DataBinding Text Property of UserControl to ObservableCollection does not update - wpf

Question

I have created a UserControl, which is to display a converted string value based on the contents of a bound ObservableCollection. Everything works when the application loads; my IValueConverter is called and produces the correct string result, which is displayed correctly in my UserControl. However if the ObservableCollection contents change, my control is not updated.
Also, before I created this control, I had the same behaviour, but binding the Content property of a regular Button control, and this also worked correctly and updated as expected.
Any ideas what I am missing to get the same thing with my UserControl?
The control property looks like;
public static readonly DependencyProperty TextProperty =
DependencyProperty.Register("Text", typeof(string), typeof(MyUserControl));
public string Text
{
get { return GetValue(TextProperty) as string; }
set { SetValue(TextProperty, value);
}
The relevant section in the UserControl XAML (which displays the converted string value) is;
<TextBlock Text="{Binding RelativeSource={RelativeSource AncestorType={x:Type Controls:MyUserControl}}, Path=Text}" />
And the control is created in a separate Window like so;
<CoreControls:MyUserControl
Name="myControl"
Text="{Binding Path=ObservableCollectionInstance, Converter={StaticResource MyValueConverter}, Mode=OneWay}" />

Answer 1

I would use ElementName instead of RelativeSource in your binding, since you have named your user control. Also, you are trying to bind a collection to a <Textbox>. a <Textbox> is designed to display a single item. this is probably why its not working. ObservableCollection fires CollectionChanged events, not PropertyChanged. Even if it did respond, you are still going to have problems because ObservableCollection does not notify when an item contained in it has property changes--only when items are added/removed etc (think, the collection itself changes). If this is the behavior you want, you are going to have to write some code.
EDIT
after your comments, it sounds to me like even though you set it to OneWay binding mode, its acting like OneTime binding mode.
I would try this to help you debug it:
add this xmlns:
xmlns:diagnostics="clr-namespace:System.Diagnostics;assembly=WindowsBase"
and then, in your binding add this:
diagnostics:PresentationTraceSources.TraceLevel=High
here is an article on debugging bindings.
the other thing you could do is set breakpoints in your converter. see if its actually updating when you add/remove things to your collection. I would be willing to bet that its bc the ObservableCollection is NOT firing PropertyChanged events and that the initial update occurs because its not based on an update event.

Answer 2

ObservableCollection notifies only in case if items get added or removed. It is used to observe a collection. They are more suited for content controls. Read about it here. You are talking about observing a property, which needs INotifyPropertyChanged. Posting more code might help, like how are you changing the value of the collection.

Answer 3

Thanks for the tips guys.
I managed to work out a solution; I can handle the CollectionChanged event on the ObservableCollection and then explicitly update the target with something like;
BindingExpression exp = myControl.GetBindingExpression(MyUserControl.TextProperty);
if (null != exp) exp.UpdateTarget();
As noted, most likely, binding on the Text property is only listening to PropertyChanged events, not NotifyCollectionChanged events, but this solution does the trick.