Customizing Property Labels

Updated on Aug 12, 2026

Each field in RadPropertyGrid displays a label that identifies the underlying property. You can control the text of that label, apply a Style to it, or replace it entirely with a custom DataTemplate — either for a single field or for every field in the grid.

This article covers:

• Setting the Label Text with PropertyDefinition.DisplayName.
• Styling the Label with PropertyDefinition.LabelStyle.
• Templating All Field Labels with RadPropertyGrid.LabelTemplate.
• Overriding the Template for a Single Field with PropertyDefinition.LabelTemplate.

Setting the Label Text

The DisplayName property of PropertyDefinition holds the text that is rendered by the field's label. When RadPropertyGrid auto-generates its property definitions, DisplayName defaults to the name of the underlying property, but you can override it for a manually defined PropertyDefinition.

Setting DisplayName on a manually defined PropertyDefinition

XAML

<telerik:RadPropertyGrid Item="{Binding}" AutoGeneratePropertyDefinitions="False">
    <telerik:RadPropertyGrid.PropertyDefinitions>
        <telerik:PropertyDefinition Binding="{Binding FirstName}" DisplayName="First Name" />
        <telerik:PropertyDefinition Binding="{Binding LastName}" DisplayName="Last Name" />
        <telerik:PropertyDefinition Binding="{Binding Occupation}" DisplayName="Job Title" />
    </telerik:RadPropertyGrid.PropertyDefinitions>
</telerik:RadPropertyGrid>

To change the label text of an auto-generated field, set DisplayName in the AutoGeneratingPropertyDefinition event handler instead.

Setting DisplayName for an auto-generated field

C#

private void PropertyGrid_AutoGeneratingPropertyDefinition(object sender, Telerik.Windows.Controls.Data.PropertyGrid.AutoGeneratingPropertyDefinitionEventArgs e)
{
    if (e.PropertyDefinition.Binding is Binding binding && binding.Path.Path == nameof(Employee.Occupation))
    {
        e.PropertyDefinition.DisplayName = "Job Title";
    }
}

You can also drive DisplayName declaratively through the Display data annotation attribute. Read more in the Data Annotations article.

Styling the Label

The LabelStyle property of PropertyDefinition accepts a Style targeting TextBlock and is applied to that field's default label.

Defining a label Style

XAML

<Window.Resources>
    <Style x:Key="HighlightedLabelStyle" TargetType="TextBlock">
        <Setter Property="Foreground" Value="OrangeRed" />
        <Setter Property="FontWeight" Value="Bold" />
    </Style>
</Window.Resources>

Applying LabelStyle to a PropertyDefinition

XAML

<telerik:RadPropertyGrid Item="{Binding}" AutoGeneratePropertyDefinitions="False">
    <telerik:RadPropertyGrid.PropertyDefinitions>
        <telerik:PropertyDefinition Binding="{Binding Occupation}"
                                    DisplayName="Job Title"
                                    LabelStyle="{StaticResource HighlightedLabelStyle}" />
    </telerik:RadPropertyGrid.PropertyDefinitions>
</telerik:RadPropertyGrid>

A field label styled through LabelStyle

LabelStyle targets the default label TextBlock only. It has no effect on a field whose label is rendered through RadPropertyGrid.LabelTemplate or its own PropertyDefinition.LabelTemplate.

Templating All Field Labels

The LabelTemplate property of RadPropertyGrid accepts a DataTemplate that is used to render the label of every field in the grid, unless a field's own PropertyDefinition.LabelTemplate is set. The template receives the corresponding PropertyDefinition instance as its DataContext, so you can bind to DisplayName or any other of its members.

Setting RadPropertyGrid.LabelTemplate

XAML

<telerik:RadPropertyGrid Item="{Binding}">
    <telerik:RadPropertyGrid.LabelTemplate>
        <DataTemplate>
            <TextBlock Text="{Binding DisplayName}" Foreground="Green" />
        </DataTemplate>
    </telerik:RadPropertyGrid.LabelTemplate>
</telerik:RadPropertyGrid>

All field labels rendered through RadPropertyGrid.LabelTemplate

Overriding the Template for a Single Field

PropertyDefinition also exposes its own LabelTemplate property. When set, it takes precedence over RadPropertyGrid.LabelTemplate for that particular field, which lets you single out one field for a different label presentation while every other field keeps using the grid-wide template.

Defining a dedicated label template

XAML

<Window.Resources>
    <DataTemplate x:Key="OccupationLabelTemplate">
        <TextBlock Text="{Binding DisplayName}" Background="Red" Foreground="White" Padding="10,2" />
    </DataTemplate>
</Window.Resources>

Assigning the template to a single auto-generated field

C#

private void PropertyGrid_AutoGeneratingPropertyDefinition(object sender, Telerik.Windows.Controls.Data.PropertyGrid.AutoGeneratingPropertyDefinitionEventArgs e)
{
    if (e.PropertyDefinition.DisplayName == nameof(Employee.Occupation))
    {
        e.PropertyDefinition.LabelTemplate = (DataTemplate)this.Resources["OccupationLabelTemplate"];
    }
}

A single field label overridden through PropertyDefinition.LabelTemplate

See Also

• Overview
• Visual Structure
• Autogenerated Property Definitions
• Data Annotations
• Styles and Templates Overview