How can I add extra content to a WPF TabControl? [duplicate]

Answer 1

I tried a different (lazy) way, which was to create another grid that occupies the same space as the TabControl, ie both are in Grid.Row=0. I have bound the grid height to the height of the first tab so if the tabs change height the other controls will remain centered. I set MinWidth on the window so the controls dont overlap the tabs.

Paste this code into a new WPF Window...

<Window x:Class="MainWindow"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008"
xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006"
mc:Ignorable="d"
Title="MainWindow" Height="306" Width="490" MinWidth="300">
<Grid>
    <Grid.RowDefinitions>
        <RowDefinition Height="*" />
        <RowDefinition Height="Auto" />
    </Grid.RowDefinitions>
    <TabControl Grid.Row="0" x:Name="tabControl">
        <TabItem x:Name="tabItem" Header="TabItem" Height="50">
            <Grid Background="#FFE5E5E5"/>
        </TabItem>
        <TabItem Header="TabItem">
            <Grid Background="#FFE5E5E5"/>
        </TabItem>
    </TabControl>

    <Grid Grid.Row="0" Height="{Binding ActualHeight, ElementName=tabItem}" 
       VerticalAlignment="Top" Margin="0,2,0,0">
        <StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal" HorizontalAlignment="Right" 
                VerticalAlignment="Center" Margin="20,0">
            <TextBlock VerticalAlignment="Center" Margin="10,0" FontSize="16" 
                   Foreground="Red" FontFamily="Calibri">My Text</TextBlock>
            <Button Content="My Button" />
        </StackPanel>
    </Grid>

</Grid>
</Window>

...and you will get this:

Answer 2

Depending on how much flexibility you need there are some methods that are suited better than others, i myself try to use DynamicResources if possible because it is normally less troublesome than creating new user-controls.

Here's an example of how to add additional content to the left of the Tab-Header:

<TabControl>

    <TabControl.Resources>
        <DataTemplate x:Key="AugmentedTabItem">
            <StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal">
                <ContentPresenter Content="{DynamicResource ContentLeft}" Margin="0,0,5,0"/>
                <ContentPresenter Content="{Binding}"/>
            </StackPanel>
        </DataTemplate>     
    </TabControl.Resources>

    <TabItem Header="ÜberTab" HeaderTemplate="{StaticResource AugmentedTabItem}">
       <TabItem.Resources>
            <TextBlock x:Key="ContentLeft" Text=">>>" Foreground="Blue"/>           

        </TabItem.Resources>
    </TabItem>      
</TabControl>

Hope that helps, if something is unclear or if this doesn't suffice, drop a comment.