How can I get the x:Name of an object from code?

wpf xaml code-behind xname
devios1 picture devios1 · Jun 18, 2010 · Viewed 7.2k times · Source

Given a reference to an object defined in XAML, is it possible to determine what (if any) x:Name the object has, or can I only do this by accessing the FrameworkElement.Name property (if the object is a FrameworkElement)?

Answer

Joseph Sturtevant picture Joseph Sturtevant · Jun 18, 2010

One approach you could take is to first check if the object is a FrameworkElement, and if not, try reflection to get the name:

public static string GetName(object obj)
{
    // First see if it is a FrameworkElement
    var element = obj as FrameworkElement;
    if (element != null)
        return element.Name;
    // If not, try reflection to get the value of a Name property.
    try { return (string) obj.GetType().GetProperty("Name").GetValue(obj, null); }
    catch
    {
        // Last of all, try reflection to get the value of a Name field.
        try { return (string) obj.GetType().GetField("Name").GetValue(obj); }
        catch { return null; }
    }
}

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