WPF TabControl apply TabItem style insead of overriding it (while using ItemSource) - wpf

Question

I have a parent TabControl with a custom TabItem style:
<TabControl ItemsSource="{Binding TabViewModels}" SelectedIndex="0" Padding="0,0,0,0" BorderThickness="0,0,0,0" Panel.ZIndex="1">
<TabControl.Resources>
<Style TargetType="{x:Type TabItem}">
<Setter Property="Template">
<Setter.Value>
<ControlTemplate TargetType="{x:Type TabItem}" >
<Border Name="Border" CornerRadius="6,6,0,0" Margin="0,0,2,2">
<ContentPresenter TextBlock.TextAlignment="Center" TextBlock.FontSize="14"
Height="40" Width="auto" Content="{Binding Path=TabName}" Margin="12,2,12,2"/>
</Border>
<ControlTemplate.Triggers>
<Trigger Property="IsSelected" Value="True">
<Setter TargetName="Border" Property="Background" Value="#00B6FA" />
</Trigger>
<Trigger Property="IsSelected" Value="False">
<Setter TargetName="Border" Property="Background" Value="LightGray" />
</Trigger>
</ControlTemplate.Triggers>
</ControlTemplate>
</Setter.Value>
</Setter>
</Style>
<Style TargetType="TabPanel">
<Setter Property="HorizontalAlignment" Value="Right"/>
</Style>
</TabControl.Resources>
<TabControl.ContentTemplate>
<DataTemplate>
<ContentControl Content="{Binding Path=. }"/>
</DataTemplate>
</TabControl.ContentTemplate>
</TabControl>
Inside one of the Tabs of the parent TabControl I have a child TabControl.
The problem is that the child TabControl automaticly takes the custom TabItem style because I override it as you can see above. What I want is that the child TabControl takes the default windows style for the TabItems.
Is this possible to apply the custom Tab Item instead of override it and using an ItemSource?

Answer 1

You can specify the style for the nested TabControl via its Style property:
<TabControl Style="{DynamicResource ResourceKey={x:Type TabControl}}">
...
</TabControl>
The default style key is usually the type of the control, hence {x:Type TabControl}.
Update:
I assume that you're using so-called implicit style for tab items, which is defined in the top-level TabControl's resources dictionary. By implicit style I understand a style without a key and with TargetType specified. To apply a default style to TabItem controls within a particular nested TabControl, simply add an empty implicit style to its resources dictionary, like so:
<TabControl x:Name="OuterTabControl">
<TabControl.Resources>
<Style TargetType="TabItem">
<!-- your style definition -->
</Style>
</TabControl.Resources>
...
<TabControl x:Name="InnerTabControl">
<TabControl.Resources>
<Style TargetType="TabItem"/>
</TabControl.Resources>
</TabControl>
...
</TabControl>

Answer 2

To avoid un-styling nested tab controls, see AnjumSKhan's answer, which puts the outer control's style inside a trigger whose binding cleverly targets just the one control:
<TabControl.Resources>
<Style TargetType="TabItem">
<Style.Triggers>
<DataTrigger Binding="{Binding RelativeSource={RelativeSource AncestorType=TabControl, AncestorLevel=2}}" Value="{x:Null}">
<Setter Property="Template">
<Setter.Value>
<ControlTemplate TargetType="TabItem">
<Border Name="Border" Background="Red">
<ContentPresenter ContentSource="Header"/>
</Border>
</ControlTemplate>
</Setter.Value>
</Setter>
</DataTrigger>
</Style.Triggers>
</Style> </TabControl.Resources>