Question

Is there an easy way to position another control (i.e. a button) inline and to the right of tab headers in WPF?

In the web, I would use a float or absolute positioning to accomplish this.

The red line in this picture is what I am trying to get to:

_{(source: jonkragh.com)}

Thanks!
Jon

Answer 1

The robust way to do this is to re-template the TabControl as I did for the close button in my ActiveAwareCommand sample:

<ControlTemplate x:Key="TabControlTemplate" TargetType="TabControl">
    <Grid ClipToBounds="true" SnapsToDevicePixels="true" KeyboardNavigation.TabNavigation="Local">
        <Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
            <ColumnDefinition x:Name="ColumnDefinition0"/>
            <ColumnDefinition x:Name="ColumnDefinition1" Width="0"/>
        </Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
        <Grid.RowDefinitions>
            <RowDefinition x:Name="RowDefinition0" Height="Auto"/>
            <RowDefinition x:Name="RowDefinition1" Height="*"/>
        </Grid.RowDefinitions>
        <Grid Panel.ZIndex="1">
            <Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
                <ColumnDefinition Width="*"/>
                <ColumnDefinition Width="Auto"/>
            </Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
            <TabPanel Margin="2,2,2,0" x:Name="HeaderPanel" IsItemsHost="true" KeyboardNavigation.TabIndex="1"/>
            <Button Grid.Column="1" Command="{Binding DataContext.CloseCommand, RelativeSource={RelativeSource FindAncestor, AncestorType={x:Type UserControl}}}" Style="{StaticResource {x:Static ToolBar.ButtonStyleKey}}">X</Button>
        </Grid>
        <Border x:Name="ContentPanel" Grid.Column="0" Grid.Row="1" BorderBrush="#D0CEBF" BorderThickness="0,0,1,1" KeyboardNavigation.DirectionalNavigation="Contained" KeyboardNavigation.TabIndex="2" KeyboardNavigation.TabNavigation="Local">
            <Border BorderBrush="{TemplateBinding BorderBrush}" BorderThickness="{TemplateBinding BorderThickness}">
                <Border Background="{TemplateBinding Background}">
                    <Grid x:Name="PART_ItemsHolder"/>
                </Border>
            </Border>
        </Border>
    </Grid>
</ControlTemplate>

Notice how the TabPanel and Button can never overlap. Result: