Binding disappears on simple user control - wpf

Question

I have a simple usercontrol with a single DependencyProperty. I am unable to set bindings on this property. I don't get any exceptions but the bindings just disappear.
I cannot begin to see what is going wrong here. It's so simple.
Here's my usercontrol:
XAML:
<UserControl x:Class="Test.Controls.SimpleUserControl"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
x:Name="ucThis">
<TextBox Text="{Binding Path=MyString, ElementName=ucThis}" />
</UserControl>
Code:
public partial class SimpleUserControl : UserControl
{
public SimpleUserControl()
{
InitializeComponent();
}
public string MyString
{
get { return (string)GetValue(MyStringProperty); }
set { SetValue(MyStringProperty, value); }
}
public static readonly DependencyProperty MyStringProperty =
DependencyProperty.Register("MyString", typeof(string),
typeof(SimpleUserControl), new UIPropertyMetadata("simple user control"));
}
XAML from a test app:
<StackPanel>
<testControls:SimpleUserControl MyString="{Binding Path=TestString}"
x:Name="simpleUC" />
<Label Content="From control" />
<Border Margin="5"
BorderBrush="Black"
BorderThickness="1"
Visibility="{Binding Path=MyString, ElementName=simpleUC, Converter={StaticResource nullVisConv}}">
<ContentPresenter Content="{Binding Path=MyString, ElementName=simpleUC}" />
</Border>
<TextBlock Text="Value from control is null."
Margin="5"
Visibility="{Binding Path=MyString, ElementName=simpleUC, Converter={StaticResource nullVisConv}, ConverterParameter={custom:BooleanValue Value=True}}" />
<Label Content="From binding" />
<Border Margin="5"
BorderBrush="Black"
BorderThickness="1"
Visibility="{Binding Path=TestString, Converter={StaticResource nullVisConv}}">
<ContentPresenter Content="{Binding Path=TestString}" />
</Border>
<TextBlock Text="Value from binding is null."
Margin="5"
Visibility="{Binding Path=TestString, Converter={StaticResource nullVisConv}, ConverterParameter={custom:BooleanValue Value=True}}" />
<TextBox Text="You can set focus here." />
</StackPanel>
The main window for the test app has a property named TestString, is its own DataContext and implements INotifyPropertyChanged correctly. SimpleUserControl.MyString updates as it should but the property it is bound to (TestString) does not. I have inspected this with Snoop; the binding I set on the SimplerUserControl is just not present at run time. What is happening here?
UPDATE
Okay. So if I specify Mode=TwoWay the binding works. That's great. Can anyone explain to me why it behaves this way?
Thanks.

Answer 1

Working as designed :). DPs default to 1-way. Personally, I would change your DependencyProperty.Register() call to make the DP default to two-way. That way you don't have to specify two-way explicitly every time you use it. You'll notice that the framework typically makes DPs two-way by default when you'd want the property to write back. Just a convienience.

Answer 2

Yes you need to provide TwoWay Mode for Dependency Property:
public string MyString
{
get { return (string)GetValue(MyStringProperty); }
set { SetValue(MyStringProperty, value); }
}
public static readonly DependencyProperty MyStringProperty =
DependencyProperty.Register("MyString", typeof(string),
typeof(UserControl1), new FrameworkPropertyMetadata("simple user control", FrameworkPropertyMetadataOptions.BindsTwoWayByDefault));