FrameworkElement.Width Property (System.Windows)

Width Property

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Microsoft Visual Studio 2010/.NET Framework 4

Other versions are also available for the following:

.NET Framework Class Library

FrameworkElement..::.Width Property

Gets or sets the width of the element.

Namespace: System.Windows
Assembly: PresentationFramework (in PresentationFramework.dll)
XMLNS for XAML: http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation, http://schemas.microsoft.com/netfx/2007/xaml/presentation

Syntax

Visual Basic

<LocalizabilityAttribute(LocalizationCategory.None, Readability := Readability.Unreadable)> _
<TypeConverterAttribute(GetType(LengthConverter))> _
Public Property Width As Double
    Get
    Set

[LocalizabilityAttribute(LocalizationCategory.None, Readability = Readability.Unreadable)]
[TypeConverterAttribute(typeof(LengthConverter))]
public double Width { get; set; }

Visual C++

[LocalizabilityAttribute(LocalizationCategory::None, Readability = Readability::Unreadable)]
[TypeConverterAttribute(typeof(LengthConverter))]
public:
virtual property double Width {
    double get () sealed;
    void set (double value) sealed;
}

[<LocalizabilityAttribute(LocalizationCategory.None, Readability = Readability.Unreadable)>]
[<TypeConverterAttribute(typeof(LengthConverter))>]
abstract Width : float with get, set
[<LocalizabilityAttribute(LocalizationCategory.None, Readability = Readability.Unreadable)>]
[<TypeConverterAttribute(typeof(LengthConverter))>]
override Width : float with get, set

XAML Attribute Usage

<object Width="double"/>
- or –
<object Width ="qualifiedDouble"/>
- or -
<object Width ="Auto"/>

XAML Values

double

Double

String representation of a Double value equal to or greater than 0.0. See Remarks for upper bound information. This value is interpreted as a device-independent unit (1/96th inch) measurement. Strings need not explicitly include decimal points. For instance a value of 1 is acceptable.

qualifiedDouble

A double value as described above, followed by one of the following unit declaration strings: px, in, cm, pt.

px (default) is device-independent units (1/96th inch per unit)

in is inches; 1in==96px

cm is centimeters; 1cm==(96/2.54) px

pt is points; 1pt==(96/72) px

Auto

Enables autosizing behavior. See Remarks.

Property Value

Type: System..::.Double
The width of the element, in device-independent units (1/96th inch per unit). The default value is Double..::.NaN. This value must be equal to or greater than 0.0. See Remarks for upper bound information.

Dependency Property Information

Identifier field	WidthProperty
Metadata properties set to true	AffectsMeasure

Remarks

This is one of three properties on FrameworkElement that specify width information. The other two are MinWidth and MaxWidth. If there is a conflict between these values, the order of application for actual width determination is first MinWidth must be honored, then MaxWidth, and finally if each of these are within bounds, Width.

The return value of this property is always the same as any value that was set to it. In contrast, the value of the ActualWidth may vary. The layout may have rejected the suggested size for some reason. Also, the layout system itself works asynchronously relative to the property system set of Width and may not have processed that particular sizing property change yet.

In addition to acceptable Double values, this property can also be Double..::.NaN. This is how you specify auto sizing behavior. In XAML you set the value to the string "Auto" (case insensitive) to enable the auto sizing behavior. Auto sizing behavior implies that the element will fill the width available to it. Note however that specific controls frequently supply default values in their default styles that will disable the auto sizing behavior unless it is specifically re-enabled.

In addition to the validation check, there is a nondeterministic upper value bound for Width that is enforced by the layout system (this is a very large number, larger than Single..::.MaxValue but smaller than Double..::.MaxValue). If you exceed this bound, the element will not render, and no exception is thrown. Do not set Width to a value that is significantly larger than the maximum size of any possible visual display, or you may exceed this nondeterministic upper bound.

Examples

This example visually shows the differences in rendering behavior among the four width-related properties in Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF).

The FrameworkElement class exposes four properties that describe the width characteristics of an element. These four properties can conflict, and when they do, the value that takes precedence is determined as follows: the MinWidth value takes precedence over the MaxWidth value, which in turn takes precedence over the Width value. A fourth property, ActualWidth, is read-only, and reports the actual width as determined by interactions with the layout process.

