German culture and US number formatting

Question

I need to set the culture to german while keeping the US number format. Therefore, I'm setting

var culture = new System.Globalization.CultureInfo("de-DE");
var usCulture = new System.Globalization.CultureInfo("en-US");
culture.NumberFormat = usCulture.NumberFormat;
CultureManager.UICulture = culture;

The CultureManager is from Infralution and enables the switching of languages on the fly. I can verify that the NumberFormat is indeed set to US format with e.g. a "." as decimal seperator after above code. Nevertheless, the following expression

<TextBox Text="{Binding MyDoubleVariable, StringFormat={}{0:0.#}}"/>

where MyDoubleVariable = 2.13 is displayed as 2,13. Where's my mistake? How can I retain the US format?

_I can verify that the NumberFormat is indeed set to US format_ how? — 1.618, Apr 16 '15 at 20:06
Have a look at http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2764615/wpf-stringformat-0c-showing-as-dollars. I am not flagging as duplicate because I have gold badge in C# leading to instant closing of your question if I do and I am not entirely sure the linked question will solve your problem. — Martin Liversage, Apr 16 '15 at 20:06
Breakpoint before and after => Culture is changed from US to DE and number format remains US. — peter, Apr 16 '15 at 20:07
Martin, thanks for not instantly closing my question ;o) The problem in your linked thread is not what I am facing. I'm on a german pc and can successfully start with englisch number settings but german language. My problem occurs when switching the language to english and then back to german. — peter, Apr 16 '15 at 20:12
@peter: The answers to the linked questions explain how you can modify the culture that is used formatting in data binding. You are certainly not doing the right thing because setting `CultureManage.UICulture` does not affect formatting in data binding. — Martin Liversage, Apr 16 '15 at 20:29
@Martin, I'm definitly not doing the right thing. However, what I want is to keep the culture that is used for formatting numbers in data binding fixed while using the CultureManager to exchange {Resx .. }-language bindings. It's working as supposed with a converter. — peter, Apr 16 '15 at 21:00

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 16 '15 at 20:06

WPF will use the system culture when performing the formatting. Not aware of the framework to which you refer.

Try creating a custom IValueConverter which takes the culture as a parameter.

To your converter you can create a string property for your format string.

Then in your xaml you can create a convertor instance for each format string you want to use - for example you could have one for money and another for numbers. Add the convertor to your binding and pass a culture specifier as a parameter at that time.

Sorry no code, answering on mobile.

Hi, thanks, CustomConverter is a good idea that will definitly work. — peter, Apr 16 '15 at 20:08

score 0 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:22

As said by @kidshaw WPF uses the system language by default, but you can override it.

Setting Culture (en-IN) Globally in WPF App

How to set and change the culture in WPF

So you should probably do this in public static App() { ... } (at least that's where we do it usually).

Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentCulture = new CultureInfo("en-US");
Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentUICulture = new CultureInfo("en-US");
FrameworkElement.LanguageProperty.OverrideMetadata(
    typeof(FrameworkElement),
    new FrameworkPropertyMetadata(
        XmlLanguage.GetLanguage(CultureInfo.CurrentCulture.IetfLanguageTag)));

Then change the language to German where you would usually do it. This should keep the formatted stuff in XAML using the US format, but everything else in German.

German culture and US number formatting

2 Answers2