How to get the header of the selected item in a TabControl template?

Question

I'm trying to get the header of the selected item in the template of my TabControl but I cannot do it. I tried several solutions but none of them works :

No result :

<ContentPresenter ContentSource="{TemplateBinding SelectedItem}"/>

Wrong compilation (because the type of SelectedItem is object, not HeaderedContentControl) :

<ContentPresenter ContentSource="{TemplateBinding SelectedItem.Header}"/>

It's easy to get it in C# but I want to put it in my TabControl template.

Does someone have any idea ?

Thanks

Answer 1

This should do the trick :

<TextBlock Text="{Binding SelectedItem.Header, RelativeSource={RelativeSource AncestorType={x:Type TabControl}}}" />

Here is a full xaml demonstrating it :

<Window x:Class="WpfApplication21.MainWindow"
            xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
            xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
            xmlns:local="clr-namespace:WpfApplication21"
            Title="MainWindow" Height="350" Width="525">
    <Window.Resources>
        <ControlTemplate x:Key="TabControlControlTemplate" TargetType="{x:Type TabControl}">
            <StackPanel>
                <StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal">
                    <TextBlock Text="Selected Item header: " />
                    <TextBlock Text="{Binding SelectedItem.Header, RelativeSource={RelativeSource AncestorType={x:Type TabControl}}}" />
                </StackPanel>

                <Grid ClipToBounds="True" SnapsToDevicePixels="True" KeyboardNavigation.TabNavigation="Local">
                    <Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
                        <ColumnDefinition x:Name="ColumnDefinition0"/>
                        <ColumnDefinition x:Name="ColumnDefinition1" Width="0"/>
                    </Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
                    <Grid.RowDefinitions>
                        <RowDefinition x:Name="RowDefinition0" Height="Auto"/>
                        <RowDefinition x:Name="RowDefinition1" Height="*"/>
                    </Grid.RowDefinitions>
                    <TabPanel x:Name="HeaderPanel" Grid.Column="0" IsItemsHost="True" Margin="2,2,2,0" Grid.Row="0" KeyboardNavigation.TabIndex="1" Panel.ZIndex="1"/>
                    <Border x:Name="ContentPanel" BorderBrush="{TemplateBinding BorderBrush}" BorderThickness="{TemplateBinding BorderThickness}" Background="{TemplateBinding Background}" Grid.Column="0" KeyboardNavigation.DirectionalNavigation="Contained" Grid.Row="1" KeyboardNavigation.TabIndex="2" KeyboardNavigation.TabNavigation="Local">
                        <ContentPresenter x:Name="PART_SelectedContentHost" ContentTemplate="{TemplateBinding SelectedContentTemplate}" Content="{TemplateBinding SelectedContent}" ContentStringFormat="{TemplateBinding SelectedContentStringFormat}" ContentSource="SelectedContent" Margin="{TemplateBinding Padding}" SnapsToDevicePixels="{TemplateBinding SnapsToDevicePixels}"/>
                    </Border>
                </Grid>
            </StackPanel>
            <ControlTemplate.Triggers>
                <Trigger Property="TabStripPlacement" Value="Bottom">
                    <Setter Property="Grid.Row" TargetName="HeaderPanel" Value="1"/>
                    <Setter Property="Grid.Row" TargetName="ContentPanel" Value="0"/>
                    <Setter Property="Height" TargetName="RowDefinition0" Value="*"/>
                    <Setter Property="Height" TargetName="RowDefinition1" Value="Auto"/>
                    <Setter Property="Margin" TargetName="HeaderPanel" Value="2,0,2,2"/>
                </Trigger>
                <Trigger Property="TabStripPlacement" Value="Left">
                    <Setter Property="Grid.Row" TargetName="HeaderPanel" Value="0"/>
                    <Setter Property="Grid.Row" TargetName="ContentPanel" Value="0"/>
                    <Setter Property="Grid.Column" TargetName="HeaderPanel" Value="0"/>
                    <Setter Property="Grid.Column" TargetName="ContentPanel" Value="1"/>
                    <Setter Property="Width" TargetName="ColumnDefinition0" Value="Auto"/>
                    <Setter Property="Width" TargetName="ColumnDefinition1" Value="*"/>
                    <Setter Property="Height" TargetName="RowDefinition0" Value="*"/>
                    <Setter Property="Height" TargetName="RowDefinition1" Value="0"/>
                    <Setter Property="Margin" TargetName="HeaderPanel" Value="2,2,0,2"/>
                </Trigger>
                <Trigger Property="TabStripPlacement" Value="Right">
                    <Setter Property="Grid.Row" TargetName="HeaderPanel" Value="0"/>
                    <Setter Property="Grid.Row" TargetName="ContentPanel" Value="0"/>
                    <Setter Property="Grid.Column" TargetName="HeaderPanel" Value="1"/>
                    <Setter Property="Grid.Column" TargetName="ContentPanel" Value="0"/>
                    <Setter Property="Width" TargetName="ColumnDefinition0" Value="*"/>
                    <Setter Property="Width" TargetName="ColumnDefinition1" Value="Auto"/>
                    <Setter Property="Height" TargetName="RowDefinition0" Value="*"/>
                    <Setter Property="Height" TargetName="RowDefinition1" Value="0"/>
                    <Setter Property="Margin" TargetName="HeaderPanel" Value="0,2,2,2"/>
                </Trigger>
                <Trigger Property="IsEnabled" Value="False">
                    <Setter Property="Foreground" Value="{DynamicResource {x:Static SystemColors.GrayTextBrushKey}}"/>
                </Trigger>
            </ControlTemplate.Triggers>
        </ControlTemplate>

    </Window.Resources>

    <TabControl Template="{DynamicResource TabControlControlTemplate}">
        <TabItem Header="Tab 1" />
        <TabItem Header="Tab 2" />
        <TabItem Header="Tab 3" />
        <TabItem Header="Tab 4" />
    </TabControl>
</Window>

Answer 2

I was trying to accomplish something similar and was able to do so with the above solution while getting around the issue noted in the comments, by using the Tag rather than the Header property (which contained a control).

I put the text I needed in the Tag of the TabItem, and displayed that in my template. Hope this helps somebody.

<TextBlock  Text="{Binding SelectedItem.Tag, RelativeSource={RelativeSource AncestorType={x:Type TabControl}}}">

...

<TabItem Tag="Header">
    <TabItem.Header>
        <Grid>...