WPF - ItemTemplate not acting as expected

Question

I have a UserControl which I\'m using to display a list of UIElements. The control consists of a single ItemsControl with it\'s

Answer 1

Nir is correct, ItemsControl will add item directly to its Panel if they are UIElements. I couldn't find any mention of this behavior in MSDN, but Dr. WPF mentions it in his article on item containers:

If a UIElement is added to the Items collection of an explicit ItemsControl instance (as opposed to an instance of a derived class like ListBox), it will become a direct child of the items panel. If a non-UIElement is added, it will be wrapped within a ContentPresenter.

Your solution is probably to use a ListBox instead, and set ItemContainerStyle to a new Style for ListBoxItem, and in that style, use a ControlTemplate with your Border in it.