Wpf – Binding StringFormat doesn’t seem to work correctly

You need to specify the trigger as part of a style -- the Triggers collection on the Button itself can only contain event triggers. With that in mind, a DataTrigger works fine. However, there is a wrinkle: the value from the Trigger Setter won't overwrite a local Content property. So you have to set the default Content in the Style as well. Here's how it looks:

<Button>  <!-- Note no content set directly on button -->
  <Button.Style>
    <Style TargetType="Button">
      <Setter Property="Content" Value="You may write!!!" />  <!-- Here is the 'normal' content -->
      <Style.Triggers>
        <!-- Here is how we bind to another control's property -->
        <DataTrigger Binding="{Binding IsReadOnly, ElementName=textBox}" Value="True">
          <Setter Property="Content" Value="NO NO NO" />  <!-- Here is the 'override' content -->
        </DataTrigger>
      </Style.Triggers>
    </Style>
  </Button.Style>
</Button>

This code (inspired from DefaultValueConverter.cs @ referencesource.microsoft.com) works for a two way binding to a TextBox or similar control, as long as the FormatString leaves the ToString() version of the source property in a state that can be converted back. (i.e. format like "#,0.00" is OK because "1,234.56" can be parsed back, but FormatString="Some Prefix Text #,0.00" will convert to "Some Prefix Text 1,234.56" which can't be parsed back.)

XAML:

<TextBox>
    <TextBox.Text>
        <MultiBinding Converter="{StaticResource ToStringFormatConverter}" 
                ValidatesOnDataErrors="True" NotifyOnValidationError="True" TargetNullValue="">
            <Binding Path="Property" TargetNullValue="" />
            <Binding Path="PropertyStringFormat" Mode="OneWay" />
        </MultiBinding>
    </TextBox.Text>
</TextBox>

Note duplicate TargetNullValue if the source property can be null.

C#:

/// <summary>
/// Allow a binding where the StringFormat is also bound to a property (and can vary).
/// </summary>
public class ToStringFormatConverter : IMultiValueConverter
{
    public object Convert(object[] values, Type targetType, object parameter, CultureInfo culture)
    {
        if (values.Length == 1)
            return System.Convert.ChangeType(values[0], targetType, culture);
        if (values.Length >= 2 && values[0] is IFormattable)
            return (values[0] as IFormattable).ToString((string)values[1], culture);
        return null;
    }

    public object[] ConvertBack(object value, Type[] targetTypes, object parameter, CultureInfo culture)
    {
        var targetType = targetTypes[0];
        var nullableUnderlyingType = Nullable.GetUnderlyingType(targetType);
        if (nullableUnderlyingType != null) {
            if (value == null)
                return new[] { (object)null };
            targetType = nullableUnderlyingType;
        }
        try {
            object parsedValue = ToStringFormatConverter.TryParse(value, targetType, culture);
            return parsedValue != DependencyProperty.UnsetValue
                ? new[] { parsedValue }
                : new[] { System.Convert.ChangeType(value, targetType, culture) };
        } catch {
            return null;
        }
    }

    // Some types have Parse methods that are more successful than their type converters at converting strings
    private static object TryParse(object value, Type targetType, CultureInfo culture)
    {
        object result = DependencyProperty.UnsetValue;
        string stringValue = value as string;

        if (stringValue != null) {
            try {
                MethodInfo mi;
                if (culture != null
                    && (mi = targetType.GetMethod("Parse",
                        BindingFlags.Public | BindingFlags.Static, null,
                        new[] { typeof(string), typeof(NumberStyles), typeof(IFormatProvider) }, null))
                    != null) {
                    result = mi.Invoke(null, new object[] { stringValue, NumberStyles.Any, culture });
                }
                else if (culture != null
                    && (mi = targetType.GetMethod("Parse",
                        BindingFlags.Public | BindingFlags.Static, null,
                        new[] { typeof(string), typeof(IFormatProvider) }, null))
                    != null) {
                    result = mi.Invoke(null, new object[] { stringValue, culture });
                }
                else if ((mi = targetType.GetMethod("Parse",
                        BindingFlags.Public | BindingFlags.Static, null,
                        new[] { typeof(string) }, null))
                    != null) {
                    result = mi.Invoke(null, new object[] { stringValue });
                }
            } catch (TargetInvocationException) {
            }
        }

        return result;
    }
}