How can I find WPF controls by name or type?

Question

I need to search a WPF control hierarchy for controls that match a given name or type. How can I do this?

Answer 1

Since the question is general enough that it might attract people looking for answers to very trivial cases: if you just want a child rather than a descendant, you can use Linq:

private void ItemsControlItem_Loaded(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
    if (SomeCondition())
    {
        var children = (sender as Panel).Children;
        var child = (from Control child in children
                 where child.Name == "NameTextBox"
                 select child).First();
        child.Focus();
    }
}

or of course the obvious for loop iterating over Children.