Creating a custom control that is a Button that also has a Items and ItemsSource?

Question

I'm trying to create a SplitButton control that uses a ContextMenu to display its items. The SplitButton is currently deriving from Button. I have a PART_DropDownInitiator that is the little icon the user clicks on to bring up the ContextMenu for the SplitButton to show its items.

The problem is that I'm trying to setup a default ContextMenu inside of the SplitButton's Template or style, this way the user of the control doesn't have to do it themselves. At first I figured I'd just have the user just set the SplitButton.ContextMenu.Items property in xaml, but that doesn't appear to be possible. Now I'd like to add a Items and ItemsSource properties to the SplitButton that the ContextMenu within the SplitButton's template can bind to it. And the user should than just have to set the Items or ItemsSource property in xaml or code-behind on the SplitButton...

But, both the Items and ItemsSource properties seem to originate from ItemsControl, which is a problem because the SplitButton is already deriving from Button. So I'm not sure what to do... Any ideas?

Answer 1

If you're going the inheritance route, you should derive from HeaderedItemsControl instead, where your default ControlTemplate puts the Header content as the contents of a Button.

As a result, you also get Items/ItemsSource -- the only thing you have to develop is your ControlTemplate.

Lastly, consider implementing the menu portion as a Popup instead of a ContextMenu. ContextMenu's are a purpose-specific UI element (and generally brought up with a right-click). For more information, see the default ControlTemplate of ComboBox in aero.normalcolor.xaml.