The following Extensible Application Markup Language (XAML) examples draw a Rectangle element (rect1) as a child of Canvas. You can change the width properties of a Rectangle by using a series of ListBox elements that represent the property values of MinWidth, MaxWidth, and Width. In this manner, the precedence of each property is visually displayed.

XAML

<Canvas Height="200" MinWidth="200" Background="#b0c4de" VerticalAlignment="Top"  HorizontalAlignment="Center" Name="myCanvas">
    <Rectangle HorizontalAlignment="Center" Canvas.Top="50" Canvas.Left="50"  Name="rect1" Fill="#4682b4" Width="100" Height="100"/>
</Canvas>


...


    <TextBlock Grid.Row="1" Grid.Column="0" Margin="10,0,0,0" TextWrapping="Wrap">Set the Rectangle Width:</TextBlock>
    <ListBox Grid.Column="1" Grid.Row="1" Margin="10,0,0,0" Width="50" Height="50" SelectionChanged="changeWidth">
      <ListBoxItem>25</ListBoxItem>
      <ListBoxItem>50</ListBoxItem>
      <ListBoxItem>75</ListBoxItem>
      <ListBoxItem>100</ListBoxItem>
      <ListBoxItem>125</ListBoxItem>
      <ListBoxItem>150</ListBoxItem>
      <ListBoxItem>175</ListBoxItem>
      <ListBoxItem>200</ListBoxItem>
      <ListBoxItem>225</ListBoxItem>
      <ListBoxItem>250</ListBoxItem>
    </ListBox>

    <TextBlock Grid.Row="1" Grid.Column="2" Margin="10,0,0,0" TextWrapping="Wrap">Set the Rectangle MinWidth:</TextBlock>
    <ListBox Grid.Column="3" Grid.Row="1" Margin="10,0,0,0" Width="50" Height="50" SelectionChanged="changeMinWidth">
      <ListBoxItem>25</ListBoxItem>
      <ListBoxItem>50</ListBoxItem>
      <ListBoxItem>75</ListBoxItem>
      <ListBoxItem>100</ListBoxItem>
      <ListBoxItem>125</ListBoxItem>
      <ListBoxItem>150</ListBoxItem>
      <ListBoxItem>175</ListBoxItem>
      <ListBoxItem>200</ListBoxItem>
      <ListBoxItem>225</ListBoxItem>
      <ListBoxItem>250</ListBoxItem>
  </ListBox>      

    <TextBlock Grid.Row="1" Grid.Column="4" Margin="10,0,0,0" TextWrapping="Wrap">Set the Rectangle MaxWidth:</TextBlock>
    <ListBox Grid.Column="5" Grid.Row="1" Margin="10,0,0,0" Width="50" Height="50" SelectionChanged="changeMaxWidth">
      <ListBoxItem>25</ListBoxItem>
      <ListBoxItem>50</ListBoxItem>
      <ListBoxItem>75</ListBoxItem>
      <ListBoxItem>100</ListBoxItem>
      <ListBoxItem>125</ListBoxItem>
      <ListBoxItem>150</ListBoxItem>
      <ListBoxItem>175</ListBoxItem>
      <ListBoxItem>200</ListBoxItem>
      <ListBoxItem>225</ListBoxItem>
      <ListBoxItem>250</ListBoxItem>  
    </ListBox>

The following code-behind examples handle the events that the SelectionChanged event raises. Each custom method takes the input from the ListBox, parses the value as a Double, and applies the value to the specified width-related property. The width values are also converted to a string and written to various TextBlock elements (definition of those elements is not shown in the selected XAML).

