#95 – x:Name vs. Name

You’ll typically see a Name property on XAML elements.  This property can be used in your code-behind, as a reference to the object being created.

 <Button Content="Button" Height="23" Name="button1" Width="75" Click="button1_Click" />
 <Button Content="Button" Height="23" Name="button2" Width="75" />

But you might also see x:Name being used (attribute syntax) in XAML.

 <Viewport3D Name="viewport1">
     <ModelVisual3D x:Name="visual1">
     </ModelVisual3D>
 </Viewport3D>

The Name property can be used with elements that inherit a Name property from their base class (e.g. FrameworkElement).  But for classes that don’t define a Name property or inherit from a class that does, you must use the x:Name property if you want to reference the object from your code-behind.

In general, Name and x:Name are interchangeable.  The former is an actual property on the class and the latter is a directive that comes from the default x: namespace and is used by the XAML parser.