TabItem ControlTemplate Example

Controls in Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) have a ControlTemplate that contains the visual tree of that control. You can change the structure and appearance of a control by modifying the ControlTemplate of that control. There is no way to replace only part of the visual tree of a control; to change the visual tree of a control you must set the Template property of the control to its new and complete ControlTemplate.

This topic shows the ControlTemplate of the WPF TabItem control.

This topic contains the following sections.

  • Prerequisites
  • TabItem ControlTemplate Example
  • Related Topics

Prerequisites

To run the examples in this topic, you should understand how to write WPF applications. For more information, see Getting Started with Windows Presentation Foundation. You should also understand how styles are used in WPF. For more information, see Styling and Templating.

TabItem ControlTemplate Example

Although this example contains all of the elements that are defined in the ControlTemplate of a TabItem by default, the specific values should be thought of as examples.

<Style TargetType="{x:Type TabItem}">
  <Setter Property="Template">
    <Setter.Value>
      <ControlTemplate TargetType="{x:Type TabItem}">
        <Grid>
          <Border 
            Name="Border"
            Margin="0,0,-4,0" 
            Background="{StaticResource LightBrush}"
            BorderBrush="{StaticResource SolidBorderBrush}" 
            BorderThickness="1,1,1,1" 
            CornerRadius="2,12,0,0" >
            <ContentPresenter x:Name="ContentSite"
              VerticalAlignment="Center"
              HorizontalAlignment="Center"
              ContentSource="Header"
              Margin="12,2,12,2"
              RecognizesAccessKey="True"/>
          </Border>
        </Grid>
        <ControlTemplate.Triggers>
          <Trigger Property="IsSelected" Value="True">
            <Setter Property="Panel.ZIndex" Value="100" />
            <Setter TargetName="Border" Property="Background" Value="{StaticResource WindowBackgroundBrush}" />
            <Setter TargetName="Border" Property="BorderThickness" Value="1,1,1,0" />
          </Trigger>
          <Trigger Property="IsEnabled" Value="False">
            <Setter TargetName="Border" Property="Background" Value="{StaticResource DisabledBackgroundBrush}" />
            <Setter TargetName="Border" Property="BorderBrush" Value="{StaticResource DisabledBorderBrush}" />
            <Setter Property="Foreground" Value="{StaticResource DisabledForegroundBrush}" />
          </Trigger>
        </ControlTemplate.Triggers>
      </ControlTemplate>
    </Setter.Value>
  </Setter>
</Style>

The preceding example uses the following resources.

<LinearGradientBrush x:Key="LightBrush" StartPoint="0,0" EndPoint="0,1">
  <GradientBrush.GradientStops>
    <GradientStopCollection>
      <GradientStop Color="#FFF" Offset="0.0"/>
      <GradientStop Color="#EEE" Offset="1.0"/>
    </GradientStopCollection>
  </GradientBrush.GradientStops>
</LinearGradientBrush>


...


<SolidColorBrush x:Key="SolidBorderBrush" Color="#888" />


...


<SolidColorBrush x:Key="WindowBackgroundBrush" Color="#FFF" />


...


<SolidColorBrush x:Key="DisabledBackgroundBrush" Color="#EEE" />


...


<SolidColorBrush x:Key="DisabledBorderBrush" Color="#AAA" />


...


<SolidColorBrush x:Key="DisabledForegroundBrush" Color="#888" />

For the complete sample, see Styling with ControlTemplates Sample.

See Also

Concepts

TabControl ControlTemplate Example

Guidelines for Designing Stylable Controls

Other Resources

ControlTemplate Examples