Dependency Properties

While our data-source Nickname object made its data available via standard .NET properties, we need something special to support data binding on the target element. While the TextContent property of the TextBlock element is exposed with a standard property wrapper, for it to integrate with WPF services such as data binding, styling and animation, it also needs to be a dependency property . A dependency property provides several features not present in .NET properties, including the ability to inherit its value from a container element, support externally set defaults, provide for object-independent storage (providing a potentially huge memory savings), and change tracking.

Most of the time, you won't have to worry about dependency properties versus .NET properties, but when you need the details, you can read about them in the Chapter 9.