Get desciptive name for a UI control

Hi,
When dealing with UI validation functions I’ve found that I need to get a good looking, descriptive name for my UI elements: textboxes, comboboxes etc.. and so if that elements have labels with target property so the rest is quite simple:

        private string GetLabelTextForControl(DependencyObject targetElement, DependencyObject searchIn)
        {
            for (int i = 0; i < VisualTreeHelper.GetChildrenCount(searchIn); i++)
            {
                DependencyObject v = VisualTreeHelper.GetChild(searchIn, i);
                Label childVisual = v as Label;
                if (childVisual != null)
                {
                    if (childVisual.Target == targetElement)
                    {
                        return childVisual.Content.ToString();
                    }
                }
                else
                {
                    if (VisualTreeHelper.GetChildrenCount(v) > 0)
                    {
                        string respValue = GetLabelTextForControl(targetElement, v);
                        if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(respValue))
                        {
                            return respValue;
                        }
                    }
                }
            }

            return string.Empty;
        }

It’s quick and dirty but it works. The parameters are: the control which name you are searching and the panel, user control or window in which you are searching.
It works if you have Target property set e.g.:

        <Label Target="{Binding ElementName=txtBox}" Content="{Binding Path=Caption, ElementName=me}" />
        <TextBox x:Name="txtBox" AcceptsReturn="True" VerticalScrollBarVisibility="Auto" TextWrapping="Wrap"/>

So it’s just a quick answer to a question: How to get labels for UI Controls in WPF, but I’d gladly invite cleaner solution.

Advertisement