#209 – Specifying a Color Where a Brush Is Expected in XAML

We saw earlier how to set the Background property for a control in XAML, by setting the property to an instance of a SolidColorBrush and then setting the Color property for the brush:

    <Window.Background>
        <SolidColorBrush Color="PowderBlue"/>
    </Window.Background>

We can be much more concise than this, however, just setting the value of the Background property directly to a color:

<Window x:Class="WpfApplication2.MainWindow"
        xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
        xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
        Title="MainWindow" Height="346" Width="590"
        Background="PowderBlue">

This works through the use of type converters.  The Background property uses a type converter to convert a string to an instance of a SolidColorBrush of the corresponding color.  Specifically, it sets the property to point to the preexisting Brushes.PowderBlue brush.  You can see the full list of predefined brushes here.