Access XAML Control In DataTemplate From CodeBehind?

Question

I have a control that I am unable to access in the codebehind, and I believe it is because it is defined in a DataTempalte.

The overall control is a slide show carousel.

Answer 1

WPF provides a simple and straightforward way to access named elements that are generated from DataTemplates. It is explained in the MSDN article How to: Find DataTemplate-Generated Elements.

Assumed that your AutoScrollCarousel is derived from ItemsControl, you would get the ContentPresenter that is the container of an item like this:

AutoScrollCarousel carousel = ...
object item = ...
var contentPresenter =
    carousel.ItemContainerGenerator.ContainerFromItem(item) as ContentPresenter;

From the ContentPresenter you would get the named element in the DataTemplate by means of the FindName method:

var dataTemplate = contentPresenter.ContentTemplate;
var mediaPlayer = dataTemplate.FindName("MediaPlayer", contentPresenter) as MediaElement;