Remarks

Fundamentally, a Path is a Shape. But the Path can be used to create much more complex 2-D graphics than the other Shapes are capable of. The Path object can draw closed or open shapes, lines, and curves. See the Data property for a description of the shapes that the Path element supports.

A Path supports two parallel techniques for declaring its contents: as an object model using discrete geometries declared in markup or code, or as a mini-language declared in markup. The geometry object model can use the GeometryGroup as data in order to specify a composite of multiple geometries. For details, see Silverlight Geometries Overview. The mini-language is analogous to a pathing language output used in some graphics tools. For more information on using the mini-language definition format for Path in markup, see Path Markup Syntax.

Performance Note:   For best performance, avoid explicitly setting the Width and Height of a Path. Setting the Width and Height will result in additional stretching, which has a performance cost. Instead, rely on the explicitly set coordinates of the Path and its contained data to control its shape and position. In effect, the Path will have a natural height/width, although those values are not reported to the object model. See Stretch.

Examples

The following example uses a Path to draw an ellipse.

An EllipseGeometry drawn at (50,50)

<Canvas  
  xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/client/2007" 
  xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"> 
  
  <Path Fill="Gold" Stroke="Black" StrokeThickness="1">
    <Path.Data>
      <EllipseGeometry Center="50,50" RadiusX="50" RadiusY="50" />
    </Path.Data>
  </Path> 
</Canvas>

See Also

Path Markup Syntax
Shapes Overview
Silverlight Geometries Overview
Shape
Stretch