Question

I’ve applied an effect to the border of this template. The effect is then applied to every element within, so I get rather more dropshadows than I care for. Is there a way to disable the effect? You can see I added a blur effect within, but then I just end up with blurry drop shadows 🙂

DataTemplate  x:Key="TestInstanceViewModelTemplate">
    <Border BorderThickness="1" BorderBrush="#FF0909B4">
        <Border.Effect>
            <DropShadowEffect/>
        </Border.Effect>
        <DockPanel>
            <DockPanel.Effect>
                <BlurEffect/>
            </DockPanel.Effect>
            <Grid DockPanel.Dock="Top">
                <Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
                    <ColumnDefinition MinWidth="50" Width="1*" />
                    <ColumnDefinition MinWidth="50" Width="1*"/>
                </Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
                <Button Command="{Binding Path=StartCommand}" Content="Start" Grid.Column="0" Grid.Row="0" />
                <Button Command="{Binding Path=StopCommand}" Content="Stop" Grid.Column="1" Grid.Row="0"/>
            </Grid>
            <WpfTestingClient:StatusControl DockPanel.Dock="Top" HorizontalAlignment="Stretch"></WpfTestingClient:StatusControl>
        </DockPanel>
    </Border>
</DataTemplate>

Answer 1

I suggest changing the topmost container to a Grid and containing your Border and DockPanel in it on the same level, letting the Border be on the bottom and stretching to fill the Grid, while having the DockPanel on the top and adding 1px margin around it to account for your BorderThickness. This way not only will the drop shadow only apply to the Border element, but you save a LOT of resources by not having to rerender the effect every time anything changes inside.