Visual Basic

Private Sub changeWidth(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal args As SelectionChangedEventArgs)
    Dim li As ListBoxItem = CType(CType(sender, ListBox).SelectedItem, ListBoxItem)
    Dim sz1 As Double = Double.Parse(li.Content.ToString())
    rect1.Width = sz1
    rect1.UpdateLayout()
    txt1.Text = "ActualWidth is set to " + rect1.ActualWidth.ToString
    txt2.Text = "Width is set to " + rect1.Width.ToString
    txt3.Text = "MinWidth is set to " + rect1.MinWidth.ToString
    txt4.Text = "MaxWidth is set to " + rect1.MaxWidth.ToString
End Sub
Private Sub changeMinWidth(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal args As SelectionChangedEventArgs)

    Dim li As ListBoxItem = CType(CType(sender, ListBox).SelectedItem, ListBoxItem)
    Dim sz1 As Double = Double.Parse(li.Content.ToString())
    rect1.MinWidth = sz1
    rect1.UpdateLayout()
    txt1.Text = "ActualWidth is set to " + rect1.ActualWidth.ToString
    txt2.Text = "Width is set to " + rect1.Width.ToString
    txt3.Text = "MinWidth is set to " + rect1.MinWidth.ToString
    txt4.Text = "MaxWidth is set to " + rect1.MaxWidth.ToString
End Sub
Private Sub changeMaxWidth(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal args As SelectionChangedEventArgs)

    Dim li As ListBoxItem = CType(CType(sender, ListBox).SelectedItem, ListBoxItem)
    Dim sz1 As Double = Double.Parse(li.Content.ToString())
    rect1.MaxWidth = sz1
    rect1.UpdateLayout()
    txt1.Text = "ActualWidth is set to " + rect1.ActualWidth.ToString
    txt2.Text = "Width is set to " + rect1.Width.ToString
    txt3.Text = "MinWidth is set to " + rect1.MinWidth.ToString
    txt4.Text = "MaxWidth is set to " + rect1.MaxWidth.ToString
End Sub

private void changeWidth(object sender, SelectionChangedEventArgs args)
{
    ListBoxItem li = ((sender as ListBox).SelectedItem as ListBoxItem);
    Double sz1 = Double.Parse(li.Content.ToString());
    rect1.Width = sz1;
    rect1.UpdateLayout();
    txt1.Text = "ActualWidth is set to " + rect1.ActualWidth;
    txt2.Text = "Width is set to " + rect1.Width;
    txt3.Text = "MinWidth is set to " + rect1.MinWidth;
    txt4.Text = "MaxWidth is set to " + rect1.MaxWidth;
}
private void changeMinWidth(object sender, SelectionChangedEventArgs args)
{
    ListBoxItem li = ((sender as ListBox).SelectedItem as ListBoxItem);
    Double sz1 = Double.Parse(li.Content.ToString());
    rect1.MinWidth = sz1;
    rect1.UpdateLayout();
    txt1.Text = "ActualWidth is set to " + rect1.ActualWidth;
    txt2.Text = "Width is set to " + rect1.Width;
    txt3.Text = "MinWidth is set to " + rect1.MinWidth;
    txt4.Text = "MaxWidth is set to " + rect1.MaxWidth;
}
private void changeMaxWidth(object sender, SelectionChangedEventArgs args)
{
    ListBoxItem li = ((sender as ListBox).SelectedItem as ListBoxItem);
    Double sz1 = Double.Parse(li.Content.ToString());
    rect1.MaxWidth = sz1;
    rect1.UpdateLayout();
    txt1.Text = "ActualWidth is set to " + rect1.ActualWidth;
    txt2.Text = "Width is set to " + rect1.Width;
    txt3.Text = "MinWidth is set to " + rect1.MinWidth;
    txt4.Text = "MaxWidth is set to " + rect1.MaxWidth;
}

For the complete sample, see Width Properties Comparison Sample.

Version Information

.NET Framework

Supported in: 4, 3.5, 3.0

.NET Framework Client Profile

Supported in: 4, 3.5 SP1

Platforms

Windows 7, Windows Vista SP1 or later, Windows XP SP3, Windows Server 2008 (Server Core not supported), Windows Server 2008 R2 (Server Core supported with SP1 or later), Windows Server 2003 SP2

The .NET Framework does not support all versions of every platform. For a list of the supported versions, see .NET Framework System Requirements.

Reference

FrameworkElement Class

System.Windows Namespace

Other Resources

Layout System