WPF Style: Generalizing - wpf

Question

Following being WPF style, is there a way to generalize the hard-coded column names (Name and Code), so that I could specify them when actually applying this style on a ComboBox? Even better, if I could even modify the number of columns?
<Style TargetType="ComboBox" x:Key="MultiColumnComboBoxStyle">
<Style.Resources>
<Style TargetType="ComboBoxItem">
<Setter Property="Template">
<Setter.Value>
<ControlTemplate TargetType="ComboBoxItem">
<Border>
<Grid HorizontalAlignment="Stretch" TextElement.FontWeight="Normal">
<Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<ColumnDefinition Width="*" />
<ColumnDefinition Width="Auto" />
<ColumnDefinition Width="Auto" SharedSizeGroup="Code" />
</Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<TextBlock Grid.Column="0" Text="{Binding Path=Name}" />
<Rectangle Grid.Column="1" Width="1" Fill="Black" />
<TextBlock Grid.Column="2" Text="{Binding Path=Code}" Margin="5,0,5,0" />
</Grid>
</Border>
</ControlTemplate>
</Setter.Value>
</Setter>
</Style>
</Style.Resources>
<Setter Property="ItemsPanel">
<Setter.Value>
<ItemsPanelTemplate>
<StackPanel Grid.IsSharedSizeScope="True" IsItemsHost="True" />
</ItemsPanelTemplate>
</Setter.Value>
</Setter>
</Style>

Answer 1

instead of using a style you could consider craeting a custom control with a dependency property for your columns.
a little bit of setup involved but It will better meet your needs, especialy if you want to reuse it.
an example would be something like the following. Some of this is psuedo code you should be able to fill out.
<!-- In your generic.xaml file -->
<Style TargetType="MyCustomComboBox" >
<Setter Property="Template" >
<Setter.Value>
<ControlTemplate TargetType="MyCustomComboBox" >
<!-- your template code goes here -->
<Grid x:Name="_myCustomGrid />
</ControlTemplate>
</Setter.Value>
</Setter>
</Style>
//then in a cs file inherit from the combo box
public class MyCustomColumnComboBox : ComboBox //get all the combobox functionality
{
public IList ComboColumns
{
get { return (IList)GetValue(ComboColumnsProperty);}
set { SetValue(ComboColumnsProperty,value);}
}
public static readonly DependencyProperty ComboColumnsProperty = DependencyProperty.RegisterProperty(...);
private Grid _grid;
public override OnApplyTemplate()
{
//pull your template grid info here, then use that when setting the columns.
_grid = GetTemplateChild("_myCustomGrid") as Grid;
//from here you can check to see if you have your list yet,
//if you don't then you maintain the grid for when you do have your list.
// This can behave different depending on if you are in wpf or silverlight,
// and depending on how you were to add the items to the dependency property.
}
}
In Summary, for you, add the custom control with the custom dependency property, then in your theme/generic.xaml drop in your template and name the grid to what you want to pull into your template in the on apply template function. from there you are either ready to set up or can set up your columns that you specified in the dependency property.
NOTE : The dependency property isn't actually necessary but it can help to buy you a little bit more flexibility later on using things like the dependency properties on change callback to update if necessary.