#92 – Markup Extensions

When property values are specified in XAML, the property can get its value in one of three different ways:

• Property assigned a literal string value
• Property assigned a value by a type converter, converted from a literal string
• Property assigned based on a markup extension

A markup extension is special syntax that dictates where a property should get its value.  Markup extensions are specified using braces–{, }.

 <!-- Background property set using type converter -->
 <Button Background="Red" Content="Dum" Height="23" Width="75" />
 <!-- Background property set using the StaticResource markup extension -->
 <Button Background="{StaticResource blueBrush}" Content="Dee" Height="23" Width="75" />

The most common markup extensions that you’ll encounter in WPF include:

• StaticResource – set property to object in resource dictionary
• DynamicResource – set property to resource, loading at run-time
• Binding – set property using data binding
• TemplateBinding – placeholder in a template, value comes from the object using the template