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Avalonia UI provides a comprehensive set of controls for building desktop applications. Controls are the building blocks of your user interface, from simple text displays to complex data grids.

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Control Categories

Layout Controls

Arrange and organize child elements - Grid, StackPanel, DockPanel, Canvas

Input Controls

Receive user input - Button, TextBox, CheckBox, ComboBox, Slider

Display Controls

Display content and information - TextBlock, Image, Border, ProgressBar

Navigation Controls

Enable navigation between views - TabControl, Menu, TreeView

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Base Classes

All controls in Avalonia inherit from a hierarchy of base classes:
  • Control: Base class for all controls, extends InputElement with Tag property
  • ContentControl: Displays content according to a data template
  • TemplatedControl: Control with customizable visual template
  • Panel: Base class for layout controls that arrange children

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Common Properties

Most controls share common properties inherited from base classes: 
<Button 
  Width="120" 
  Height="40"
  Margin="10"
  Padding="5"
  HorizontalAlignment="Center"
  VerticalAlignment="Top"
  IsEnabled="True"
  IsVisible="True"
  Background="#007ACC"
  Foreground="White" />

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Styling Controls

Controls can be styled using Styles and ControlThemes: 
<Window.Styles>
  <Style Selector="Button">
    <Setter Property="Background" Value="#007ACC" />
    <Setter Property="Foreground" Value="White" />
    <Setter Property="Padding" Value="8,4" />
  </Style>
  
  <Style Selector="Button:pointerover">
    <Setter Property="Background" Value="#1E88E5" />
  </Style>
</Window.Styles>

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Data Binding

Controls support data binding to connect UI with your application logic: 
<TextBox Text="{Binding UserName, Mode=TwoWay}" />
<TextBlock Text="{Binding StatusMessage}" />
<Button Content="Submit" Command="{Binding SubmitCommand}" />

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Creating Custom Controls

For specialized needs, you can create custom controls. See the Custom Controls guide for details.

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Next Steps

Layout Controls

Learn about Grid, StackPanel, and other layout controls

Input Controls

Explore buttons, text boxes, and form controls

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