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What is the difference between Width and ActualWidth in WPF?

I am currently working with Panels in WPF, and I noticed that as regards the Width and Height properties, there are also two other properties called ActualWidth and ActualHeight.

ActualWidth

Gets the rendered width of this element. This is a dependency property. (Inherited from FrameworkElement.)

Width

Gets or sets the width of the element. This is a dependency property. (Inherited from FrameworkElement.)

Reference: MSDN

Can anyone point out the differences between the two and when to use either one ?

Solution

  • Width/Height is the requested or layout size. If you set to Auto, then the value is double.NaN when you access the property in code behind.

    ActualWidth/ActualHeight and RenderSize.Width/RenderSize.Height both return the element's rendered size, as RenderSize is of type Size. If you want/need the actual size of the item, then use any of these attributes.