How to create reusable WPF grid layout

Question

I have a window with tab control and number of pages - tab items. Each tab item has same grid layout - 6 rows and 4 columns. Now, each tab item contains grid with row and co

Answer 1

You can do it but it requires some work:

1) Create a collection and an attached property like this:

public class ColumnDefinitions : Collection
{
    public static readonly DependencyProperty SourceProperty = DependencyProperty.RegisterAttached(
        "Source",
        typeof(ColumnDefinitions),
        typeof(ColumnDefinitions),
        new PropertyMetadata(
            default(ColumnDefinitions), 
            OnColumnDefinitionsChanged));

    public static void SetSource(Grid element, ColumnDefinitions value)
    {
        element.SetValue(SourceProperty, value);
    }

    [AttachedPropertyBrowsableForChildren(IncludeDescendants = false)]
    [AttachedPropertyBrowsableForType(typeof(Grid))]
    public static ColumnDefinitions GetSource(Grid element)
    {
        return (ColumnDefinitions)element.GetValue(SourceProperty);
    }

    private static void OnColumnDefinitionsChanged(DependencyObject d, DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs e)
    {
        var grid = (Grid)d;
        grid.ColumnDefinitions.Clear();
        var columnDefinitions = (ColumnDefinitions)e.NewValue;
        if (columnDefinitions == null)
        {
            return;
        }

        foreach (var columnDefinition in columnDefinitions)
        {
            grid.ColumnDefinitions.Add(columnDefinition);
        }
    }
}

2) Then you can use it as a resource and in a style for grid like this: Note that x:Shared="False" must be used. If not the same definition will be added to many grids causing WPF to throw.