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Prevent ScrollViewer from changing its Content size

I want the ScrollViewer to do only one thing - allow me to scroll. I don't want it to allow its Content to grow. Yet it does. How to prevent that?
<ScrollViewer VerticalScrollBarVisibility="Auto" >
<Grid >
<Grid.RowDefinitions>
<RowDefinition Height="*"/>
<RowDefinition Height="Auto"/>
</Grid.RowDefinitions>
<Image Grid.Row="0" Source="a.png"/>
<Grid Grid.Row="1" Height="400"/>
</Grid>
</ScrollViewer>
If I comment out the ScrollViewer - the Image is small. If I leave the ScrollViewer - the Image grows. How to prevent that?

You would avoid stretching the Image by setting its Stretch property to None.
<Image Grid.Row="0" Stretch="None" .../>
The Grid and hence the Image element use the full width of the scrollable area. Since the default Stretch value is Uniform, the Image subsequently adjusts its height to keep its aspect ratio.
An equivalent, but simpler layout would be
<ScrollViewer VerticalScrollBarVisibility="Auto">
<StackPanel>
<Image Stretch="None" Source="a.png"/>
<Grid Height="400"/>
</StackPanel>
</ScrollViewer>

StackPanel height exceed parent Grid height

I have situation like this:
<UserControl>
<Grid x:Name="fullGrid" VerticalAlignment="Stretch">
<Grid.RowDefinitions>
<RowDefinition Height="*"/>
</Grid.RowDefinitions>
<Grid x:Name="innerGrid" VerticalAlignment="Stretch">
<Grid.RowDefinitions>
<RowDefinition Height="*"/>
</Grid.RowDefinitions>
<Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<ColumnDefinition Width="Auto" />
<ColumnDefinition Width="*" />
</Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<StackPanel x:Name="leftSide" VerticalAlignment="Stretch">
<ScrollViewer VerticalAlignment="Stretch">
<ItemsControl/ VerticalAlignment="Stretch">
</ScrollViewer>
</StackPanel>
</Grid>
</Grid>
</UserControl>
Problem is that leftSide stackPanel height is higher than it's parent: innerGrid height.
I was debugging it in Snoop and it seems that StackPanel just ignore it's VerticalAlignment property.
I would like to avoid setting Heigh={Binding ElementName=xxx, Path=ActualHeight} because I have some additional Margins inside, and it break the view.
How can I handle that?

ScrollViewer fills its parent. StackPanel wants to size to its children, and so tells them they have as much space as they want (and then "shrinks to fit").
So, StackPanel tells ScrollViewer it can have all the space in the world, which it happily takes. There is no way to stop this besides doing a binding as you describe or setting an absolute height.
So the simple solution is: remove the StackPanel. Then the ScrollViewer will take up the space the Grid assigns it.

understanding WPF Layout

I got a ListView (wrapped in a ScrollViewer), which resizes itself if the elements inseretd exceed the visible area until the parents Max Height is reached.
The ListView is embedded the following way.
<Window ... SizeToContent="Height">
<Grid>
<Grid.RowDefinitions>
<RowDefinition Height="2*"/>
<RowDefinition Height="*" />
<RowDefinition Height="*" />
</Grid.RowDefinitions>
<Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<ColumnDefinition Width="3*" />
<ColumnDefinition Width="2*" />
</Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<ScrollViewer x:Name="MyScrollViewer" Grid.Row="0" Grid.Column="0" HorizontalAlignment="Stretch" VerticalAlignment="Stretch">
<ListView Name="MyListView"
ItemsSource="{Binding Path=RetrievalStringResults, Mode=OneWay}"
IsSynchronizedWithCurrentItem="True" />
</ScrollViewer>
<DockPanel Grid.Row="0" Grid.Column="1">
...
</DockPanel>
<Expander Grid.Row="1" Grid.ColumnSpan="2">
<DockPanel Height="150" HorizontalAlignment="Stretch">
<TextBox DockPanel.Dock="Top" />
</DockPanel>
</Expander>
<DockPanel Grid.Row="2" Grid.ColumnSpan="2">
... some buttons
</DockPanel>
</Grid>
</Window>
I used SizeToContent because I got a text box on the bottom wrapped in an Expander, which shall expanded on demand, and actually therefore my main window needs to resize. This actually works fine.
The problem is though the ListView's Height isn't the max height on start-up wherefore I got that "auto-resize" effect.
How can I set the ListView's hight to the max of the parents height to avoid this effect?
Another, more general issue. I think avoiding static layout parameters (static values for hight/width) is nice, but I got the feeling I'm loosing some control over my UI controls.
I recognized, resizeing my main window manually in height, it "jumps" by the 150 height of the DockPanel wrapped by the Expander on the bottom, anyway to avoid this?
What is the best pratice in dynamic UI Layout? I explored DockPanel beeing more dynamically in sizing to the surounding contorls than a StackPanel. But I guess thats not everything.

