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

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.