WPF Button Style Background hidding Foreground

Question

I'm trying to understand the basics of styling controls with templates but even though there are a lot of samples I'm still stuck with some basics.

I wish to style a button with a custom background, therefore I set a border with a background property changing on VisualState "MouseOver". The problem is, since I set the color on the border, I can't find find how to set my text foreground property to white so that the text is visible.

Here's my xaml:

   <Style TargetType="{x:Type Button}">
        <Setter Property="Foreground" Value="White"/>
        <Setter Property="Template">
            <Setter.Value>
                <ControlTemplate TargetType="Button">
                    <Border Name="RootElement">
                        <Border.Background>
                            <LinearGradientBrush StartPoint="0.5,0" EndPoint="0.5,1">
                                <GradientStop Offset="0" Color="Black" />
                                <GradientStop Offset="1" Color="SteelBlue" />
                            </LinearGradientBrush>
                        </Border.Background>
                        <VisualStateManager.VisualStateGroups>
                            <VisualStateGroup x:Name="CommonStates">
                                <VisualState x:Name="Normal" />
                                <VisualState x:Name="MouseOver">
                                    <Storyboard>
                                        <ColorAnimationUsingKeyFrames Storyboard.TargetName="RootElement" Storyboard.TargetProperty="(Border.Background).(GradientBrush.GradientStops)[1].(GradientStop.Color)">
                                            <EasingColorKeyFrame KeyTime="0" Value="LightSteelBlue" />
                                        </ColorAnimationUsingKeyFrames>
                                    </Storyboard>
                                </VisualState>
                            </VisualStateGroup>
                        </VisualStateManager.VisualStateGroups>
                    </Border>
                </ControlTemplate>
            </Setter.Value>
        </Setter>
    </Style>

The setter on Foreground property seems to be overriden by the border background property.

I think I have to add a textblock to the template, but I'm sure how to link the actual Text of the button to the textBlock, this is what I tried without succes:

    <Style TargetType="{x:Type Button}">
        <Setter Property="Template">
            <Setter.Value>
                <ControlTemplate TargetType="Button">
                    <Border Name="RootElement">
                        <Border.Background>
                            <LinearGradientBrush StartPoint="0.5,0" EndPoint="0.5,1">
                                <GradientStop Offset="0" Color="Black" />
                                <GradientStop Offset="1" Color="SteelBlue" />
                            </LinearGradientBrush>
                        </Border.Background>
                        <VisualStateManager.VisualStateGroups>
                            <VisualStateGroup x:Name="CommonStates">
                                <VisualState x:Name="Normal" />
                                <VisualState x:Name="MouseOver">
                                    <Storyboard>
                                        <ColorAnimationUsingKeyFrames Storyboard.TargetName="RootElement" Storyboard.TargetProperty="(Border.Background).(GradientBrush.GradientStops)[1].(GradientStop.Color)">
                                            <EasingColorKeyFrame KeyTime="0" Value="LightSteelBlue" />
                                        </ColorAnimationUsingKeyFrames>
                                    </Storyboard>
                                </VisualState>
                            </VisualStateGroup>
                        </VisualStateManager.VisualStateGroups>
                        <TextBlock Name="ButtonText" Text="{TemplateBinding Content}">
                            <TextBlock.Foreground>
                                <SolidColorBrush Color="White"/>
                            </TextBlock.Foreground>
                        </TextBlock>
                    </Border>
                </ControlTemplate>
            </Setter.Value>
        </Setter>
    </Style>

Answer 1

You are correct that you need to add something to present the text in the Button, a simple ContentPrsenter inside the border should do.

   <Style TargetType="{x:Type Button}">
            <Setter Property="Foreground" Value="White"/>
            <Setter Property="Template">
                <Setter.Value>
                    <ControlTemplate TargetType="Button">
                        <Border Name="RootElement">
                            <Border.Background>
                                <LinearGradientBrush StartPoint="0.5,0" EndPoint="0.5,1">
                                    <GradientStop Offset="0" Color="Black" />
                                    <GradientStop Offset="1" Color="SteelBlue" />
                                </LinearGradientBrush>
                            </Border.Background>
                            <VisualStateManager.VisualStateGroups>
                                <VisualStateGroup x:Name="CommonStates">
                                    <VisualState x:Name="Normal" />
                                    <VisualState x:Name="MouseOver">
                                        <Storyboard>
                                            <ColorAnimationUsingKeyFrames Storyboard.TargetName="RootElement" Storyboard.TargetProperty="(Border.Background).(GradientBrush.GradientStops)[1].(GradientStop.Color)">
                                                <EasingColorKeyFrame KeyTime="0" Value="LightSteelBlue" />
                                            </ColorAnimationUsingKeyFrames>
                                        </Storyboard>
                                    </VisualState>
                                </VisualStateGroup>
                            </VisualStateManager.VisualStateGroups>

                            <ContentPresenter/>

                        </Border>
                    </ControlTemplate>
                </Setter.Value>
            </Setter>
        </Style>

If you want more control over what displays the content you could add something like a Label and bind to the Content property of the button.

  <Style TargetType="{x:Type Button}">
        <Setter Property="Foreground" Value="White"/>
        <Setter Property="Template">
            <Setter.Value>
                <ControlTemplate TargetType="Button">
                    <Border Name="RootElement">
                        <Border.Background>
                            <LinearGradientBrush StartPoint="0.5,0" EndPoint="0.5,1">
                                <GradientStop Offset="0" Color="Black" />
                                <GradientStop Offset="1" Color="SteelBlue" />
                            </LinearGradientBrush>
                        </Border.Background>
                        <VisualStateManager.VisualStateGroups>
                            <VisualStateGroup x:Name="CommonStates">
                                <VisualState x:Name="Normal" />
                                <VisualState x:Name="MouseOver">
                                    <Storyboard>
                                        <ColorAnimationUsingKeyFrames Storyboard.TargetName="RootElement" Storyboard.TargetProperty="(Border.Background).(GradientBrush.GradientStops)[1].(GradientStop.Color)">
                                            <EasingColorKeyFrame KeyTime="0" Value="LightSteelBlue" />
                                        </ColorAnimationUsingKeyFrames>
                                    </Storyboard>
                                </VisualState>
                            </VisualStateGroup>
                        </VisualStateManager.VisualStateGroups>

                        <Label Content="{TemplateBinding Content}" Foreground="{TemplateBinding Foreground}"/>
                    </Border>
                </ControlTemplate>
            </Setter.Value>
        </Setter>
    </Style>