title: Can an instance of a User Control be public?
body: <p>I hope this doesn't seem like a weird question or something that should be avoided, but is it possible to make the instance of the control public so that it can be used in other classes?</p>
  
  <p>For instance, in XAML the User Control is established by</p>
  
  <p><code>&lt;local:MyControl x:Name="ControlName" /&gt;</code></p>
  
  <p>Which can be accessed on the same code-behind by simply calling <code>ControlName.UseMethod();</code> just like any instances of classes that I would make.</p>
  
  <p>Now, while I could declare the instance of normal classes in the code-behind as public then use it freely, I don't have the option to do so here as it is being declared in the XAML which I can't make public directly.</p>
  
  <p>I need to be able to access the contents of the User Control throughout other sections of the program and unable to use the methods I need as static.</p>
  
  <p>My experience in programming is very little, learning from books and through small projects, which may explain any oddities in the question. Hope it's okay.</p>
  
  <p>Thanks</p>