WPF Content Model

Article
11/16/2012

The Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) is a presentation platform that provides many control and control-like types whose primary purpose is to display content. The content models of these types can be very flexible, and at times, very rigid. For example, some types can contain only a single piece of content but some can contain multiple items. In addition, the content may be text, other controls, or a specific set of elements.

This topic organizes the control and control-like types based on the inheritance hierarchy and provides a quick reference for the content models of these type families. A content property is a property that is used to store the content of the object. This topic includes only types distributed with the Windows SDK.

For content model information for a specific type family, see the corresponding content model overview.

This topic contains the following sections.

ContentControl Classes
HeaderedContentControl Classes
ItemsControl Classes
HeaderedItemsControl Classes
Decorator Classes
Panel Classes
Adorner Classes
Flow Text Classes
TextBox Class
TextBlock Class
Shape Classes
Related Topics

ContentControl Classes

Description	A ContentControl is a type of Control that contains a single piece of content.
Content properties	Content
Content model information	Controls Content Model Overview
Types that belong to this type family	Button, ButtonBase, CheckBox, ComboBoxItem, ContentControl, Frame, GridViewColumnHeader, GroupItem, Label, ListBoxItem, ListViewItem, NavigationWindow, RadioButton, RepeatButton, ScrollViewer, StatusBarItem, ToggleButton, ToolTip, UserControl, Window
Types that can contain ContentControl types	ContentControl Classes, HeaderedContentControl Classes, ItemsControl Classes, HeaderedItemsControl Classes, Panel Classes, Decorator Classes, Adorner Classes
Subcategories	HeaderedContentControl Classes

HeaderedContentControl Classes

Description	A HeaderedContentControl is a type of ContentControl that contains a single piece of content and also has a Header.
Content properties	Content, Header
Content model information	Controls Content Model Overview
Types that belong to this type family	Expander, GroupBox, HeaderedContentControl, TabItem
Types that can contain HeaderedContentControl types	ContentControl Classes, HeaderedContentControl Classes, ItemsControl Classes, HeaderedItemsControl Classes, Panel Classes, Decorator Classes, Adorner Classes

ItemsControl Classes

Description	An ItemsControl is a type of Control that can contain multiple items, such strings, objects, or other elements.
Content properties	Items, ItemsSource
Primary content type	Multiple items that may be strings, objects, or other elements.
Content model information	Controls Content Model Overview
Types that belong to this type family	Menu, MenuBase, ContextMenu, ComboBox, ItemsControl, ListBox, ListView, TabControl, TreeView, Selector, StatusBar
Types that can contain ItemsControl types	ContentControl Classes, HeaderedContentControl Classes, ItemsControl Classes, HeaderedItemsControl Classes, Panel Classes, Decorator Classes, Adorner Classes
Subcategories	HeaderedItemsControl Classes

HeaderedItemsControl Classes

Description	A HeaderedItemsControl is a type of ItemsControl that can contain multiple items, such strings, object, or other elements, and also has a header.
Content properties	Header, Items, ItemsSource
Content model information	Controls Content Model Overview
Types that belong to this type family	HeaderedItemsControl, MenuItem, TreeViewItem, ToolBar
Types that can contain HeaderedItemsControl types	Typically, MenuItem objects are used as child elements of a Menu element; TreeViewItem objects are used as child elements of a TreeView element; and ToolBar objects are used as child elements of a ToolBarTray.

Decorator Classes

Description	A Decorator is a type of FrameworkElement that applies effects onto or around a single child UIElement.
Content properties	Child
Primary content type	A single UIElement
Content model information	Decorator Content Model Overview
Types that belong to this type family	ButtonChrome, ClassicBorderDecorator, ListBoxChrome, SystemDropShadowChrome, Border, InkPresenter, BulletDecorator, Viewbox, AdornerDecorator
Types that can contain Decorator Types	ContentControl Classes, HeaderedContentControl Classes, ItemsControl Classes, HeaderedItemsControl Classes, Panel Classes, Decorator Classes, Adorner Classes

Panel Classes

Description	A Panel is a type of FrameworkElement that positions and arranges child objects. For more information, see Panels Overview.
Content properties	Children
Primary content type	One or more UIElement objects.
Content model information	Panel Content Model Overview
Types that belong to this type family	Canvas, DockPanel, Grid, TabPanel, ToolBarOverflowPanel, StackPanel, ToolBarPanel, UniformGrid, VirtualizingPanel, VirtualizingStackPanel, WrapPanel
Types that can contain Panel types	ContentControl Classes, HeaderedContentControl Classes, ItemsControl Classes, HeaderedItemsControl Classes, Panel Classes, Decorator Classes, Adorner Classes

Adorner Classes

Description	An Adorner is a FrameworkElement that is bound to ("adorns") a single UIElement. For more information, see Adorners Overview.
Content properties	None.
Primary content type	None.
Content model information	N/A
Types that belong to this type family	The Adorner class is provided as a framework for creating your own adorners; Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) does not provide any implemented adorners.

Flow Text Classes

Description	A TextElement is a type of FrameworkContentElement that contains text or other TextElement objects. TextElement and its derived classes are used to make up flow content. For more information on flow content, see Flow Document Overview.
Content properties	See TextElement Content Model Overview for more information.
Primary content type	Multiple items that may be strings, objects, or other elements.
Content model information	TextElement Content Model Overview
Types that belong to this type family	AnchoredBlock, Block, BlockUIContainer, Bold, Figure, Floater, Hyperlink, Inline, InlineUIContainer, Italic, LineBreak, List, ListItem, Paragraph, Run, Section, Span, Table, Underline
Types that can contain Flow Text types	FlowDocument Class

TextBox Class

Description	A TextBox is a control that can be used to display or edit unformatted text. A TextBox supports unformatted text only. For applications that require support for richer content, see RichTextBox.
Content properties	Text
Primary content type	Strings
Content model information	TextBox Content Model Overview
Types that belong to this type family	TextBox
Types that can contain TextBox classes	ContentControl Classes, HeaderedContentControl Classes, ItemsControl Classes, HeaderedItemsControl Classes, Panel Classes, Decorator Classes, Adorner Classes, Flow Text Classes

TextBlock Class

Description	A TextBlock is a lightweight control for displaying small amounts of flow content.
Content properties	Inlines
Content model information	TextBlock Content Model Overview
Types that belong to this type family	TextBlock
Types that can contain TextBlock classes	ContentControl Classes, HeaderedContentControl Classes, ItemsControl Classes, HeaderedItemsControl Classes, Panel Classes, Decorator Classes, Adorner Classes, Flow Text Classes

Shape Classes

Description	A Shape is a type of FrameworkElement that displays a geometric shape.
Content properties	None.
Primary Content Type	None.
Content model information	N/A
Types that belong to this type family	See the Shape class for a list of types that derive from Shape.
Types that can contain Shape types	ContentControl Classes, HeaderedContentControl Classes, ItemsControl Classes, HeaderedItemsControl Classes, Panel Classes, Decorator Classes, Adorner Classes