Silverlight – Data binding not listening for PropertyChanged event

Yes, I've done this in the past with the ActualWidth and ActualHeight properties, both of which are read-only. I created an attached behavior that has ObservedWidth and ObservedHeight attached properties. It also has an Observe property that is used to do the initial hook-up. Usage looks like this:

<UserControl ...
    SizeObserver.Observe="True"
    SizeObserver.ObservedWidth="{Binding Width, Mode=OneWayToSource}"
    SizeObserver.ObservedHeight="{Binding Height, Mode=OneWayToSource}"

So the view model has Width and Height properties that are always in sync with the ObservedWidth and ObservedHeight attached properties. The Observe property simply attaches to the SizeChanged event of the FrameworkElement. In the handle, it updates its ObservedWidth and ObservedHeight properties. Ergo, the Width and Height of the view model is always in sync with the ActualWidth and ActualHeight of the UserControl.

Perhaps not the perfect solution (I agree - read-only DPs should support OneWayToSource bindings), but it works and it upholds the MVVM pattern. Obviously, the ObservedWidth and ObservedHeight DPs are not read-only.

UPDATE: here's code that implements the functionality described above:

public static class SizeObserver
{
    public static readonly DependencyProperty ObserveProperty = DependencyProperty.RegisterAttached(
        "Observe",
        typeof(bool),
        typeof(SizeObserver),
        new FrameworkPropertyMetadata(OnObserveChanged));

    public static readonly DependencyProperty ObservedWidthProperty = DependencyProperty.RegisterAttached(
        "ObservedWidth",
        typeof(double),
        typeof(SizeObserver));

    public static readonly DependencyProperty ObservedHeightProperty = DependencyProperty.RegisterAttached(
        "ObservedHeight",
        typeof(double),
        typeof(SizeObserver));

    public static bool GetObserve(FrameworkElement frameworkElement)
    {
        frameworkElement.AssertNotNull("frameworkElement");
        return (bool)frameworkElement.GetValue(ObserveProperty);
    }

    public static void SetObserve(FrameworkElement frameworkElement, bool observe)
    {
        frameworkElement.AssertNotNull("frameworkElement");
        frameworkElement.SetValue(ObserveProperty, observe);
    }

    public static double GetObservedWidth(FrameworkElement frameworkElement)
    {
        frameworkElement.AssertNotNull("frameworkElement");
        return (double)frameworkElement.GetValue(ObservedWidthProperty);
    }

    public static void SetObservedWidth(FrameworkElement frameworkElement, double observedWidth)
    {
        frameworkElement.AssertNotNull("frameworkElement");
        frameworkElement.SetValue(ObservedWidthProperty, observedWidth);
    }

    public static double GetObservedHeight(FrameworkElement frameworkElement)
    {
        frameworkElement.AssertNotNull("frameworkElement");
        return (double)frameworkElement.GetValue(ObservedHeightProperty);
    }

    public static void SetObservedHeight(FrameworkElement frameworkElement, double observedHeight)
    {
        frameworkElement.AssertNotNull("frameworkElement");
        frameworkElement.SetValue(ObservedHeightProperty, observedHeight);
    }

    private static void OnObserveChanged(DependencyObject dependencyObject, DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs e)
    {
        var frameworkElement = (FrameworkElement)dependencyObject;

        if ((bool)e.NewValue)
        {
            frameworkElement.SizeChanged += OnFrameworkElementSizeChanged;
            UpdateObservedSizesForFrameworkElement(frameworkElement);
        }
        else
        {
            frameworkElement.SizeChanged -= OnFrameworkElementSizeChanged;
        }
    }

    private static void OnFrameworkElementSizeChanged(object sender, SizeChangedEventArgs e)
    {
        UpdateObservedSizesForFrameworkElement((FrameworkElement)sender);
    }

    private static void UpdateObservedSizesForFrameworkElement(FrameworkElement frameworkElement)
    {
        // WPF 4.0 onwards
        frameworkElement.SetCurrentValue(ObservedWidthProperty, frameworkElement.ActualWidth);
        frameworkElement.SetCurrentValue(ObservedHeightProperty, frameworkElement.ActualHeight);

        // WPF 3.5 and prior
        ////SetObservedWidth(frameworkElement, frameworkElement.ActualWidth);
        ////SetObservedHeight(frameworkElement, frameworkElement.ActualHeight);
    }
}

Try changing your code as follows:
1. Add DataMember/DataContract attributes
2. Make "set" public

[DataContract]
public class SelectionManager : INotifyPropertyChanged {

    [DataMember]
    public DQMServiceDateCountPair[] dates { get; set; }

    public event PropertyChangedEventHandler PropertyChanged;

    public void NotifyPropertyChanged(string propertyName) {
        if (PropertyChanged != null) { PropertyChanged(this, new PropertyChangedEventArgs(propertyName)); }
    }