multiple userControl instances in tabControl - wpf

Question

I have a tabControl that is bound to an observable collection.
In the headerTemplate, I would like to bind to a string property, and in the contentTemplate I have placed a user-control.
Here's the code for the MainWindow.xaml:
<Grid>
<Grid.Resources>
<DataTemplate x:Key="contentTemplate">
<local:UserControl1 />
</DataTemplate>
<DataTemplate x:Key="itemTemplate">
<Label Content="{Binding Path=Name}" />
</DataTemplate>
</Grid.Resources>
<TabControl IsSynchronizedWithCurrentItem="True"
ItemsSource="{Binding Path=Pages}"
ItemTemplate="{StaticResource itemTemplate}"
ContentTemplate="{StaticResource contentTemplate}"/>
</Grid>
And its code behind:
public partial class MainWindow : Window
{
public MainWindow()
{
InitializeComponent();
this.DataContext = new MainWindowViewModel();
}
}
public class MainWindowViewModel
{
public ObservableCollection<PageViewModel> Pages { get; set; }
public MainWindowViewModel()
{
this.Pages = new ObservableCollection<PageViewModel>();
this.Pages.Add(new PageViewModel("first"));
this.Pages.Add(new PageViewModel("second"));
}
}
public class PageViewModel
{
public string Name { get; set; }
public PageViewModel(string name)
{
this.Name = name;
}
}
So the problem in this scenario (having specified an itemTemplate as well as a controlTemplate) is that I only get one instance for the user-control, where I want to have an instance for each item that is bound to.

Answer 1

Try this:
<TabControl IsSynchronizedWithCurrentItem="True" ItemsSource="{Binding Pages}">
<TabControl.Resources>
<DataTemplate x:Key="contentTemplate" x:Shared="False">
<local:UserControl1/>
</DataTemplate>
<Style TargetType="{x:Type TabItem}">
<Setter Property="Header" Value="{Binding Name}"/>
<Setter Property="ContentTemplate" Value="{StaticResource contentTemplate}"/>
</Style>
</TabControl.Resources>
</TabControl>

Answer 2

Try setting
x:Shared="False"
When set to false, modifies Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) resource retrieval behavior such that requests for a resource will create a new instance for each request, rather than sharing the same instance for all requests.

Answer 3

You need to override the Equals() Method of your PageViewModel class.
public override bool Equals(object obj)
{
if (!(obj is PageViewModel)) return false;
return (obj as PageViewModel).Name == this.Name;
}
Something like this should work.
Now it is looking for the same property of the value Name. Otherwise you could also add a ID Property which is unique.