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Access Control from DataGrid Template in code behind

How can I access my TextBox in button click event when both are in DataGrid Template Column? I can't access controls with x:Name and I can't seem to find a way.
XAML
<syncfusion:SfDataGrid x:Name="dataGrid" ItemsSource="{Binding Orders}" AllowEditing="True" AutoGenerateColumns="False">
<syncfusion:SfDataGrid.Columns>
<syncfusion:GridTextColumn MappingName="CustomerID"/>
<syncfusion:GridTextColumn MappingName="CustomerName"/>
<syncfusion:GridTemplateColumn MappingName="Country" SetCellBoundValue="True">
<syncfusion:GridTemplateColumn.CellTemplate>
<DataTemplate>
<TextBlock Text="{Binding Value}" />
</DataTemplate>
</syncfusion:GridTemplateColumn.CellTemplate>
<syncfusion:GridTemplateColumn.EditTemplate>
<DataTemplate>
<Grid>
<Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<ColumnDefinition Width="*"/>
<ColumnDefinition Width="auto"/>
</Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<TextBox Grid.Column="0" Text="{Binding Value}" syncfusion:FocusManagerHelper.FocusedElement="True" x:Name="txt" />
<Button Grid.Column="1" Margin="0 4 5 3" Content="..." Click="btn_Click" x:Name="btn"/>
</Grid>
</DataTemplate>
</syncfusion:GridTemplateColumn.EditTemplate>
</syncfusion:GridTemplateColumn>
</syncfusion:SfDataGrid.Columns>
</syncfusion:SfDataGrid>
C#
private void btn_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
// Get TextBox here
}

You can get the row and column index based on the mouse move pointer position by using GetVisualContainer method in SfDataGrid. Please refer the below code snippet,
//With the help of VisualContainer, you can get the row and column index based on the mouse move pointer position
var visualcontainer = this.dataGrid.GetVisualContainer();
// Gets the exact position where the mouse pointer is moved
var point = Mouse.GetPosition(visualcontainer);
//Here you can get the row and column index based on the pointer position by using PointToCellRowColumnIndex() method
var rowColumnIndex = visualcontainer.PointToCellRowColumnIndex(point);
You can get the button clicked column element by using Items property in SfDataGrid.RowGenerator. Please refer the below code snippet,
if (!rowColumnIndex.IsEmpty)
{
//get the columnElement
var columnElement =
this.dataGrid.RowGenerator.Items.FirstOrDefault(x => x.RowIndex == rowColumnIndex.RowIndex).VisibleColumns[rowColumnIndex.ColumnIndex].ColumnElement;
}
You can get the TextBox by passing the column element in FindVisualChild and GetVisualChild method like below mentioned code snippet,
if (this.dataGrid.Columns[rowColumnIndex.ColumnIndex] is GridTemplateColumn)
{
TextBox textBox = null;
ContentPresenter contentPresenter = this.FindVisualChild<ContentPresenter>(columnElement);
//get the TextBox
textBox = GetVisualChild<TextBox>(contentPresenter);
}
C# Code Snippet related to GetVisualChild method:
private T GetVisualChild<T>(DependencyObject parent) where T : Visual
{
T child = default(T);
int numVisuals = VisualTreeHelper.GetChildrenCount(parent);
for (int i = 0; i < numVisuals; i++)
{
Visual v = (Visual)VisualTreeHelper.GetChild(parent, i);
child = v as T;
if (child == null)
{
child = GetVisualChild<T>(v);
}
if (child != null)
{
break;
}
}
return child;
}
C# Code Snippet related to FindVisualChild method:
public childItem FindVisualChild<childItem>(DependencyObject obj) where childItem : DependencyObject
{
for (int i = 0; i < VisualTreeHelper.GetChildrenCount(obj); i++)
{
DependencyObject child = VisualTreeHelper.GetChild(obj, i);
if (child != null && child is childItem)
return (childItem)child;
else
{
childItem childOfChild = FindVisualChild<childItem>(child);
if (childOfChild != null)
return childOfChild;
}
}
return null;
}
Sample Link: https://www.syncfusion.com/downloads/support/directtrac/general/ze/Sample-1045343101
KB Link: https://www.syncfusion.com/kb/12548/how-to-get-the-reference-of-the-control-added-inside-the-datatemplate-of-the

UWP Moving Childs to Other Parent Problems

First of all I am new to UWP and I have already searched almost everywhere (using Google and Stackoverflow) for the answer but couldn't find the answer for my problem.
So, Here is the problem:
I planned to create a pixel paint app that has tab function like Edge (utilizing title bar) for UWP using Visual Studio 2017 and Target Sdk: Creators Update.
I wanted to move the custom title bar I made to the content view when the app in fullscreen condition.
I wanted to move from here (windows title bar, this is just the button XAML code, I'm not including the tab bar XAML code because it's a commercial project):
<Grid x:Name="btnMenuPlace1" Grid.Column="0">
<Grid x:Name="btnMenuPlaceContent" Background="{StaticResource SystemControlHighlightListAccentMediumBrush}">
<Button x:Name="btnMenu" FontFamily="Segoe MDL2 Assets" Content=""
Width="50" Height="50" Background="Transparent" Click="btnMenu_Click"/>
</Grid>
</Grid>
To here (user view):
<Grid x:Name="btnMenuPlace2" Grid.Column="0">
</Grid>
Both parent of those Grid is an another Grid using Grid.ColumnDefinitions like this:
<Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<ColumnDefinition Width="Auto"/>
<ColumnDefinition Width="*"/>
</Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
And here's my C# Code:
private void WindowSizeChanged(object sender, WindowSizeChangedEventArgs e)
{
var appView = ApplicationView.GetForCurrentView();
if (appView.IsFullScreenMode)
{
Utility.RemoveChild(btnMenuPlaceContent);
btnMenuPlace2.Children.Add(btnMenuPlaceContent);
Utility.RemoveChild(tabBarPlaceContent);
tabBarPlace2.Children.Add(tabBarPlaceContent);
}
else
{
Utility.RemoveChild(btnMenuPlaceContent);
btnMenuPlace1.Children.Add(btnMenuPlaceContent);
Utility.RemoveChild(tabBarPlaceContent);
tabBarPlace1.Children.Add(tabBarPlaceContent);
}
e.Handled = true;
}
And here is my Utility RemoveChild Code:
public static void RemoveChild(DependencyObject parent, UIElement child)
{
var parentAsPanel = VisualTreeHelper.GetParent(child);
if (parentAsPanel != null)
{
parentAsPanel.Children.Remove(child);
return;
}
var parentAsContentPresenter = parent as ContentPresenter;
if (parentAsContentPresenter != null)
{
if (parentAsContentPresenter.Content == child)
{
parentAsContentPresenter.Content = null;
}
return;
}
var parentAsContentControl = parent as ContentControl;
if (parentAsContentControl != null)
{
if (parentAsContentControl.Content == child)
{
parentAsContentControl.Content = null;
}
return;
}
}
This is my app looks like before entered the fullscreen mode:
So the problem is whenever the app entered the fullscreen mode, the child does move to the new parent, but the button is not there only the background color of the grid remaining and I can't click any of them (not a single click event work), take a look:
And when I switched back to not fullscreen view the proggressbar loading on the new tab not shown.
I don't know which one I did was wrong XAML or the C# code.
Any help would be appreciated.
P.S. I'm Indonesian, so maybe there is something wrong with my sentence, hopefully You are understand what I'm talking about.

There are somethings wrong with your code snippet. For example, RemoveChild method has two parameters but you only provide one when you invoking it. And without assign the parentAsPanel variable type, you cannot get the Children property.
Since the code is not completed, after code updated and add some other code needed I can run your code snippet correctly and cannot reproduce the issue above. Here is my completed testing code:
XAML
<Grid Background="{ThemeResource ApplicationPageBackgroundThemeBrush}">
<StackPanel>
<Grid x:Name="btnMenuPlace1" Grid.Column="0" Grid.Row="0">
<Grid x:Name="btnMenuPlaceContent" Background="{StaticResource SystemControlHighlightListAccentMediumBrush}">
<StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal">
<Button x:Name="btnMenu" FontFamily="Segoe MDL2 Assets" Content="" Width="50" Height="50" Background="Transparent" />
<!--<local:CustomTitleBar Width="200" Height="50"></local:CustomTitleBar>-->
</StackPanel>
</Grid>
</Grid>
<Grid x:Name="btnMenuPlace2" Grid.Column="1" Grid.Row="1"/>
<TextBlock Text="text" x:Name="txtresult"></TextBlock>
<Button x:Name="ToggleFullScreenModeButton" Margin="0,10,0,0" Click="ToggleFullScreenModeButton_Click">
<SymbolIcon x:Name="ToggleFullScreenModeSymbol" Symbol="FullScreen" />
</Button>
</StackPanel>
</Grid>
Code behind
public sealed partial class MainPage : Page
{
public MainPage()
{
this.InitializeComponent();
CoreApplication.GetCurrentView().TitleBar.ExtendViewIntoTitleBar = true;
Window.Current.SetTitleBar(btnMenuPlace1);
Window.Current.SizeChanged += Current_SizeChanged;
}
private void Current_SizeChanged(object sender, Windows.UI.Core.WindowSizeChangedEventArgs e)
{
var appView = ApplicationView.GetForCurrentView();
if (appView.IsFullScreenMode)
{
RemoveChild(btnMenuPlace1, btnMenuPlaceContent);
btnMenuPlace2.Children.Add(btnMenuPlaceContent);
}
else
{
RemoveChild(btnMenuPlace2, btnMenuPlaceContent);
btnMenuPlace1.Children.Add(btnMenuPlaceContent);
}
e.Handled = true;
}
public void RemoveChild(DependencyObject parent, UIElement child)
{
Grid parentAsPanel = VisualTreeHelper.GetParent(child) as Grid;
if (parentAsPanel != null)
{
parentAsPanel.Children.Remove(child);
return;
}
var parentAsContentPresenter = parent as ContentPresenter;
if (parentAsContentPresenter != null)
{
if (parentAsContentPresenter.Content == child)
{
parentAsContentPresenter.Content = null;
}
return;
}
var parentAsContentControl = parent as ContentControl;
if (parentAsContentControl != null)
{
if (parentAsContentControl.Content == child)
{
parentAsContentControl.Content = null;
}
return;
}
}
private void ToggleFullScreenModeButton_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
var view = ApplicationView.GetForCurrentView();
if (view.IsFullScreenMode)
{
view.ExitFullScreenMode();
}
else
{
if (view.TryEnterFullScreenMode())
{
txtresult.Text = "full screen";
}
else
{
txtresult.Text = "no full screen";
}
}
}
}
My testing environment is OS build 15063. If you still have issues please provide the minimal reproduced project. You may just try to reproduce the issue on my testing demo. More details please reference the official sample.

Sorry it was My mistake, that above code I post is actually working (just some of the code wrongly copied, like for example the parameter on the utility code is not necessary).
The false is on it's parent, i forgot to add row definition on the second place (btnPlace2) parent.
Now it works and looks great now :)
Here is some picture of em:
On FullScreen Mode:
Thanks to anyone answering and voting this question up.
Best regards,
andr33ww

Reach a TextBlock from a specific ListViewItem from the ListView in Windows Phone 8.1 XAML programmatically

