WPF TemplateBinding vs RelativeSource TemplatedParent

Question

TemplateBinding is not quite the same thing. MSDN docs are often written by people that have to quiz monosyllabic SDEs about software features, so the nuances are not quite right.

TemplateBindings are evaluated at compile time against the type specified in the control template. This allows for much faster instantiation of compiled templates. Just fumble the name in a templatebinding and you'll see that the compiler will flag it.

The binding markup is resolved at runtime. While slower to execute, the binding will resolve property names that are not visible on the type declared by the template. By slower, I'll point out that its kind of relative since the binding operation takes very little of the application's cpu. If you were blasting control templates around at high speed you might notice it.

As a matter of practice use the TemplateBinding when you can but don't fear the Binding.

TemplateBinding - More limiting than using regular Binding

• More efficient than a Binding but it has less functionality
• Only works inside a ControlTemplate's visual tree
• Doesn't work with properties on Freezables
• Doesn't work within a ControlTemplate's Trigger
• Provides a shortcut in setting properties(not as verbose),e.g. {TemplateBinding targetProperty}

Regular Binding - Does not have above limitations of TemplateBinding

• Respects Parent Properties
• Resets Target Values to clear out any explicitly set values
• Example: <Ellipse Fill="{Binding RelativeSource={RelativeSource TemplatedParent},Path=Background}"/>

One more thing - TemplateBindings don't allow value converting. They don't allow you to pass a Converter and don't automatically convert int to string for example (which is normal for a Binding).

TemplateBinding is a shorthand for Binding with TemplatedParent but it does not expose all the capabilities of the Binding class, for example you can't control Binding.Mode from TemplateBinding.