Binding TabControl.Items to MenuItem

Question

I'm using a TabControl as my main workspace in an application, and I'd like to add a "Window" menu item that lists the headers of open tabs. The active (i.e. - focused) tab should be checked.

I've tried using an ItemsTemplate as follows:

            <MenuItem Header="_Window" ItemsSource="{Binding ElementName=ux_workspace, Path=Items}">
            <MenuItem.ItemTemplate>
                <DataTemplate>
                    <MenuItem Header="{Binding Path=Header}" IsCheckable="True" IsChecked="{Binding IsFocused, Mode=OneWay}">
                </DataTemplate>
            </MenuItem.ItemTemplate>
        </MenuItem>

Each MenuItem is then "nested", so to speak, inside of another MenuItem, which really isn't the intended result (the checkbox is in the header area, and there is a separate border around the internal item).

Is there a better way to do this?

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

While it seems like there should be a way to do this with templates, creating and using a Style seems to work:

<Style x:Key="TabMenuItem" TargetType="MenuItem">
    <Setter Property="Header" Value="{Binding Path=Header}" />
    <Setter Property="IsCheckable" Value="True" />
    <Setter Property="IsChecked" Value="{Binding Path=IsFocused, Mode=OneWay}" />
</Style>

<MenuItem Header="_Window"
    ItemsSource="{Binding ElementName=ux_workspace, Path=Items}"
    ItemContainerStyle="{StaticResource TabMenuItem}" />

Answer 2

Malcolm, you'll want to use IsSelected instead of IsFocused when binding to the MenuItem.

If you do use IsSelected instead of IsFocused, you'll also be able to bind IsSelected with a Mode=TwoWay so that you don't have to use a Click handler to select the appropriate TabItem.