I am a new developer on Windows Phone 8.1, I am try to reach a specific ListView item from the ListView collection and be able to color it or color the TextBock inside of it, But I can't reach the item or reach any of items inside of ListView, Please take a look for my below code :
protected async override void OnNavigatedTo(NavigationEventArgs e)
{
SQLiteRT db1 = new SQLiteRT();
var db_connection = await db1.Connection("MyDB.sqlite");
List<MyTBL> t_list = db1.GetTable("SELECT * FROM MyTBL LIMIT 4 ORDER BY RANDOM() ;");
db_connection.Close();
LV_Options.ItemsSource = t_list;
}
// my List View called LV_Options
private void LV_Options_SelectionChanged(object sender, SelectionChangedEventArgs e)
{
ListView lv1 = sender as ListView;
if (lv1 == null)
return;
MyTBL wrd = lv1.SelectedItem as MyTBL;
if (wrd == null)
return;
TextBlock tb = lv1.FindName("TB_AMean1") as TextBlock;
tb.FontSize = 17; // here I got debug error (it not worked !!!!!!!)
var item = LV_Options.Items.ElementAt(3); // this seems not work also !!!!
item.BackColor = Color.LightSteelBlue;
}
As you can see above, I tried to reach a specific item by LV_Options.Items.ElementAt(3) but it doesn't work! I also tried to reach the TextBlock from the selected List view item, but also not worked !
(Updated)
XAML code :
<!-- Title Panel -->
<StackPanel Grid.Row="0" Margin="19,0,0,0">
<TextBlock Name="TB_Rslt" Text="Here result of your answer" Style="{ThemeResource TitleTextBlockStyle}" Margin="0,12,0,0"/>
<TextBlock Text="page title" Margin="0,-6.5,0,26.5" Style="{ThemeResource HeaderTextBlockStyle}" CharacterSpacing="{ThemeResource PivotHeaderItemCharacterSpacing}"/>
</StackPanel>
<!--TODO: Content should be placed within the following grid-->
<Grid Grid.Row="1" x:Name="ContentRoot" Margin="19,10,19,15">
<Grid.RowDefinitions>
<RowDefinition Height="Auto"/>
<RowDefinition Height="*"/>
</Grid.RowDefinitions>
<TextBlock Name="TB_Question" Text="Choose Answer " Margin="0,0,25,0" HorizontalAlignment="Right" FontWeight="Bold" FontSize="22" FontFamily="Verdana" RenderTransformOrigin="0.5,0.5" />
<TextBlock Name="TB_EnWord" Text="" Margin="90,0,15,0" HorizontalAlignment="Left" FontWeight="Bold" FontSize="22" FontFamily="Verdana" RenderTransformOrigin="0.5,0.5" TextAlignment="Right" />
<StackPanel Grid.Row="1" Margin="5,22,0,0">
<ListView Name="LV_Options" SelectionChanged="LV_Options_SelectionChanged">
<ListView.ItemTemplate>
<DataTemplate>
<Grid Margin="6">
<StackPanel VerticalAlignment="Top" Margin="10,0,0,0">
<TextBlock Name="TB_AMean1" Text="{Binding AMean1}" TextWrapping="Wrap"/>
</StackPanel>
</Grid>
</DataTemplate>
</ListView.ItemTemplate>
</ListView>
</StackPanel>
<Button Name="Btn_Answer" Content="Ansewr" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Grid.Row="1" VerticalAlignment="Bottom" Click="Btn_Answer_Click"/>
My application is a quiz application that offer 4 choices/options as answers for each question, and when user select a true answer, I want to highlight the true answer(true choice) by make its background to green, and if the user selected wrong answer/option I want to make the background of that answer (a specific List View item) with red.
Any help please ?

You're not going to be able to access an element inside a data template like that. Instead, leverage the binding to a view model to set the color and other view-related properties. First, create a wrapper view model for your data class:
public class MyTBLViewModel : INotifyPropertyChanged
{
public MyTBL Entity
{
get { return _entity; }
}
private readonly MyTBL _entity;
public Brush Highlight
{
get { return _brush; }
set
{
_brush = value;
RaisePropertyChanged("Highlight");
}
}
private Brush _highlight;
public double ItemFontSize
{
get { return _itemFontSize; }
set
{
_itemFontSize = value;
RaisePropertyChanged("ItemFontSize");
}
}
private Brush _itemFontSize;
public MyTBLViewModel(MyTBL entity)
{
_entity = entity;
_highlight = new SolidColorBrush(Colors.Transparent);
_itemFontSize = 12;
}
public event PropertyChangedEventArgs PropertyChanged;
protected void RaisePropertyChanged(string propName)
{
var handler = PropertyChanged;
if (handler != null)
handler(this, new PropertyChangedEventArgs(propName));
}
}
Use this as your ItemsSource:
List<MyTBLViewModel> t_list = db1.GetTable("SELECT * FROM MyTBL LIMIT 4 ORDER BY RANDOM() ;")
.AsEnumerable().Select(entity => new MyTBLViewModel(entity)).ToList();
Now in your view, bind the view elements to "Highlight" and "ItemFontSize", and to any other properties you like:
<ListView.ItemTemplate>
<DataTemplate>
<Grid Margin="6" Background="{Binding Highlight}">
<StackPanel VerticalAlignment="Top" Margin="10,0,0,0">
<TextBlock Name="TB_AMean1" Text="{Binding Entity.AMean1}" TextWrapping="Wrap"
FontSize="{Binding ItemFontSize}"/>
</StackPanel>
</Grid>
</DataTemplate>
</ListView.ItemTemplate>
Finally, you can get the data item from the SelectionChangedEventArgs -- use it to update your view-related properties:
private void LV_Options_SelectionChanged(object sender, SelectionChangedEventArgs e)
{
foreach (var item in e.AddedItems.OfType<MyTBLViewModel>())
{
item.Highlight = new SolidColorBrush(Color.LightSteelBlue);
item.ItemFontSize = 17;
}
foreach (var item in e.RemovedItems.OfType<MyTBLViewModel>())
{
item.Highlight = new SolidColorBrush(Colors.Transparent);
item.ItemFontSize = 12;
}
}

