What is the difference between Width and ActualWidth in WPF?

wpf size width actualwidth
Andreas Grech picture Andreas Grech · Mar 3, 2009 · Viewed 51.8k times · Source

I am currently working with Panels in WPF, and I noticed that as regards the Width and Height properties, there are also two other properties called ActualWidth and ActualHeight.

ActualWidth

Gets the rendered width of this element. This is a dependency property. (Inherited from FrameworkElement.)

Width

Gets or sets the width of the element. This is a dependency property. (Inherited from FrameworkElement.)

Reference: MSDN

Can anyone point out the differences between the two and when to use either one ?

Answer

Muad'Dib picture Muad'Dib · Mar 3, 2009

Width/Height is the requested or layout size. If you set to Auto, then the value is double.NaN when you access the property in code behind.

ActualWidth/ActualHeight and RenderSize.Width/RenderSize.Height both return the element's rendered size, as RenderSize is of type Size. If you want/need the actual size of the item, then use any of these attributes.

Related questions

How to get the size of the current screen in WPF?

I know I can get the size of the primary screen by using System.Windows.SystemParameters.PrimaryScreenWidth; System.Windows.SystemParameters.PrimaryScreenHeight; But how do I get the size of the current screen? (Multi-Screen users do not always use the primary …

Read More
What does the WPF star do (Width="100*")

What does exactly the star in size terms in WPF mean?

Read More
WPF: How to display an image at its original size?

I have a problem with displaying images in WPF. Here's my code: <Button HorizontalAlignment="Left" Grid.Column="1" Grid.Row="5" Margin="0,5"> <Button.Content> <StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal" Margin="10,0"> <Image Source="/images/user_add.png" Stretch="…

Read More