How to put an Expander inside Datatemplate? - wpf

Question

Strange one.
I have a contentcontrol on a WPF form, this loads a datatemplate within it.
This shows up fine (handwritten summary code so ignore errors/lack of attributes):
<DataTemplate>
<Label Content="Found datatemplate" />
</DataTemplate>
This however renders blank
<DataTemplate>
<Expander Header="Why dont I show">
<Label Content="Found datatemplate" />
</Expander>
</DataTemplate>
I have set the expander to visibile, isexpanded to true etc and no matter what it doesn't render at all.
Confused- is this just not possible?

Answer 1

I've recently done something similar to what you're describing and it worked for me. I have an ItemsControl that binds to a collection of view models, each of which contains a UserControl representing custom content. I implemented the ItemsControl.ItemTemplate to display the custom control inside an Expander like this:
<ItemsControl Margin="0,20,0,0" ItemsSource="{Binding ControlItems}">
<ItemsControl.ItemTemplate>
<DataTemplate>
<Border Margin="0,0,0,0"
BorderBrush="#E7E7E7"
BorderThickness="0,1,0,0"
Padding="20,0">
<Expander Foreground="#E7E7E7"
IsExpanded="{Binding Path=IsExpanded,
Mode=TwoWay}">
<Expander.Header>
<Grid>
<TextBlock HorizontalAlignment="Left"
VerticalAlignment="Center"
FontSize="24"
Text="{Binding Title}" />
</Grid>
</Expander.Header>
<DockPanel>
<ScrollViewer MinHeight="250">
<ContentControl Content="{Binding Control}" />
</ScrollViewer>
</DockPanel>
</Expander>
</Border>
</DataTemplate>
</ItemsControl.ItemTemplate>
</ItemsControl>
This is what my view model looks like:
public class SidePanelControlItem : ModelBase
{
private bool _isExpanded;
public SidePanelControlItem(UserControl control)
{
if (control == null) { throw new ArgumentNullException("control");}
Control = control;
}
public string Title { get; set; }
public UserControl Control { get; private set; }
public bool IsExpanded
{
get { return _isExpanded; }
set
{
_isExpanded = value;
OnPropertyChanged("IsExpanded");
}
}
}