This function allows you to get a control by name and type in a given parent control VisualTree. Keep in mind that recursively searching a tree downwards could be a lengthy process.
/// <summary> /// Finds a Child of a given item in the visual tree. /// </summary> /// <param name="parent">A direct parent of the queried item.</param> /// <typeparam name="T">The type of the queried item.</typeparam> /// <param name="childName">x:Name or Name of child. </param> /// <returns>The first parent item that matches the submitted type parameter. /// If not matching item can be found, a null parent is being returned.</returns> public static T FindChild<T>(DependencyObject parent, string childName) where T : DependencyObject { // Confirm parent and childName are valid. if (parent == null) return null; T foundChild = null; int childrenCount = VisualTreeHelper.GetChildrenCount(parent); for (int i = 0; i < childrenCount; i++) { var child = VisualTreeHelper.GetChild(parent, i); // If the child is not of the request child type child T childType = child as T; if (childType == null) { // recursively drill down the tree foundChild = FindChild<T>(child, childName); // If the child is found, break so we do not overwrite the found child. if (foundChild != null) break; } else if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(childName)) { var frameworkElement = child as FrameworkElement; // If the child's name is set for search if (frameworkElement != null && frameworkElement.Name == childName) { // if the child's name is of the request name foundChild = (T)child; break; } } else { // child element found. foundChild = (T)child; break; } } return foundChild; }
Note that if the argument name is undefined, the function returns the first found child element that matches the submitted type T.
In WPF you can call it like this:
TextBox foundTextBox = FindChild<TextBox>(Application.Current.MainWindow, "myTextBoxName");