I have looked around on stackoverflow and the internet but haven’t found an answer for a specific problem. I want to create a TabControl/TabItem combination that acts like a left nav. I am still new to XAML (only using it for a few months now) and I cannot figure out the best way to accomplish this. I also want to add a small arrow icon to the currently selected tab header. In the end I would like it to look similar to the design shown in dnrtv episode 115 featuring Billy Hollis’ great design, he mentions that this is a TabControl that has been styled to look like it does. Check out this link and go to 4:43 to see what I mean: dnrtv Billy Hollis
So far I have been able to get this far from searching for almost a whole day online:
<TabControl TabStripPlacement="Left">
<TabControl.Resources>
<Style TargetType="{x:Type TabItem}">
<Setter Property="Background" Value="Transparent" />
<Setter Property="Template">
<Setter.Value>
<ControlTemplate TargetType="{x:Type TabItem}">
<Border x:Name="PART_Border" Background="{TemplateBinding Background}" BorderThickness="1" BorderBrush="LightGray" Margin="2">
<ContentPresenter ContentSource="Header" Margin="2" />
</Border>
<ControlTemplate.Triggers>
<Trigger Property="IsSelected" Value="True">
<Setter TargetName="PART_Border" Property="BorderBrush" Value="Black" />
</Trigger>
</ControlTemplate.Triggers>
</ControlTemplate>
</Setter.Value>
</Setter>
</Style>
<Style TargetType="{x:Type TabControl}">
<Setter Property="TabStripPlacement" Value="Left" />
<Setter Property="Margin" Value="2" />
<Setter Property="Padding" Value="2" />
<Setter Property="Background" Value="White" />
<Setter Property="Template">
<Setter.Value>
<ControlTemplate TargetType="{x:Type TabControl}">
<Grid ClipToBounds="True" SnapsToDevicePixels="True" KeyboardNavigation.TabNavigation="Local">
<Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<ColumnDefinition Name="ColumnDefinition0" />
<ColumnDefinition Width="0" Name="ColumnDefinition1" />
</Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<Grid.RowDefinitions>
<RowDefinition Height="Auto" Name="RowDefinition0" />
<RowDefinition Height="*" Name="RowDefinition1" />
</Grid.RowDefinitions>
<Border x:Name="HeaderBorder"
BorderBrush="Black"
BorderThickness="1"
CornerRadius="5"
Background="#FAFAFA"
Margin="0,0,0,5">
<TabPanel IsItemsHost="True"
Name="HeaderPanel"
Panel.ZIndex="1"
KeyboardNavigation.TabIndex="1"
Grid.Column="0"
Grid.Row="0"
/>
</Border>
<Grid Name="ContentPanel"
KeyboardNavigation.TabIndex="2"
KeyboardNavigation.TabNavigation="Local"
KeyboardNavigation.DirectionalNavigation="Contained"
Grid.Column="0"
Grid.Row="1">
<Border Background="{TemplateBinding Background}"
BorderBrush="{TemplateBinding BorderBrush}"
BorderThickness="{TemplateBinding BorderThickness}"
CornerRadius="5">
<ContentPresenter Content="{TemplateBinding SelectedContent}"
ContentTemplate="{TemplateBinding SelectedContentTemplate}"
ContentStringFormat="{TemplateBinding SelectedContentStringFormat}"
ContentSource="SelectedContent"
Name="PART_SelectedContentHost"
Margin="2"
SnapsToDevicePixels="{TemplateBinding UIElement.SnapsToDevicePixels}"
/>
</Border>
</Grid>
</Grid>
<ControlTemplate.Triggers>
<Trigger Property="TabControl.TabStripPlacement" Value="Bottom">
<Setter TargetName="HeaderPanel" Property="Grid.Row" Value="1" />
<Setter TargetName="ContentPanel" Property="Grid.Row" Value="0" />
<Setter TargetName="RowDefinition0" Property="RowDefinition.Height" Value="*" />
<Setter TargetName="RowDefinition1" Property="RowDefinition.Height" Value="Auto" />
<Setter TargetName="HeaderBorder" Property="FrameworkElement.Margin" Value="0,5,0,0" />
</Trigger>
<Trigger Property="TabControl.TabStripPlacement" Value="Left">
<Setter TargetName="HeaderPanel" Property="Grid.Row" Value="0" />
<Setter TargetName="ContentPanel" Property="Grid.Row" Value="0" />
<Setter TargetName="HeaderPanel" Property="Grid.Column" Value="0" />
<Setter TargetName="ContentPanel" Property="Grid.Column" Value="1" />
<Setter TargetName="ColumnDefinition0" Property="ColumnDefinition.Width" Value="Auto" />
<Setter TargetName="ColumnDefinition1" Property="ColumnDefinition.Width" Value="*" />
<Setter TargetName="RowDefinition0" Property="RowDefinition.Height" Value="*" />
<Setter TargetName="RowDefinition1" Property="RowDefinition.Height" Value="0" />
<Setter TargetName="HeaderBorder" Property="FrameworkElement.Margin" Value="0,0,5,0" />
</Trigger>
<Trigger Property="TabControl.TabStripPlacement" Value="Right">
<Setter TargetName="HeaderPanel" Property="Grid.Row" Value="0" />
<Setter TargetName="ContentPanel" Property="Grid.Row" Value="0" />
<Setter TargetName="HeaderPanel" Property="Grid.Column" Value="1" />
<Setter TargetName="ContentPanel" Property="Grid.Column" Value="0" />
<Setter TargetName="ColumnDefinition0" Property="ColumnDefinition.Width" Value="*" />
<Setter TargetName="ColumnDefinition1" Property="ColumnDefinition.Width" Value="Auto" />
<Setter TargetName="RowDefinition0" Property="RowDefinition.Height" Value="*" />
<Setter TargetName="RowDefinition1" Property="RowDefinition.Height" Value="0" />
<Setter TargetName="HeaderBorder" Property="FrameworkElement.Margin" Value="5,0,0,0" />
</Trigger>
<Trigger Property="UIElement.IsEnabled" Value="False">
<Setter Property="TextElement.Foreground" Value="{DynamicResource {x:Static SystemColors.GrayTextBrushKey}}" />
</Trigger>
</ControlTemplate.Triggers>
</ControlTemplate>
</Setter.Value>
</Setter>
</Style>
</TabControl.Resources>
<TabItem Header="Tab1Header"/>
<TabItem Header="Tab2Header" />
<TabItem Header="Tab3Header" />
</TabControl>
This code gets me the headers on the left and some look but I need to figure how to add the icon when a TabItem‘s IsSelected property is true. Also, I’d like to eliminate the borders if at all possible. Please let me know if I am barking up the wrong tree and need to style it differently.
Should I use a DataTemplateSelector or something like that? I’d like to do it in all xaml but if that is not possible than that’s okay.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Here is one that I modeled after that one with a few changes maybe 6 months ago:
The TabItem headers grow and highlight on selection or mouseover instead of bolding. To add a little > on it, just create the path you want on there, and add a visibility modifier to the trigger you want to fire it (more than likely the IsSelected Trigger).