CheckBox behavior difference in a tool bar or as a control

Question

I can get a CheckBox control's isChecked property to a bool property when I place it as a control on a user control or a window. However, if I place it in a Toolbar, it is not even visible except maybe thin left or right edges (but the binding still works). If I put in in a ContextMenu, it appears fine as checked or unchecked, but the binding target is not affected.

This is the ContextMenu definition in Window.Resources:

<ContextMenu x:Key="ContentMenu" DataContext="{Binding MyView}">
  <CheckBox IsChecked="{Binding Path=IsRed}"/>
</ContextMenu>

and this is the StackPanel that contains the CheckBox and the ToolBar with a CheckBox:

<StackPanel Height="20" Orientation="Horizontal" DockPanel.Dock="Top" DataContext="{Binding MyView}">
    <CheckBox IsChecked="{Binding Path=IsRed}"/>

 <ToolBar Margin="10,0,0,0">
<CheckBox Width="18" Height="18" IsChecked="{Binding Path=IsRed}"/>
 </ToolBar>
 </StackPanel>

I would only ask

1) if anyone could suggest a solution to the toolbar issue (a different template, perhaps?),

2) the correct way to define the DataContext of the context menu (which seems to be the actual problem).

Answer 1

I see what you mean, the chekbox looks like a toggle button now. If you look at the controltemplate of the toolbar you see it adjusts the controltemplates of some types of child controls.

There is a trick or bug if you will, if you put the Checkbox in some layoutcontainer such as Stackpanel, Grid etc. , then its controltemplate is not adjusted:

<ToolBar>
  <Grid><CheckBox IsChecked="True" VerticalAlignment="Center">Test</CheckBox></Grid>
</ToolBar>