Set itemtemplate for a listbox inside usercontrol

A DataTemplateSelector can do what I think you want. You can define different templates from your user control's XAML, then have the selector choose among them.

Assume these model classes:

public class Employee { public Employee(string fullName) { FullName = fullName; } public string FullName { get; } } public class Certifying { public Certifying(string certifyingAuthor, DateTime certifyingDate) { CertifyingAuthor = certifyingAuthor; CertifyingDate = certifyingDate; } public string CertifyingAuthor { get; } public DateTime CertifyingDate { get; } } 

Your user control's XAML has a ListBox, which in turn uses a template selector (that we'll get to in a moment) -- and also defines different templates for the two different model types:

<UserControl x:Class="WPF.UserControl1" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation" xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml" xmlns:local="clr-namespace:WPF" > <Grid> <ListBox x:Name="listBox"> <ListBox.ItemTemplateSelector> <local:MyTemplateSelector> <local:MyTemplateSelector.EmployeeTemplate> <DataTemplate DataType="local:Employee"> <TextBlock Foreground="Red" Text="{Binding FullName}" /> </DataTemplate> </local:MyTemplateSelector.EmployeeTemplate> <local:MyTemplateSelector.CertifyingTemplate> <DataTemplate DataType="local:Certifying"> <Grid> <Grid.ColumnDefinitions> <ColumnDefinition Width="120" /> <ColumnDefinition Width="Auto" /> </Grid.ColumnDefinitions> <TextBlock Foreground="Blue" Text="{Binding CertifyingAuthor}" /> <TextBlock Grid.Column="1" Foreground="Green" Text="{Binding CertifyingDate}" /> </Grid> </DataTemplate> </local:MyTemplateSelector.CertifyingTemplate> </local:MyTemplateSelector> </ListBox.ItemTemplateSelector> </ListBox> </Grid> </UserControl> 

The user control's code-behind, where I just assign a list of model objects to the list box (for simplicity):

public partial class UserControl1 { public UserControl1() { InitializeComponent(); listBox.ItemsSource = new List<object> { new Employee("Donald Duck"), new Certifying("Mickey Mouse", DateTime.Now), new Employee("Napoleon Bonaparte"), new Certifying("Homer Simpson", DateTime.Now - TimeSpan.FromDays(2)), }; } } 

And finally, the template selector. Its two properties were set from the user control's XAML; the logic of SelectTemplate decides which one to apply:

public class MyTemplateSelector : DataTemplateSelector { /// <summary> /// This property is set from XAML. /// </summary> public DataTemplate EmployeeTemplate { get; set; } /// <summary> /// This property is set from XAML. /// </summary> public DataTemplate CertifyingTemplate { get; set; } public override DataTemplate SelectTemplate(object item, DependencyObject container) { if (item is Employee) { return EmployeeTemplate; } if (item is Certifying) { return CertifyingTemplate; } return base.SelectTemplate(item, container); } } 

And, for completeness, usage of the user control:

<Grid> <wpf:UserControl1 /> </Grid> 

The end result, where Napoleon is currently selected, and Homer suffers a mouse-over: