What is the difference between the WPF TextBlock element and Label control?

Question

Visually both of the following snippets produce the same UI. So why are there 2 controls..
Snippet1

<TextBlock>Name:</TextBlock>
<TextBox Name="nameTextBox" />

Snippet2

<Label>Name:</Label>
<TextBox Name="nameTextBox" />

(Well I am gonna answer this myself... thought this is a useful tidbit I learnt today from Programming WPF)

Answer 1

Label has an important focus handling responsibility.Its purpose is to allow you to place a caption with an access key. It has a Target property, which indicates the target of the access key. Like this...

<Label Target="{Binding ElementName=nameTextBox}">_Name:</Label>
<TextBox x:Name="nameTextBox" />

In the absence of the Target property, the Label control does nothing useful. You'll just hear a beep if you press the access key indicating 'unable to process request'

Answer 2

The WPF Textblock inherits from FrameworkElement instead of deriving from System.Windows.Control like the Label Control. This means that the Textblock is much more lightweight. The downside of using a textblock is no support for Access/Accerelator Keys and there is no link to other controls as target.

When you want to display text by itself use the TextBlock. The benefit is a light, performant way to display text.

When you want to associate text with another control like a TextBox use the Label control. The benefits are access keys and references to target control.

Answer 3

Another great answer: Josh Smith on WPF

Answer 4

Label can be used as an alternative to TextBlock for situations where minimal text support is required such as the label for a control. Using Label can be advantageous because it requires even less resources (lighter weight) then a TextBlock.

Answer 5

With TextBlock we can easily have multi-line support I guess - using TextWrapping.

Using Label in such cases, e.g. displaying validation message, need to use <AccessKey> tags, which is less straight-forward than TextBlock.

On the other hand, using TextBlock not allow us to set the BorderBrush property.

So, to me, the two controls should be combined into a text-full-feature control.