Replacing the control template of a scroll bar

The ScrollBar control is rarely used on its own. This is hinted by the fact that it's located in the System.Windows.Controls.Primitives namespace. It is, however, an important building block for many elements, such as ScrollViewer and ListBox. Instead of trying to customize the template for a ScrollViewer or a ListBox to get a different look for the scroll bars, it's better to customize the ScrollBar itself (usually with an automatic style), causing all ScrollBar controls to appear the same way no matter which other, higher-level controls, use them. Let's see what it takes to replace a scroll bar's control template.

Getting ready

Make sure Visual Studio is up and running.

How to do it...

We'll create a simple application that uses a custom ScrollBar template, showing the ingredients of such a template:

1. Create a new WPF application named CH08.CustomScrollBars.

2. Open App.xaml. First, we need to create some helper templates for RepeatButton controls and...