values, ..., object parameter) 
   {
       return string.Format(parameter.ToString(), values);
   }
}

You can find this and more binding tricks in my WPF Platform Examples solution.

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