var item = LV_Options.Items.ElementAt(3);
This line is incorrect. It will not return you a TextBlock. I don't know what a .BackColor is, and it should not compile. The Items property in a ListView will return you a list of ListViewItems. If you want to access the inside element from a ListViewItem, you'll need to access the ContentTemplateRoot property.
Do not use var ever. It lets you assume that you know the type, whereas if you explicitly typed the declaration you would realize you're doing it wrong.
MyTBL wrd = lv1.SelectedItem as MyTBL;
if (wrd == null)
return;
TextBlock tb = lv1.FindName("TB_AMean1") as TextBlock;
What is a MyTBL type? FindName is only available to framework DependencyObjects so I'm assuming it's a user control? You have to provide a lot more code to show us what you're doing and what you're setting the ListView's ItemsSource and ItemTemplate with and what these errors are and how you have 2 breaking debug errors at once and what the error messages are.
Comprehending runtime error messages is a huge part of being a good developer.

WPF, sibling selection like jQuery?

I have the following XAML code as an example in my WPF application
<StackPanel Height="23" Name="MSpanel" Orientation="Horizontal" Width="138" Margin="37,13,0,0" VerticalAlignment="Top" HorizontalAlignment="Left" >
<TextBox Height="23" Name="MTBox" Width="120" Text="0" />
<ScrollBar Height="23" Name="MSBar" Width="18" TouchUp="SBar_TouchUp" />
</StackPanel>
<StackPanel Height="23" Name="CSPanel" Orientation="Horizontal" Width="138" Margin="37,41,0,0" VerticalAlignment="Top" HorizontalAlignment="Left">
<TextBox Height="23" Name="CTBox" Width="120" Text="0" />
<ScrollBar Height="23" Name="CSBar" Width="18" TouchUp="SBar_TouchUp" />
</StackPanel>
I have this function:
private void SBar_TouchUp(object sender, TouchEventArgs e)
{
//what goes here?
//siblings.getFirst('textbox').text += 1;
}
What I was hoping to do, is have 1 function that controls these "Psudo" numeric up downs in WPF. If there was some way to have a unified function that could, reference the sibling textbox, so I only have to write it once. That would be ideal.
I'm very familiar with jQuery, and XAML looks like an HTML DOM, ... Is there a way to browse the tree?
I realize there are existing Numeric Up Downs available to download. This idea I believe would be good to know for the future in other endeavors as well. Thanks.
The solution that worked!
private void SBar_ValueChanged(object sender, RoutedPropertyChangedEventArgs<double> e)
{
if (e.NewValue == 0) return; //abort here, no change
ScrollBar sb = (ScrollBar)sender;
StackPanel sp = (StackPanel)sb.Parent;
TextBox tb = (TextBox)sp.Children[0];
int change = e.NewValue < 0 ? 1 : -1;
sb.Value = 0; //this will invoke this function again
tb.Text = (Convert.ToInt32(tb.Text) + change).ToString();
}

Each element in the visual tree has a Parent and VisualParent property - as all elements are based on UIElement - either should give you the parent object.
In this case the parent of the ScrollBar is the StackPanel. You can then use the Children property of the StackPanel to get the collection of child objects. You know which is the ScrollBar (it's the sender) so the other must be the TextBox.

You can do something like this:
private void SBar_TouchUp(object sender, TouchEventArgs e)
{
//siblings.getFirst('textbox').text += 1;
var siblings = ((sender as FrameworkElement).Parent as Panel).Children;
var textbox = siblings.OfType<TextBox>().First();
textbox.Text = (int.Parse(textbox.Text) + 1).ToString();
}
but I would suspect that there are probably better ways to do what you want, like data binding or naming elements in attached properties.

Yeah, there are many properties for both Logical and Visual trees.
Like FrameworkElement.Parent or Panel.Children.
I don't think there is directly method to get sibling, but its not that hard to get index in list of children of parent and getting next item.

