How to add controls / Elements to a form in the WPF C# code?

Question

Is there a way to add a control like in Win Forms C# Button b = new Button(); and then add it just like Form1.Controls.Add(b);

I can't do this in WPF because I don't have a Controls attribute in the Window class. How can I do this. I read this of just putting a Panel, dock it to fill and then there I use this:

myPanel.Children.Add(b);

But then it comes to me again. How do I create and add a Panel and dock it to fill?

If I use Panel p = new Panel(); it marks error. And how do I add the panel to my MainWindow?

Answer 1

You can add a stackpanel to window like below.

StackPanel myPanel = new StackPanel();
myWindow.Content = myPanel;

Like @HighCore said below, it is not cleaner to add controls in codebehind. Use XAML wherever it is possible and avoid adding controls in code behind

Answer 2

You can create any structure in C# as you can in XAML.

var p = new Panel();

Above doesn't work because Panel is an abstract class. You can, however do:

var p = new StackPanel();
var g = new Grid();
var wp = new WrapPanel();
var dp = new DockPanel();
//Etc.

See all panels here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.windows.controls.panel(v=vs.110).aspx

<Window ...>
    <StackPanel>
        <TextBox/>
    </StackPanel/>
</Window>

is equivalent with (from your MainWindow.xaml.cs):

var sp = new StackPanel();
sp.Children.Add(new TextBox);
Content = sp;

EDIT: Just to be clear, you ONLY want to create your UI in C# if it is dynamic in nature. If you know which fields will be there, always, use XAML. It is the HTML of WPF. Coding everything in the code-behind is the web-design equivalent of sending a blank HTML file and creating everything in JavaScript.