Question about performance in Wpf

Question

Hi,
I have a general question about the right way to bind a class to a listview or list box or any other control in wpf.
Lets say that I have a textbox which the width is binded with the property of my class "my width"
<Textbox x:Name="mytext" Width="{Binding mywidth}" />

My question is how do I open the property in my class. As a string property or as an int.
Xaml won't mind and will translate both but which is more accurate and proper?
Same goes if I want to bind for example the Horizontal Alignment. Should I use a property of type of string or should I use the Horizontal Alignment enumeration?
Do we have any delays while Xaml converts the enumeration or should I leave everything as string data types which is kinda default in Xaml?
Appreciate a guidance in this

Answer 1

Hi,
you can check the performance with this code:

Imports System.ComponentModel

Namespace WpfApp072
  Public Class ViewModel
    Implements INotifyPropertyChanged

    Public Sub New()
      start()
    End Sub
    Public Property HAlignment1 As String = "Left"
    Public Property HAlignment2 As HorizontalAlignment = HorizontalAlignment.Left

    Public Event PropertyChanged As PropertyChangedEventHandler Implements INotifyPropertyChanged.PropertyChanged

    Private Async Sub start()
      Await Task.Delay(1000)
      Dim sw As New Stopwatch
      sw.Start()
      For i = 1 To 10000
        If HAlignment1 = "Left" Then
          HAlignment1 = "Center"
        ElseIf HAlignment1 = "Center" Then
          HAlignment1 = "Right"
        ElseIf HAlignment1 = "Right" Then
          HAlignment1 = "Left"
        End If
        RaiseEvent PropertyChanged(Me, New PropertyChangedEventArgs(NameOf(HAlignment1)))
      Next
      Debug.WriteLine($"String: {sw.ElapsedMilliseconds} ms")
      sw.Restart()
      For i = 1 To 10000
        If HAlignment2 = HorizontalAlignment.Left Then
          HAlignment2 = HorizontalAlignment.Center
        ElseIf HAlignment2 = HorizontalAlignment.Center Then
          HAlignment2 = HorizontalAlignment.Right
        ElseIf HAlignment2 = HorizontalAlignment.Right Then
          HAlignment2 = HorizontalAlignment.Left
        End If
        RaiseEvent PropertyChanged(Me, New PropertyChangedEventArgs(NameOf(HAlignment1)))
      Next
      Debug.WriteLine($"HorizontalAlignment: {sw.ElapsedMilliseconds} ms")
      For i = 1 To 10000
        If HAlignment1 = "Left" Then
          HAlignment1 = "Center"
        ElseIf HAlignment1 = "Center" Then
          HAlignment1 = "Right"
        ElseIf HAlignment1 = "Right" Then
          HAlignment1 = "Left"
        End If
        RaiseEvent PropertyChanged(Me, New PropertyChangedEventArgs(NameOf(HAlignment1)))
      Next
      Debug.WriteLine($"String: {sw.ElapsedMilliseconds} ms")
      sw.Restart()
      For i = 1 To 10000
        If HAlignment2 = HorizontalAlignment.Left Then
          HAlignment2 = HorizontalAlignment.Center
        ElseIf HAlignment2 = HorizontalAlignment.Center Then
          HAlignment2 = HorizontalAlignment.Right
        ElseIf HAlignment2 = HorizontalAlignment.Right Then
          HAlignment2 = HorizontalAlignment.Left
        End If
        RaiseEvent PropertyChanged(Me, New PropertyChangedEventArgs(NameOf(HAlignment1)))
      Next
      Debug.WriteLine($"HorizontalAlignment: {sw.ElapsedMilliseconds} ms")
    End Sub
  End Class

End Namespace

Result:

String: 42 ms
HorizontalAlignment: 25 ms
String: 67 ms
HorizontalAlignment: 38 ms