I’ve decided to write this small post on how to bind a WPF control to a property of the Window code behind. Every time I forget one of the steps and end up searching for this:

1. Create a dependency property, you can use the propdp code snippet
2. Name the window, by setting the Name property in the <Window > tag
3. Bind using ElementName and Path, set the Path to the dependency property (1) and ElementName to the window name (2)

Example with a label bind to a string property of the MainWindow.

// 1. create a dependency property with the propdp code snippet
public string MyRandomText
{
    get { return (string)GetValue(MyRandomTextProperty); }
    set { SetValue(MyRandomTextProperty, value); }
}
public static readonly DependencyProperty MyRandomTextProperty =
    DependencyProperty.Register("MyRandomText", typeof(string), 
    typeof(MainWindow), new PropertyMetadata(Guid.NewGuid().ToString())
);

<Window x:Class="BindControlToWindowProperty.MainWindow"
        xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
        xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
        Title="MainWindow" Height="350" Width="525" 
        Name="MyWindow"> <!-- 2. Name the Window -->
    <Grid>
        <!-- 3. Bind using ElementName and Path -->
        <Label Content="{Binding ElementName=MyWindow,Path=MyRandomText}"/>
    </Grid>
</Window>