Calling a base-class method from Silverlight XAML

As part of learning Silverlight, I'm trying to create a base UserControl to use as the starting point for my inherited controls.
It's very simple, it merely defines some callback methods:
public class ClickableUserControl : UserControl
{
private Control _superParent;
public ClickableUserControl()
{
}
public ClickableUserControl(Control superParent)
{
_superParent = superParent;
this.MouseEnter += new MouseEventHandler(PostfixedLayoutItem_MouseEnter);
this.MouseLeave += new MouseEventHandler(PostfixedLayoutItem_MouseLeave);
this.MouseLeftButtonDown += new MouseButtonEventHandler(PostfixedLayoutItem_MouseLeftButtonDown);
}
public virtual void PostfixedLayoutItem_MouseLeftButtonDown(object sender, MouseButtonEventArgs e)
{
var elements = VisualTreeHelper.FindElementsInHostCoordinates(e.GetPosition(null), this);
if (elements.Any(elm => elm is ClickToEditTextBox))
{
e.Handled = false;
}
}
public void PostfixedLayoutItem_MouseLeave(object sender, MouseEventArgs e)
{
this.Cursor = Cursors.Arrow;
}
public void PostfixedLayoutItem_MouseEnter(object sender, MouseEventArgs e)
{
this.Cursor = Cursors.Hand;
}
public void ClickToEditTextBox_KeyDown(object sender, KeyEventArgs e)
{
if (e.Key == Key.Enter || e.Key == Key.Escape)
{
VisualStateManager.GoToState((Control)sender, "NotEdit", false);
_superParent.Focus();
}
}
}
Please note the ClickToEditTextBox_KeyDown() method which is the problem!
Now, I have an inherited control that looks as follows (CheckboxLayoutItem.xaml):
<local:ClickableUserControl x:Class="OpusFormBuilder.LayoutItems.CheckboxLayoutItem"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
xmlns:local="clr-namespace:OpusFormBuilder.LayoutItems"
mc:Ignorable="d"
d:DesignHeight="300" d:DesignWidth="400" x:Name="LayoutItem">
<StackPanel Name="stackPanel1" Orientation="Horizontal">
<lc:LayoutItem Label="layoutItem" Name="layoutItem">
<lc:LayoutItem.LabelTemplate>
<DataTemplate>
<Self:ClickToEditTextBox KeyDown="ClickToEditTextBox_KeyDown" Text="{Binding Label, Mode=TwoWay, ElementName=layoutItem}" MaxWidth="150" MinWidth="150" TextWrapping="Wrap" MaxHeight="200" VerticalAlignment="Top" />
</DataTemplate>
</lc:LayoutItem.LabelTemplate>
<dxe:CheckEdit Name="InnerCheckbox" Grid.ColumnSpan="2" Grid.Column="0" Grid.Row="0" VerticalAlignment="Top" HorizontalAlignment="Stretch" IsEnabled="False" />
</lc:LayoutItem>
<Self:ClickToEditTextBox KeyDown="ClickToEditTextBox_KeyDown" x:Name="Description" MaxWidth="150" MaxHeight="200" TextWrapping="Wrap" VerticalAlignment="Top" HorizontalAlignment="Right" />
</StackPanel>
(Note - I have removed some namespace declarations for easier reading)
Note the following line:
<Self:ClickToEditTextBox KeyDown="ClickToEditTextBox_KeyDown" Text="{Binding Label, Mode=TwoWay, ElementName=layoutItem}" MaxWidth="150" MinWidth="150" TextWrapping="Wrap" MaxHeight="200" VerticalAlignment="Top" />
in which I set the KeyDown-event on a ClickToEditTextBox (the self namespace is defined, and correctly so).
Now, in the code behind (CheckboxLayoutItem.xaml.cs) in the constructor the call to InitializeComponent() fails with the error: Failed to assign to property 'System.Windows.UIElement.KeyDown'. [Line: 17 Position: 42]
I can't debug into InitializeComponent, however, but I can't see what could possibly be the issue from this error, other than the KeyDown events in the XAML.
Now, here is my question - how come I (seemingly) cannot reference a method defined in my base-class!? Previously I had the method in the CheckboxLayoutItem.xaml.cs method itself, but as some other controls needed some of the same functionality, it seemd a better option to put it in a base class.
Cheers!

I know this doesn't really answer your question, but you might want to look at Template (Custom Controls) controls. UserControl really isn't the best solution for what you're trying to do here.
UserControls are best for situations where you're building a one-off control that you don't intend in inheriting from.