WPF API Documentation

Namespace: System

The fundamental building blocks of .NET applications.

DependencyObject

The base class for most WPF objects that support the WPF property system. This is the foundation for many WPF features, including data binding, styling, and animation.

Key Features:

• Supports Dependency Properties, which enable advanced property behaviors.
• Can be a target for data binding.
• Provides the foundation for WPF's property system.

Namespace: System.Windows

Contains fundamental types and classes used throughout WPF.

Visual

The base class for all WPF objects that can be rendered. It provides the drawing context and supports the visual tree.

Key Features:

• Represents elements that can be drawn on the screen.
• Forms the basis of the visual tree.
• Enables hit testing and rendering.

Namespace: System.Windows.Controls

Contains the core UI controls and elements used to build user interfaces.

Control

The base class for all Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) controls. It provides the basic functionality for controls, such as default template, focus handling, and keyboard navigation.

Key Features:

• Foundation for interactive UI elements.
• Supports templates for visual customization.
• Handles user input events.

Button

Represents a clickable button control.

Events:

• Click: Fired when the button is clicked.

Common Properties:

• Content: The content displayed by the button.
• Command: The command to execute when the button is clicked.

TextBlock

Displays a block of text. It supports basic text formatting and inline elements.

Common Properties:

• Text: The string content to display.
• FontSize: The size of the font.
• Foreground: The color of the text.

Grid

A flexible layout panel that arranges elements in rows and columns.

Common Properties:

• RowDefinitions: Defines the rows in the grid.
• ColumnDefinitions: Defines the columns in the grid.

Usage:

<Grid RowDefinitions="Auto,*" ColumnDefinitions="*,Auto">
    <!-- Row 0, Column 0 -->
    <TextBlock Grid.Row="0" Grid.Column="0" Text="Header"/>
    <!-- Row 1, Column 1 -->
    <TextBlock Grid.Row="1" Grid.Column="1" Text="Content"/>
</Grid>

Namespace: System.Windows.Input

Provides types for handling input, commands, and gestures.

Key

An enumeration that specifies keyboard keys. Used in keyboard event arguments.

Common Values:

• Key.Enter
• Key.Space
• Key.A
• Key.Escape

MouseButton

An enumeration that specifies mouse buttons. Used in mouse event arguments.

Common Values:

• MouseButton.Left
• MouseButton.Right
• MouseButton.Middle

Namespace: System.Windows.Media

Contains types for graphics, multimedia, and visual elements.

Brush

The abstract base class for all brush types used to paint shapes, backgrounds, and text.

SolidColorBrush

A brush that paints an area with a solid color.

Constructor:

Common Properties:

• Color: Gets or sets the color of the brush.

Usage:

<TextBlock Text="Hello WPF" Foreground="Blue"/>
<!-- Equivalent C# -->
<TextBlock Text="Hello WPF" Foreground="{StaticResource BlueBrush}"/>
<!-- Resource Dictionary -->
<SolidColorBrush x:Key="BlueBrush" Color="Blue"/>

Key Concepts

Dependency Properties

A property system that extends the standard .NET property system. Dependency properties support features like data binding, styling, animation, and property value inheritance. They are declared using DependencyProperty objects and registered with the WPF property system.

Routed Events

An event handling system that allows events to traverse the element tree. Events can be routed either directly, bubbling up from child to parent, or tunneling down from parent to child. This enables a single event handler to manage an event for multiple elements.

Data Templates

Used to define the visual structure of data. DataTemplates allow you to specify how data objects should be represented in the UI, enabling flexible data binding and customization of control presentation.