diff --git a/UIX.RenderApi/Microsoft/Iris/IHasCanonicalInstances.cs b/UIX.RenderApi/Microsoft/Iris/IHasCanonicalInstances.cs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5f756ee
--- /dev/null
+++ b/UIX.RenderApi/Microsoft/Iris/IHasCanonicalInstances.cs
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+namespace Microsoft.Iris;
+
+public interface IHasCanonicalInstances
+{
+    string GetCanonicalName();
+}
diff --git a/UIX/Microsoft/Iris/Animations/RelativeTo.cs b/UIX/Microsoft/Iris/Animations/RelativeTo.cs
index 6e3143d..ea06ba3 100644
--- a/UIX/Microsoft/Iris/Animations/RelativeTo.cs
+++ b/UIX/Microsoft/Iris/Animations/RelativeTo.cs
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ using Microsoft.Iris.Render;
 
 namespace Microsoft.Iris.Animations
 {
-    public class RelativeTo
+    public class RelativeTo : IHasCanonicalInstances
     {
         private IAnimatable _sourceObject;
         private int _sourceId;
@@ -125,6 +125,12 @@ namespace Microsoft.Iris.Animations
         }
 
         public override string ToString()
+        {
+            return GetCanonicalName()
+                ?? $"[Object = {_sourceObject ?? (object)_sourceId}, Property = {_sourceProperty}]";
+        }
+
+        public string GetCanonicalName()
         {
             if (this == s_absolute)
                 return "Absolute";
@@ -132,7 +138,10 @@ namespace Microsoft.Iris.Animations
                 return "Current";
             if (this == s_currentSnapshotOnLoop)
                 return "CurrentSnapshotOnLoop";
-            return this == s_final ? "Final" : string.Format("[Object = {0}, Property = {1}]", _sourceObject != null ? _sourceObject : (object)_sourceId, _sourceProperty);
+            if (this == s_final)
+                return "Final";
+
+            return null;
         }
     }
 }
diff --git a/UIX/Microsoft/Iris/Layouts/DockLayoutInput.cs b/UIX/Microsoft/Iris/Layouts/DockLayoutInput.cs
index 4ed05c2..9d5c00b 100644
--- a/UIX/Microsoft/Iris/Layouts/DockLayoutInput.cs
+++ b/UIX/Microsoft/Iris/Layouts/DockLayoutInput.cs
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ using Microsoft.Iris.Library;
 
 namespace Microsoft.Iris.Layouts
 {
-    internal class DockLayoutInput : ILayoutInput, IStringEncodable
+    internal class DockLayoutInput : ILayoutInput, IStringEncodable, IHasCanonicalInstances
     {
         public static readonly DockLayoutInput Left = new DockLayoutInput();
         public static readonly DockLayoutInput Top = new DockLayoutInput();
@@ -35,12 +35,17 @@ namespace Microsoft.Iris.Layouts
                     return "Top";
                 if (this == Right)
                     return "Right";
-                return this == Bottom ? "Bottom" : "Client";
+                if (this == Bottom)
+                    return "Bottom";
+                 
+                return "Client";
             }
         }
 
         public override string ToString() => InvariantString.Format("{0}(Position={1})", GetType().Name, PositionString);
 
         public string EncodeString() => PositionString;
+
+        public string GetCanonicalName() => PositionString;
     }
 }
diff --git a/UIX/Microsoft/Iris/Layouts/PlacementMode.cs b/UIX/Microsoft/Iris/Layouts/PlacementMode.cs
index f080c1c..87797ae 100644
--- a/UIX/Microsoft/Iris/Layouts/PlacementMode.cs
+++ b/UIX/Microsoft/Iris/Layouts/PlacementMode.cs
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 
 namespace Microsoft.Iris.Layouts
 {
-    internal class PlacementMode
+    internal class PlacementMode : IHasCanonicalInstances
     {
         private PopupPosition[] _popupPositions;
         private MouseTarget _mouseTarget;
@@ -50,7 +50,9 @@ namespace Microsoft.Iris.Layouts
 
         internal bool UsesTargetSize => _usesTargetSize;
 
-        public override string ToString()
+        public override string ToString() => GetCanonicalName() ?? base.ToString();
+
+        public string GetCanonicalName()
         {
             if (this == s_origin)
                 return "Origin";
@@ -70,7 +72,10 @@ namespace Microsoft.Iris.Layouts
                 return "MouseBottom";
             if (this == s_followMouseOrigin)
                 return "FollowMouseOrigin";
-            return this == s_followMouseBottom ? "FollowMouseBottom" : base.ToString();
+            if (this == s_followMouseBottom)
+                return "FollowMouseBottom";
+
+            return null;
         }
 
         public static PlacementMode Origin
diff --git a/UIX/Microsoft/Iris/Markup/TypeSchema.cs b/UIX/Microsoft/Iris/Markup/TypeSchema.cs
index 38f4231..136e07e 100644
--- a/UIX/Microsoft/Iris/Markup/TypeSchema.cs
+++ b/UIX/Microsoft/Iris/Markup/TypeSchema.cs
@@ -93,6 +93,8 @@ namespace Microsoft.Iris.Markup
 
         public abstract bool SupportsBinaryEncoding { get; }
 
+        public virtual bool SupportsCanonicalInstance => false;
+
         public abstract object PerformOperation(object left, object right, OperationType op);
 
         public abstract bool SupportsOperation(OperationType op);
diff --git a/UIX/Microsoft/Iris/Markup/UIXTypeSchema.cs b/UIX/Microsoft/Iris/Markup/UIXTypeSchema.cs
index f730874..66b6035 100644
--- a/UIX/Microsoft/Iris/Markup/UIXTypeSchema.cs
+++ b/UIX/Microsoft/Iris/Markup/UIXTypeSchema.cs
@@ -234,6 +234,8 @@ namespace Microsoft.Iris.Markup
 
         public override bool SupportsBinaryEncoding => _encodeBinary != null;
 
+        public override bool SupportsCanonicalInstance => _findCanonicalInstance != null;
+
         public override int FindTypeHint => _typeID;
 
         public override object PerformOperation(object left, object right, OperationType op)