How to create a WPF UserControl with NAMED content

Another alternative I've used is to just set the Name property in the Loaded event.

In my case, I had a rather complex control which I didn't want to create in the code-behind, and it looked for an optional control with a specific name for certain behavior, and since I noticed I could set the name in a DataTemplate I figured I could do it in the Loaded event too.

private void Button_Loaded(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
    Button b = sender as Button;
    b.Name = "buttonName";
}

Sometimes you might just need to reference the element from C#. Depending on the use case, you can then set an x:Uid instead of an x:Name and access the elements by calling a Uid finder method like Get object by its Uid in WPF.

It seems this is not possible when XAML is used. Custom controls seem to be a overkill when I actually have all the controls I need, but just need to group them together with a small bit of logic and allow named content.

The solution on JD's blog as mackenir suggests, seems to have the best compromise. A way to extend JD's solution to allow controls to still be defined in XAML could be as follows:

    protected override void OnInitialized(EventArgs e)
    {
        base.OnInitialized(e);

        var grid = new Grid();
        var content = new ContentPresenter
                          {
                              Content = Content
                          };

        var userControl = new UserControlDefinedInXAML();
        userControl.aStackPanel.Children.Add(content);

        grid.Children.Add(userControl);
        Content = grid;           
    }

In my example above I have created a user control called UserControlDefinedInXAML which is define like any normal user controls using XAML. In my UserControlDefinedInXAML I have a StackPanel called aStackPanel within which I want my named content to appear.

The answer is to not use a UserControl to do it.

Create a class that extends ContentControl

public class MyFunkyControl : ContentControl
{
    public static readonly DependencyProperty HeadingProperty =
        DependencyProperty.Register("Heading", typeof(string),
        typeof(MyFunkyControl), new PropertyMetadata(HeadingChanged));

    private static void HeadingChanged(DependencyObject d, DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs e)
    {
        ((MyFunkyControl) d).Heading = e.NewValue as string;
    }

    public string Heading { get; set; }
}

then use a style to specify the contents

<Style TargetType="control:MyFunkyControl">
    <Setter Property="Template">
        <Setter.Value>
            <ControlTemplate TargetType="control:MyFunkyControl">
                <Grid>
                    <ContentControl Content="{TemplateBinding Content}"/>
                </Grid>
            </ControlTemplate>
        </Setter.Value>
    </Setter>
</Style>

and finally - use it

<control:MyFunkyControl Heading="Some heading!">            
    <Label Name="WithAName">Some cool content</Label>
</control:MyFunkyControl>