XAML Unleashed

Summary

Creating a user control, or any control that uses a XAML file with a C# code-behind file, is a straightforward way to encapsulate some elements that you want to use multiple times. Creating a custom control, however, involves many unorthodox concepts for people who aren’t familiar with styles, templates, resources, and data binding. If such a developer doesn’t care about restyling and theming, the extra complication doesn’t add much value! That’s XAML-based UI frameworks have a bifurcated view of custom controls versus user controls.

Of course, even these two approaches are not the only options for reusable UI elements. For example, you could create a custom lower-level element that derives directly from FrameworkElement. A common non- ...