#910 – Using Data Binding to Control the Currently Selected Tab of a TabControl

In addition to using data binding to control the tabs that appear in a TabControl, you can use binding to control which tab is currently selected.

Below, we bind the SelectedIndex of a TabControl to a property in our class.  We do the same for a ComboBox, as well as binding the ItemSource of the ComboBox to the same collection that the TabControl is bound to.  After doing this, we can use the ComboBox to select the correct tab or manually select a different tab to cause the ComboBox to be updated.

        <TabControl Margin="5"
                    ItemsSource="{Binding RomanDudes}"
                    SelectedIndex="{Binding DudeIndex}">
        <!-- Templates here -->
        </TabControl>

        <ComboBox Grid.Row="1" HorizontalAlignment="Center" Margin="0,5"
                  ItemsSource="{Binding RomanDudes}"
                  SelectedIndex="{Binding DudeIndex}"/>

Property that we bind to:

        private int dudeIndex;
        public int DudeIndex
        {
            get { return dudeIndex; }
            set
            {
                if (value != dudeIndex)
                {
                    dudeIndex = value;
                    RaisePropertyChanged("DudeIndex");
                }
            }
        }