How to create a WPF UserControl with NAMED content

Question

I have a set of controls with attached commands and logic that are constantly reused in the same way. I decided to create a user control that holds all the common controls and logic.

However I also need the control to be able to hold content that can be named. I tried the following:

<UserControl.ContentTemplate>     <DataTemplate>         <Button>a reused button</Button>         <ContentPresenter Content="{TemplateBinding Content}"/>         <Button>a reused button</Button>     </DataTemplate> </UserControl.ContentTemplate> 

However it seems any content placed inside the user control cannot be named. For example if I use the control in the following way:

<lib:UserControl1>      <Button Name="buttonName">content</Button> </lib:UserControl1> 

I receive the following error:

Cannot set Name attribute value 'buttonName' on element 'Button'. 'Button' is under the scope of element 'UserControl1', which already had a name registered when it was defined in another scope.

If I remove the buttonName, then it compiles, however I need to be able to name the content. How can I achieve this?

Answer 1

The answer is to not use a UserControl to do it.

Create a class that extends ContentControl

public class MyFunkyControl : ContentControl {     public static readonly DependencyProperty HeadingProperty =         DependencyProperty.Register("Heading", typeof(string),         typeof(MyFunkyControl), new PropertyMetadata(HeadingChanged));      private static void HeadingChanged(DependencyObject d, DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs e)     {         ((MyFunkyControl) d).Heading = e.NewValue as string;     }      public string Heading { get; set; } } 

then use a style to specify the contents

<Style TargetType="control:MyFunkyControl">     <Setter Property="Template">         <Setter.Value>             <ControlTemplate TargetType="control:MyFunkyControl">                 <Grid>                     <ContentControl Content="{TemplateBinding Content}"/>                 </Grid>             </ControlTemplate>         </Setter.Value>     </Setter> </Style> 

and finally - use it

<control:MyFunkyControl Heading="Some heading!">                 <Label Name="WithAName">Some cool content</Label> </control:MyFunkyControl> 

Answer 2

It seems this is not possible when XAML is used. Custom controls seem to be a overkill when I actually have all the controls I need, but just need to group them together with a small bit of logic and allow named content.

The solution on JD's blog as mackenir suggests, seems to have the best compromise. A way to extend JD's solution to allow controls to still be defined in XAML could be as follows:

    protected override void OnInitialized(EventArgs e)     {         base.OnInitialized(e);          var grid = new Grid();         var content = new ContentPresenter                           {                               Content = Content                           };          var userControl = new UserControlDefinedInXAML();         userControl.aStackPanel.Children.Add(content);          grid.Children.Add(userControl);         Content = grid;                } 

In my example above I have created a user control called UserControlDefinedInXAML which is define like any normal user controls using XAML. In my UserControlDefinedInXAML I have a StackPanel called aStackPanel within which I want my named content to appear.