Only one of multiple TabControls interactable?

[redruin1]

I'm working on an application where there is a "start page" that appears when no other document tabs are open. Before, this was handled by keeping the start page as an entry in the list of Documents, and then conditionally expanding/collapsing it or adding/removing it depending on the number of opened documents.

I thought a more elegant solution to the problem would be to have two TabControl elements defined to the same location, where the start page is simply made invisible when there are any open documents:

<Grid>
  <!-- Static Start Page -->
  <TabControl>
    <TabItem Header="Start Page" IsVisible="{Binding ShowStartMenu}">
      ...
    </TabItem>
  </TabControl>
  <!-- Dynamic Pages -->
  <TabControl ItemsSource="{Binding Documents}">
    <TabControl.ItemTemplate>
      ...
    </TabControl.ItemTemplate>
    <TabControl.ContentTemplate>
      ...
    </TabControl.ContentTemplate>
  </TabControl>
</Grid>

This almost works perfectly, except for whichever TabControl object that was defined first has no user interaction whatsoever. Is this a bug with how TabControls work (a la #14529 ), or have I set this system up incorrectly?

[stevemonaco]

The second TabControl is still on top and likely still receiving hit tests and handling pointer events. Likely Transparent backgrounds for the header and content pane. If this is the case, then the behavior is consistent with expectations.

I would try making the control not visible when there are no documents so hit testing isn't processed:

<TabControl IsVisible="{Binding !Documents.Count}" ItemsSource="{Binding Documents}">

[redruin1]

In hindsight, that actually makes a lot of sense. I ended up adding IsVisible="{Binding !ShowStartMenu}" to the second TabControl, which works like a charm. Thanks!