Question

My non-databound TabControl looks fine:

alt text http://tanguay.info/web/external/tabControlPlain.png

<TabControl Width="225" Height="150">
    <TabItem Header="One">
        <TextBlock Margin="10" Text="This is the text block"/>
    </TabItem>
    <TabItem Header="Two"/>
    <TabItem Header="Three"/>
    <TabItem Header="Four"/>
</TabControl>

But my databound TabControl looks like this:

alt text http://tanguay.info/web/external/tabBound.png

<Window.Resources>
    <DataTemplate x:Key="TheTabControl">
        <TabItem Header="{Binding Title}">
            <TextBlock Text="{Binding Description}" Margin="10"/>
        </TabItem>
    </DataTemplate>
</Window.Resources>

<TabControl Width="225" Height="150" ItemsSource="{Binding AreaNames}"
            ItemTemplate="{StaticResource TheTabControl}">
</TabControl>

public MainViewModel()
{
    AreaNames.Add(new Area { Title = "Area1", Description = "this is the description for area 1" });
    AreaNames.Add(new Area { Title = "Area2", Description = "this is the description for area 2" });
    AreaNames.Add(new Area { Title = "Area3", Description = "this is the description for area 3" });
}

#region ViewModelProperty: AreaNames
private ObservableCollection<Area> _areaNames = new ObservableCollection<Area>();
public ObservableCollection<Area> AreaNames
{
    get
    {
        return _areaNames;
    }

    set
    {
        _areaNames = value;
        OnPropertyChanged("AreaNames");
    }
}
#endregion

What do I have to change so that my databound tabcontrol looks like my regular non-databound tabcontrol?

Answer 1

TabControl uses two different templates to define its structure. ItemTemplate is for the headers (the “tabs”), and ContentTemplate is for the content displayed under each tab.

This XAML looks more like your first screenshot:

<Window.Resources>
    <DataTemplate x:Key="TabHeaderTemplate">
        <TextBlock Text="{Binding Title}"/>
    </DataTemplate>

    <DataTemplate x:Key="TabItemTemplate">
        <TextBlock Text="{Binding Description}" Margin="10"/>
    </DataTemplate>
</Window.Resources>

<TabControl Width="225" Height="150" 
            ItemsSource="{Binding AreaNames}"            
            ContentTemplate="{StaticResource TabItemTemplate}"         
            ItemTemplate="{StaticResource TabHeaderTemplate}" />