I think your issue is with your Grid definitions
<Grid>
<Grid.RowDefinitions>
<RowDefinition Height="2*"/>
<RowDefinition Height="*" />
<RowDefinition Height="*" />
</Grid.RowDefinitions>
...
</Grid>
This means that the top row is going to be twice the size of rows 2 and 3, so the top row will only take up 50% of your space while your bottom two rows each take up 25% space.
If you want the top row to take up all available space, make sure it is the only * size row, and set the other rows to Auto so they will take up whatever space they need.
<Grid>
<Grid.RowDefinitions>
<RowDefinition Height="*"/>
<RowDefinition Height="Auto" />
<RowDefinition Height="Auto" />
</Grid.RowDefinitions>
...
</Grid>

ScrollViewer in ItemsControl - ScrollBar not shown but working

This is not your average "My ScrollViewer isn't working" question...
Assume a window with a grid. The sizes of column 0 and row 1 are set to Auto, column 1 and row 0 are set to *. (important)
In cell [0, 0] there is an ItemsControl with a Template with a StackPanel inside a ScrollViewer inside a Grid. The reason is simple: Show a scroll bar if not all items in the ItemsControl can be displayed. The visibility of the vertical scrollbar is set to Auto (important).
In Cell [1, 1] there is a Button that displays its width.
If the window is too small too display all items in the ItemsControl this will lead to the following:
The scroll bar will be there but it is not visible. It is working, because I can scroll using the mouse wheel. The reason seems to be that the grid column in which the ItemsControl is contained is not automatically extended to make space for the scrollbar.
If I change (nearly) any of the parameters, the scroll bar is displayed as expected and the second column is reduced in size. Can anyone explain this odd behavior?
Additional Info:
The following parameter changes will lead to the scrollbar becoming visible:
Changing size of column 0 to *
Changing size of column 1 to Auto
Changing size of row 1 to *
Removing the Button.
Moving the Button to [0, 1] or [1, 0]
Manually setting the width of the ItemsControl.
Setting the VerticalScrollBarVisibility of the ScrollViewer in the ItemsControl to Visible.
However, changing the button in [1, 1] to something else, e.g. another ItemsControl doesn't change the strange behavior, so it has nothing to with the button. Furthermore, changing the width of the Button to something that is smaller than the second column, also doesn't remove that behavior.
Complete sample code for reproduction:
<Window x:Class="WpfApplication4.MainWindow"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
Title="MainWindow" Height="343" Width="253">
<Grid>
<Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<ColumnDefinition Width="Auto" />
<ColumnDefinition Width="*" />
</Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<Grid.RowDefinitions>
<RowDefinition Height="*" />
<RowDefinition Height="Auto" />
</Grid.RowDefinitions>
<ItemsControl>
<ItemsControl.Template>
<ControlTemplate>
<Grid>
<Grid.RowDefinitions>
<RowDefinition Height="*" />
</Grid.RowDefinitions>
<ScrollViewer VerticalScrollBarVisibility="Auto">
<StackPanel IsItemsHost="True" />
</ScrollViewer>
</Grid>
</ControlTemplate>
</ItemsControl.Template>
<ItemsControl.Items>
<Button Content="Column1" Height="500" />
</ItemsControl.Items>
</ItemsControl>
<Button Content="{Binding ActualWidth, RelativeSource={RelativeSource Self}}"
Grid.Column="1" Grid.Row="1" />
</Grid>
</Window>

Looks like it might be a known bug in WPF. This question deals with a ListBox's ScrollViewer, but I think the principal is the same.
As an alternative, you could add something behind the ScrollViewer that has it's width bound to the ScrollViewer's ActualWidth, which will force the column to draw the correct size
<Grid>
<Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<ColumnDefinition Width="Auto" />
<ColumnDefinition Width="*" />
</Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<Grid.RowDefinitions>
<RowDefinition Height="*" />
<RowDefinition Height="Auto" />
</Grid.RowDefinitions>
<ScrollViewer x:Name="Test" Grid.Row="0" Grid.Column="0"
VerticalScrollBarVisibility="Auto">
<Button Content="Column1" Height="500" />
</ScrollViewer>
<Grid Grid.Column="0" Grid.Row="0"
Width="{Binding ElementName=Test, Path=ActualWidth}" />
<Button Content="{Binding ActualWidth, RelativeSource={RelativeSource Self}}"
Grid.Column="1" Grid.Row="1" />
</Grid>

ListBox is contained in a ScrollViewer

I would like the ScrollViewer of the page to be displayed when all the information cannot be shown on the screen (i.e. resize the window)
However, the ListBox here doesn't get a scroll and it gets sketch till the bottom of the page unless i set it to have a MaxSize. Is there a way to give priority to the ListBox to display its ScrollViewer before the one I have made?
what i have right now
http://i.imgur.com/bEJcz.png
what i would like to achieve, but i used a MaxHeight for the ListBox here.
Here's some my markup:
<ScrollViewer HorizontalAlignment="Stretch" VerticalScrollBarVisibility="Auto" Name="scrollViewer1" VerticalAlignment="Stretch" >
<Grid>
<Grid.RowDefinitions>
<RowDefinition Height="Auto"/>
<RowDefinition Height="Auto"/>
</Grid.RowDefinitions>
<ComboBox Grid.Row="0" Width="120" HorizontalAlignment="Left"></ComboBox>
<ListBox HorizontalAlignment="Left" Name="listBox" Width="120" Grid.Row="1" <!--MaxHeight="500"--> />
</Grid>
</ScrollViewer>

