Combobox background not being applied in windows 8

Question

I am a little confused with wpf themes. I would like to have the wpf screens look the same on Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8. So I have styled the components accordingly and

Answer 1

In Response to @Viv

@Viv, I feel that your answer was very clear, but somehow your views/suggestions aren't digestable to me and I will briefly mention why

Your Suggestion

If your looking to carry a Style across the different OS Versions(Without having to backtrack and keep checking if new versions screwed up your over-rides), simple rule is Create it yourself.

It seems impracticable. The very idea of themes is creation of consistent look for all elements in the application and accross all platforms. So, if I use a particular theme provided by the framework, no matter what, I should be able to achieve a satisfactory level of consistency, atleast on major current platforms. Above all, not every one has the expertise to create all the styles and templates from scratch. The concept of themes should be,

"The framework provider is providing the themes that will work well for normal scenarios and if anyone wishing to roll out his themes he is welcome to do so".

Instead here the concept seems like

"The framework provider is providing theme and it is not guranted that it will be consistent and work without breaking. So always roll out your themes"

Your quote

As you can see from above, Background used is not a {TemplateBinding Background} but {StaticResource ComboBox.Static.Background}. Hence why you see no effect when you set the Background property in Windows-8 for that ComboBox

I don't know whose idea it was to make a template that way! Must be out of his minds or I am too dumb to understand the advantages. Just imagine that I am using some Blue colored theme in my application and tommorrow, on Windows 9, somebody defines a Red as {StaticResource ComboBox.Static.Background}. So, guess what, I have a fancy window screen now with all my elements themed "Blue" and only the combobox's appear "Red". I mean the very idea of theme is broken here!

Your side note

Just for example you stated the Windows-8 Style is something your not a fan of, well I'm the opposite. I actually do like the Windows-8 clean and simple look.

My combobox looks like a disabled button and I couldn't even change its background! The buttons don't look like they are clickable! Any way as you said this is a personal choice, ofcourse.

My Conclusion I will wait for some time if some one has any suggestions on how I get the combobox working on windows 8. Your answer brings forward the truth, so I would be happy to mark it a correct if I don't get any alternative solution.

Nirvan