#244 – Use a TextBlock Element for Richer Formatting

The Label control allows setting font properties like size and weight, but the settings apply to all of the text in the label.  Also, it’s difficult to embed line breaks without introducing cryptic characters.

The TextBlock control allows formatting subsets of its textual content by adding a series of Run elements and formatting each one separately.

Here’s an example.  Here’s a Label control:

		<Label Background="DarkGray" Margin="10" Height="50" FontSize="14"
			Content="Lancaster / York Richard, Duke of York Henry VI Warwick Somerset" />

And here’s an example of a TextBlock control, showing the same content:

		<TextBlock Background="DarkGray" Margin="10" Height="100" FontSize="14">
			<Run Text="Lancaster" Foreground="Red" TextDecorations="Underline"/><Run Text=" / "/>
			<Run Text="York" Foreground="White" TextDecorations="Underline"/>
			<LineBreak/>
			<Run Text="Richard, Duke of York" Foreground="White" FontSize="16" FontWeight="Bold"/>
			<LineBreak/>
			<Run Text="Henry VI" Foreground="Red" FontSize="16" FontWeight="Bold"/>
			<LineBreak/>
			<Run Text="Warwick" Foreground="White" FontStyle="Italic"/>
			<LineBreak/>
			<Run Text="Somerset" Foreground="Red" FontStyle="Italic"/>
		</TextBlock>