Geometry Class
[ This article is for Windows Phone 8 developers. If you’re developing for Windows 10, see the latest documentation. ]
Provides a base class for objects that define geometric shapes. Geometry objects can be used for clipping regions and as geometry definitions for rendering two-dimensional graphic data as a Path.
Assembly: System.Windows (in System.Windows.dll)
The Geometry type exposes the following members.
| Name | Description | |
|---|---|---|
 | Bounds | Gets a Rect that specifies the axis-aligned bounding box of the Geometry. |
| Dispatcher | Gets the Dispatcher this object is associated with. (Inherited from DependencyObject.) |
 | Empty | Gets an empty geometry object. |
| StandardFlatteningTolerance | Gets the standard tolerance used for polygonal approximation. |
| Transform | Gets or sets the Transform object applied to a Geometry. |
| Name | Description | |
|---|---|---|
 | CheckAccess | Determines whether the calling thread has access to this object. (Inherited from DependencyObject.) |
| ClearValue | Clears the local value of a dependency property. (Inherited from DependencyObject.) |
| Equals(Object) | Determines whether the specified Object is equal to the current Object. (Inherited from Object.) |
 | Finalize | Allows an object to try to free resources and perform other cleanup operations before the Object is reclaimed by garbage collection. (Inherited from Object.) |
| GetAnimationBaseValue | Returns any base value established for a Windows Phone dependency property, which would apply in cases where an animation is not active. (Inherited from DependencyObject.) |
| GetHashCode | Serves as a hash function for a particular type. (Inherited from Object.) |
| GetType | Gets the Type of the current instance. (Inherited from Object.) |
| GetValue | Returns the current effective value of a dependency property from a DependencyObject. (Inherited from DependencyObject.) |
| MemberwiseClone | Creates a shallow copy of the current Object. (Inherited from Object.) |
| ReadLocalValue | Returns the local value of a dependency property, if a local value is set. (Inherited from DependencyObject.) |
| SetValue | Sets the local value of a dependency property on a DependencyObject. (Inherited from DependencyObject.) |
| ToString | Returns a string that represents the current object. (Inherited from Object.) |
For XAML syntaxes that take a Geometry, you need to specify a non-abstract derived type of Geometry as an object element. For details, see the XAML syntax on the reference pages for EllipseGeometry, GeometryGroup, LineGeometry, PathGeometry, or RectangleGeometry.
Geometries can be conceptualized as being "simple" or "complex" geometries. EllipseGeometry, LineGeometry, and RectangleGeometry are the simple geometries, which specify the geometrical shape as one element with basic coordinate or dimension properties. GeometryGroup and PathGeometry are the complex geometries. GeometryGroup combines other geometries that it holds as child objects. PathGeometry uses either a set of nested figure/segment path definition elements or a compact string syntax to describe a path for the geometry.
A Geometry does not entirely define its own rendering. Instead, a Geometry is provided as data for a Path. Path in turn is a UIElement.
Geometry Compared to Shape
The System.Windows.Shapes::Shape class has a Fill, Stroke, and other rendering properties that Geometry and its derived classes lack. The Shape class is a FrameworkElement and therefore participates in the layout system; its derived classes can be used as the content of any element that supports UIElement children.
The Geometry class, on the other hand, simply defines the geometry of a shape, and cannot render itself. Because of its simplicity, it has a wider range of uses.