Text wrapping expands the column to fit the text - wpf

Question

I've got a grid defined simply:
<Grid Margin="0,5,0,0">
<Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<ColumnDefinition Width="50"></ColumnDefinition>
<ColumnDefinition Width="50"></ColumnDefinition>
<ColumnDefinition Width="48"></ColumnDefinition>
<ColumnDefinition Width="Auto"></ColumnDefinition>
</Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
Then I'm trying to bind some content like this:
<TextBlock TextWrapping="Wrap" Grid.Column="3" Text="{Binding Text}">
Set up like this, the text won't wrap. It simply expands the column to fit the text. If I set the Width to a fixed amount on the last column, wrapping works as expected. The problem there is that if the user widens the window, the column stays at a fixed size. How can I get the column to size dynamically with the width of the grid, but still wrap the text within it?

Answer 1

A width of "*" will split any remaining space evenly between the columns using "*". If you have a single column with Width="*", that column will get all remaining space. If you have 2 columns with Width="*", each will get 1/2 of the remaining space.
Here's a good article on grid sizing that includes star sizing.

Answer 2

There's one frustrating case I discovered that can break even with Width="*" and thats when you have IsSharedSizeScope= true.
<Border BorderBrush="Red" BorderThickness="1">
<StackPanel Grid.IsSharedSizeScope="True">
<Grid HorizontalAlignment="Stretch">
<Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<ColumnDefinition Width="Auto" SharedSizeGroup="G1"/>
<ColumnDefinition Width="Auto" SharedSizeGroup="G2" />
<ColumnDefinition Width="*" SharedSizeGroup="G3" />
</Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<TextBlock Text="Col0" Grid.Column="0" Margin="0,0,5,0"/>
<TextBlock Text="Col1" Grid.Column="1" Margin="0,0,5,0"/>
<TextBlock Text="A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z" TextWrapping="Wrap" Grid.Column="2"/>
</Grid>
</StackPanel>
</Border>
This won't wrap, but if you change Grid.IsSharedScopeSize to false then it does.
Haven't found a solution yet, but this can be another reason it won't work.

Answer 3

Try this:
<Grid Margin="0,5,0,0">
<Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<ColumnDefinition Width="50"></ColumnDefinition>
<ColumnDefinition Width="50"></ColumnDefinition>
<ColumnDefinition Width="48"></ColumnDefinition>
<ColumnDefinition Name="ParentColumn" Width="Auto"></ColumnDefinition>
</Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<TextBlock TextWrapping="Wrap" Grid.Column="3" Text="{Binding Text}"
MaxWidth="{Binding ActualWidth, ElementName=ParentColumn}">

Answer 4

Set its width to "*"

Answer 5

You should use Auto only when you want to column/row to size depending on content in said column/row. If you want to "asign rest of space" use "*".
In your case, TextBlock needs to know how much space it has before acutal measure, so it can tell where to wrap the text.