WPF ways to find controls

Question

I am trying to collect all possible ways to find controls in WPF. To find control by name, by type, etc.

Answer 1

You can use the VisualTreeHelper to find controls. Below is a method that uses the VisualTreeHelper to find a parent control of a specified type. You can use the VisualTreeHelper to find controls in other ways as well.

  public static class UIHelper
  {
  /// <summary>
  /// Finds a parent of a given item on the visual tree.
  /// </summary>
  /// <typeparam name="T">The type of the queried item.</typeparam>
  /// <param name="child">A direct or indirect child of the queried item.</param>
  /// <returns>The first parent item that matches the submitted type parameter. 
  /// If not matching item can be found, a null reference is being returned.</returns>
  public static T FindVisualParent<T>(DependencyObject child)
    where T : DependencyObject
  {
     // get parent item
     DependencyObject parentObject = VisualTreeHelper.GetParent(child);

     // we’ve reached the end of the tree
     if (parentObject == null) return null;

     // check if the parent matches the type we’re looking for
     T parent = parentObject as T;
     if (parent != null)
     {
        return parent;
     }
     else
     {
        // use recursion to proceed with next level
        return FindVisualParent<T>(parentObject);
     }
  }

}

Call it like this:

Window owner = UIHelper.FindVisualParent<Window>(myControl);

Answer 2

This will dismiss some elements - you should extend it like this in order to support a wider array of controls. For a brief discussion, have a look here

 /// <summary>
 /// Helper methods for UI-related tasks.
 /// </summary>
 public static class UIHelper
 {
   /// <summary>
   /// Finds a parent of a given item on the visual tree.
   /// </summary>
   /// <typeparam name="T">The type of the queried item.</typeparam>
   /// <param name="child">A direct or indirect child of the
   /// queried item.</param>
   /// <returns>The first parent item that matches the submitted
   /// type parameter. If not matching item can be found, a null
   /// reference is being returned.</returns>
   public static T TryFindParent<T>(DependencyObject child)
     where T : DependencyObject
   {
     //get parent item
     DependencyObject parentObject = GetParentObject(child);

     //we've reached the end of the tree
     if (parentObject == null) return null;

     //check if the parent matches the type we're looking for
     T parent = parentObject as T;
     if (parent != null)
     {
       return parent;
     }
     else
     {
       //use recursion to proceed with next level
       return TryFindParent<T>(parentObject);
     }
   }

   /// <summary>
   /// This method is an alternative to WPF's
   /// <see cref="VisualTreeHelper.GetParent"/> method, which also
   /// supports content elements. Do note, that for content element,
   /// this method falls back to the logical tree of the element!
   /// </summary>
   /// <param name="child">The item to be processed.</param>
   /// <returns>The submitted item's parent, if available. Otherwise
   /// null.</returns>
   public static DependencyObject GetParentObject(DependencyObject child)
   {
     if (child == null) return null;
     ContentElement contentElement = child as ContentElement;

     if (contentElement != null)
     {
       DependencyObject parent = ContentOperations.GetParent(contentElement);
       if (parent != null) return parent;

       FrameworkContentElement fce = contentElement as FrameworkContentElement;
       return fce != null ? fce.Parent : null;
     }

     //if it's not a ContentElement, rely on VisualTreeHelper
     return VisualTreeHelper.GetParent(child);
   }
}

Answer 3

You can also find an element by name using FrameworkElement.FindName(string).

Given:

<UserControl ...>
    <TextBlock x:Name="myTextBlock" />
</UserControl>

In the code-behind file, you could write:

var myTextBlock = (TextBlock)this.FindName("myTextBlock");

Of course, because it's defined using x:Name, you could just reference the generated field, but perhaps you want to look it up dynamically rather than statically.

This approach is also available for templates, in which the named item appears multiple times (once per usage of the template).

Answer 4

I may be just repeating everyone else but I do have a pretty piece of code that extends the DependencyObject class with a method FindChild() that will get you the child by type and name. Just include and use.

public static class UIChildFinder
{
    public static DependencyObject FindChild(this DependencyObject reference, string childName, Type childType)
    {
        DependencyObject foundChild = null;
        if (reference != null)
        {
            int childrenCount = VisualTreeHelper.GetChildrenCount(reference);
            for (int i = 0; i < childrenCount; i++)
            {
                var child = VisualTreeHelper.GetChild(reference, i);
                // If the child is not of the request child type child
                if (child.GetType() != childType)
                {
                    // recursively drill down the tree
                    foundChild = FindChild(child, childName, childType);
                }
                else if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(childName))
                {
                    var frameworkElement = child as FrameworkElement;
                    // If the child's name is set for search
                    if (frameworkElement != null && frameworkElement.Name == childName)
                    {
                        // if the child's name is of the request name
                        foundChild = child;
                        break;
                    }
                }
                else
                {
                    // child element found.
                    foundChild = child;
                    break;
                }
            }
        }
        return foundChild;
    }
}

Hope you find it useful.

