Assign controls to a property in XAML - wpf

Question

Hej all,
I wonder if it's possible to assign more than one control to a property in XAML.
Say I have 2 controls in my XAML:
<Button x:Name="_Btn1 Content="Button 1" />
<Button x:Name="_Btn2 Content="Button 2" />
<local:MyControl x:Name="_MyCtrl" Controls="{what goes here?}" />
Or should I declare my control as a container control and put all controls inside it, like so:
<local:MyControl x:Name="_MyCtrl">
<Button x:Name="_Btn1 Content="Button 1" />
<Button x:Name="_Btn2 Content="Button 2" />
</local:MyControl>
Thnx in advance!
Grtz,
Dwi

Answer 1

You can do that if you make MyControl inherit ItemsControl.
Then this
<local:MyControl x:Name="_MyCtrl">
<Button x:Name="_Btn1 Content="Button 1" />
<Button x:Name="_Btn2 Content="Button 2" />
</local:MyControl>
will work and this
<local:MyControl x:Name="_MyCtrl" ItemsSource="ViewModelorControlCollection" />
will work too.
The ViewModelorControlCollection can be defined in your ViewModel or as a static resource in your xaml.

Answer 2

It really depends what you're gonna do. Usually you'd simply define a DataTemplate instead.
<local:MyControl x:Name="_MyCtrl">
<local:MyControl.ControlsTemplate>
<DataTemplate>
<StackPanel>
<Button x:Name="btn1" Content="Button 1" />
<Button x:Name="btn2" Content="Button 2" />
</StackPanel>
</DataTemplate>
</local:MyControl.ControlsTemplate>
</local:MyControl>

Answer 3

You definitely need some kind of container. This can be a simple list or a specialized collection. Whatever you use in your control.
<local:MyControl>
<local:MyControl.Controls>
<ControlCollection> <!-- or whatever -->
<Button/>
<Button/>
</ControlCollection>
</local:MyControl.Controls>
</local:MyControl>
If you use a Panel or similar classes, you don't need to specify the ControlCollection explicitly. You then can define the controls like with e.g. the StackPanel.