I know this question is old, but I had exactly the same problem and came up with a bit of a hack as a fix but its better than having the question unsolved.
Much of what I've read states that using things like StackPanel is bad in this case because the panel grows to fit the elements it holds. Normally this works fine because you can stick the StackPanel into a Grid and set the MinHeight and MaxHeight of the column/row and lock the controls in place. As soon as the ScrollView is added this kind of goes to hell. The answer above describes the problem well, but lacks a solution.
I tried many different types of Panels instead of a StackPanel but they all yield the same result. I decided that since my ListBox sits inside of a Grid, I needed to bind the MaxHeight of that grid location to some other value in the control to keep the ListBox from growing. The problem with this is that there is no element that you can bind straight to and get the exact height your looking for.
Enter the hack:
My height was just a tiny bit too big creating a weird always offscreen ListBox (in fact 36 pixels too large, which was the height of the label above the ListBox). So I implemented the IValueConverter:
class HeightToAdjustedHeightConverter : IValueConverter
{
public object Convert(object value, Type targetType, object parameter, CultureInfo culture)
{
var height = (double) value - 33d;
return height < 360d ? 360d : height;
//360 being the minimum height allowed for the listbox
}
public object ConvertBack(object value, Type targetType, object parameter, CultureInfo culture)
{
return null;
}
}
All I did after that was include it as a converter for the binding on MaxHeight (Note you need to name your usercontrol and bind to its x:Name):
<Grid Grid.Column="0"
Grid.Row="1"
VerticalAlignment="Top"
ClipToBounds="True"
MaxHeight="{Binding ElementName=AdHocUserControl, Path=ActualHeight, Converter={StaticResource HeightToAdjustedHeightConverter}}">
The only other alternative I can think of is to extend one of the panels and try to play with its growth behavior. I admit this is a hack, but it will work.

Try this
<ScrollViewer HorizontalAlignment="Stretch" VerticalScrollBarVisibility="Auto" Name="scrollViewer1" VerticalAlignment="Stretch" >
<Grid>
<Grid.RowDefinitions>
<RowDefinition Height="Auto"/>
<RowDefinition Height="*"/>
</Grid.RowDefinitions>
<ComboBox Grid.Row="0" Width="120" HorizontalAlignment="Left" ></ComboBox>
<ListBox HorizontalAlignment="Left" Name="listBox" Width="120" VerticalAllignment = "Top" Grid.Row="1"/>
</Grid>
</ScrollViewer>
Or you can also try this
<Grid >
<Grid.RowDefinitions>
<RowDefinition Height="Auto"/>
<RowDefinition Height="*"/>
</Grid.RowDefinitions>
<ComboBox Grid.Row="0" Width="120" HorizontalAlignment="Left" ></ComboBox>
<ListBox HorizontalAlignment="Left" Name="listBox" VerticalAlignment= "Top" Width="120" Grid.Row="1" ScrollViewer.VerticalScrollBarVisibility="Auto"/>
</Grid>

You have a logical inconsistency in your definitions.
The requirement as you put it: "I would like the scrollviewer of the page to be displayed when all the information cannot be shown on the screen [without using MaxHeight]" - a question arises: "How do you determine that 'all the information cannot be shown on the screen'?" or "At what point the ListBox should stop growing and show the scroll bar?".
From a WPF\Silverlight layout management logic, it does exactly what you want - when the sum of height of list box plus the height of the combo box is greater than the ViewportHeight of the scroll viewer - you get a scroll bar. That is possible only when you allow the ListBox to grow to it's desired size without scroll bars.

Dont set the MaxHeight on the ListBox, just use the star '*' notation in your RowDefinitions to get the relative sizing between your 2 controls correct.

Another solution:
<ScrollViewer HorizontalAlignment="Stretch" VerticalScrollBarVisibility="Auto" Name="scrollViewer1" VerticalAlignment="Stretch" >
<Grid>
<Grid.RowDefinitions>
<RowDefinition Height="Auto"/>
<RowDefinition Height="*"/>
</Grid.RowDefinitions>
<ComboBox Grid.Row="0" Width="120" HorizontalAlignment="Left"></ComboBox>
<ScrollViewer x:Name="scrollViewer" Grid.Row="1" ScrollViewer.VerticalScrollBarVisibility="Disabled" >
<ListBox HorizontalAlignment="Left" Name="listBox" Width="120" Grid.Row="1" MaxHeight="{Binding ActualHeight, ElementName=scrollViewer}" ScrollViewer.VerticalScrollBarVisibility="Auto"/>
</ScrollViewer>
</Grid>