I have a XAML template user control with buttons inside. How do I elegantly modify each button's properties?

See more:

C#

XAML

custom-controls

At work I have several pages, each with buttons in the same places, and with the same properties. Each page also has minor differences. To that end, we created a userControl Template and put all the buttons in it, then applied that user control to all the pages. However, now it's rather hard to access the buttons and modify them from each page's xaml, because they are inside a UserControl on the page..... How do I elegantly access the buttons from each page?


What I want to do is let the user set their own button somewhere in xaml, and steal any updated properties on that for my button.

What I have tried:

1. Currently, we bind to a bunch of dependency properties. I don't like this option because I have a lot of buttons, and need to control a lot of properties on those buttons. The result is hundreds of dependency properties, and a real mess to wade through when we need to change something.
2. Another method is to use styles. I like this method generally, but because these buttons are inside another control it becomes difficult to modify them, and the template would only be exactly right for one button, at one time.
3. Another way is to use data triggers, but this has the same problem--I have to rely on a bunch of several dependency properties
4. Adam Kemp posted about letting the user just insert their own button at
   https://forums.xamarin.com/discussion/comment/161435/#Comment_161435,
   and this is the method I'm currently trying to impliment / modify. Unfortunately, I don't have access to Xamarin.

Although the template is inserted when the code runs, the template is not updating the button correctly. If I put a breakpoint in the MyButton Setter, I can see that value is actually an empty button, rather than the one I assigned in my main window. How do I fix this?

Here's some simplified Code:

My Template UserControl's xaml:

<UserControl x:Class="TemplateCode.Template"
     x:Name="TemplatePage"
     xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
     xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
     xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006"
     xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008"
     mc:Ignorable="d"
     d:DesignHeight="350"
     d:DesignWidth="525"
     DataContext="{Binding RelativeSource={RelativeSource Self}}"
     Background="DarkGray">

     <Grid>
          <Button x:Name="_button" Width="200" Height="100" Content="Template Button"/>
     </Grid>
</UserControl>

My Template UserControl's Code Behind:

using System.Windows.Controls;

namespace TemplateCode
{
    public partial class Template : UserControl
    {
        public static Button DefaultButton;

        public Template()
        {
             InitializeComponent();
        }

        public Button MyButton
        {
            get
            {
                 return _button;
            }
            set
            {
                _button = value; //I get here, but value is a blank button?!

                // Eventually, I'd like to do something like:
                // Foreach (property in value) 
                // {
                //     If( value.property != DefaultButton.property) )
                //     {
                //         _button.property = value.property;
                //     }
                // }
                // This way users only have to update some of the properties
            }
        }
    }
}

And now the application where I want to use it:

<Window x:Class="TemplateCode.MainWindow"
    xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
    xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
    xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006"
    xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008"
    mc:Ignorable="d"

    xmlns:templateCode="clr-namespace:TemplateCode"

    Title="MainWindow"
    Height="350"
    Width="525"
    Background="LimeGreen"
    DataContext="{Binding RelativeSource={RelativeSource Self}}" >

    <Grid>
        <templateCode:Template>
            <templateCode:Template.MyButton>

                <Button Background="Yellow" 
                    Content="Actual Button"
                    Width="200" 
                    Height="100"/>

            </templateCode:Template.MyButton>
        </templateCode:Template>
    </Grid>
</Window>

And Now the Code Behind:

Using System.Windows;
Namespace TemplateCode
{
    Public partial class MainWindow : Window
    {
        Public MainWindow()
        {
            InitializeComponent();
        }
    }
}