Text alignment is not working

[NotQuiteLoona]

Sorry for asking such a stupid question, but I failed to find an answer by myself.

I have a canvas that is 300x328, and I have a text configured to be center-aligned and placed 150 pixels from the canvas's left side. The text is, however, still rendered left-aligned in both the preview and the compiled program.

Minimal reproducible example

<Canvas Width="300" Height="328" >
    <TextBlock FontSize="20"
               TextAlignment="Center"
               Canvas.Left="150" Canvas.Top="290" 
               >
        Completed 1 hour 21 minutes
    </TextBlock>
</Canvas>

What am I doing wrong?

Also, I'm using .NET 9, in case it is somehow relevant.

[tobyfirth]

TextAlignment aligns the text within the amount of space that the text box is taking up. The alignment is relative to the size of the text box. As you are using a canvas the text box is only sized to the amount of space required to show the text.

Compare these two samples of a canvas and a stack panel (I have added a border of clarity)

<Border Width="300" Height="328" BorderBrush="Black" BorderThickness="2">
    <Canvas >
        <TextBlock FontSize="20" TextAlignment="Center">
            Completed 1 hour 21 minutes
        </TextBlock>
    </Canvas>
</Border>

<Border Width="300" Height="328" BorderBrush="Black" BorderThickness="2">
    <StackPanel>
        <TextBlock FontSize="20" TextAlignment="Center">
            Completed 1 hour 21 minutes
        </TextBlock>
    </StackPanel>
</Border>

With a stack panel the text box stretches to fill the entire width so there is extra space inside the text box to centre the text in.

A canvas basically requires you to choose the exact position everything appears in. So you would have to calculate the offset needed for the text box. Or does the whole control need to be a canvas? Could the part that needs to be drawn on the canvas be embedded in a panel type which will allow you to easily centre the text box?

[NotQuiteLoona]

Thank you for such a detailed explanation! My question is answered.