Thanks for the response Alex.

I will try to set the ContentPane style as you suggest, because each content pane in my app needs to display one usercontrol, like the plate view.

I dont want to set the plate view element directly in the content pane because then I lose access to the ViewModel properties in the xaml- and I would prefer to keep them in the viewmodel than the view along mvvm lines.

I am a little confused as to the difference between setting the ContentPane style for the data template and just using a data template like I was doing, it would be much appreciated if you could explain a bit!

Thanks!

Hello,

I think the problem is coming from the incorrect usage of the DataTemplate.

If you want each ContentPane to use this DataTemplate for its Content, then you should create a style for the ContentPane and set this DataTemplate to the ContentTemplate property.

If you want a ContentPane to have a PlateView element for its content, then you should put a PlateView element as direct content.