Answer 5

I combined the template format used by John Myczek and Tri Q's algorithm above to create a findChild Algorithm that can be used on any parent. Keep in mind that recursively searching a tree downwards could be a lengthy process. I've only spot-checked this on a WPF application, please comment on any errors you might find and I'll correct my code.

WPF Snoop is a useful tool in looking at the visual tree - I'd strongly recommend using it while testing or using this algorithm to check your work.

There is a small error in Tri Q's Algorithm. After the child is found, if childrenCound is > 1 and we iterate again we can overwrite the properly found child. Therefore I added a if (foundChild != null) break; into my code to deal with this condition.

/// <summary>
/// Finds a Child of a given item in the visual tree. 
/// </summary>
/// <param name="parent">A direct parent of the queried item.</param>
/// <typeparam name="T">The type of the queried item.</typeparam>
/// <param name="childName">x:Name or Name of child. </param>
/// <returns>The first parent item that matches the submitted type parameter. 
/// If not matching item can be found, a null parent is being returned.</returns>
public static T FindChild<T>(DependencyObject parent, string childName)
   where T : DependencyObject
{    
  // Confirm parent and childName are valid. 
  if (parent == null) return null;

  T foundChild = null;

  int childrenCount = VisualTreeHelper.GetChildrenCount(parent);
  for (int i = 0; i < childrenCount; i++)
  {
    var child = VisualTreeHelper.GetChild(parent, i);
    // If the child is not of the request child type child
    T childType = child as T;
    if (childType == null)
    {
      // recursively drill down the tree
      foundChild = FindChild<T>(child, childName);

      // If the child is found, break so we do not overwrite the found child. 
      if (foundChild != null) break;
    }
    else if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(childName))
    {
      var frameworkElement = child as FrameworkElement;
      // If the child's name is set for search
      if (frameworkElement != null && frameworkElement.Name == childName)
      {
        // if the child's name is of the request name
        foundChild = (T)child;
        break;
      }
    }
    else
    {
      // child element found.
      foundChild = (T)child;
      break;
    }
  }

  return foundChild;
}

Call it like this:

TextBox foundTextBox = UIHelper.FindChild<TextBox>(Application.Current.MainWindow, "myTextBoxName");

Note Application.Current.MainWindow can be any parent window.

Answer 6

My extensions to the code.

• Added overloads to find one child by type, by type and criteria (predicate), find all children of type which meet the criteria
• the FindChildren method is an iterator in addition to being an extension method for DependencyObject
• FindChildren walks logical sub-trees also. See Josh Smith's post linked in the blog post.

Source: http://code.google.com/p/gishu-util/source/browse/trunk/WPF/Utilities/DepObjExtn.cs

Explanatory blog post : http://madcoderspeak.blogspot.com/2010/04/wpf-find-child-control-of-specific-type.html

Answer 7

Hi CrimsonX, By apply your solution, i can find my first TextBox which is generate automatically by ListBox. But how can i find specific item in my ListBox ex:the 2nd, 3rd ... item?

Answer 8

I edited CrimsonX's code as it was not working with superclass types:

public static T FindChild<T>(DependencyObject depObj, string childName)
   where T : DependencyObject
{
    // Confirm obj is valid. 
    if (depObj == null) return null;

    // success case
    if (depObj is T && ((FrameworkElement)depObj).Name == childName)
        return depObj as T;

    for (int i = 0; i < VisualTreeHelper.GetChildrenCount(depObj); i++)
    {
        DependencyObject child = VisualTreeHelper.GetChild(depObj, i);

        //DFS
        T obj = FindChild<T>(child, childName);

        if (obj != null)
            return obj;
    }

    return null;
}

Answer 9

Here's my code to find controls by Type while controlling how deep we go into the hierarchy (maxDepth == 0 means infinitely deep).

public static class FrameworkElementExtension
{
    public static object[] FindControls(
        this FrameworkElement f, Type childType, int maxDepth)
    {
        return RecursiveFindControls(f, childType, 1, maxDepth);
    }

    private static object[] RecursiveFindControls(
        object o, Type childType, int depth, int maxDepth = 0)
    {
        List<object> list = new List<object>();
        var attrs = o.GetType()
            .GetCustomAttributes(typeof(ContentPropertyAttribute), true);
        if (attrs != null && attrs.Length > 0)
        {
            string childrenProperty = (attrs[0] as ContentPropertyAttribute).Name;
            foreach (var c in (IEnumerable)o.GetType()
                .GetProperty(childrenProperty).GetValue(o, null))
            {
                if (c.GetType().FullName == childType.FullName)
                    list.Add(c);
                if (maxDepth == 0 || depth < maxDepth)
                    list.AddRange(RecursiveFindControls(
                        c, childType, depth + 1, maxDepth));
            }
        }
        return list.ToArray();
    }
}