Cannot add binding inside DataTemplate to a property outside of it

Hello. I’m having a problem with binding to my ViewModel’s property inside DataTemplate in the View.

Consider the following example: I have a View and a ViewModel. In the View I have a button and an ItemsControl with defined DataTemplate. I assigned a Name to a View to make it possible to reach it’s DataContext from the DataTemplate. Here’s the code for binding outside of the DataTemplate <Button Command="{Binding ElementName=Root,Path=DataContext.DeleteCommand}">Delete</Button> where the Root is name of my View.

It works when placed outside of the DataTemplate, inside it won’t work.

[derekantrican]

EDIT: I figured out what my problem was. Apparently, overriding ContextMenu.ItemTemplate does nothing. So instead I used this:

<Style Selector="MenuItem">
  <Setter Property="Template" Value="{StaticResource MenuItemPanelTemplate}"/>
  <Style.Resources>
    <ControlTemplate x:Key="MenuItemPanelTemplate">
      <Button Padding="0" BorderThickness="0" Background="Transparent"
              Command="{Binding $parent[Window].DataContext.AddItemToToolTips}">
        <TextBlock Text="{Binding .}" Margin="5"/>
      </Button>
    </ControlTemplate>
  </Style.Resources>
</Style>

What is the proper way to do this in 0.9.12? I’ve been trying a bunch of variations on this (binding DataContext to window’s DataContext, binding to the DataContext.Command with the element name of the parent, and the special # and $ usages mentioned here) with no luck. Here’s the section of my code where I’m trying to bind the inner Button’s command to a command on the same DataContext as the outer ContextMenu. Any suggestions?

<Button Margin="5">
  <Button.ContextMenu>
    <ContextMenu Items="{Binding MenuItems}" SelectedItem="{Binding SelectedMenuItem}">
      <ContextMenu.ItemTemplate>
        <DataTemplate>
          <Button Padding="0" BorderThickness="0" Background="Transparent" Command="{Binding $parent[ContextMenu].DataContext.AddItemToToolTips}">
            <TextBlock Text="{Binding .}"/>
          </Button>
        </DataTemplate>
      </ContextMenu.ItemTemplate>
    </ContextMenu>
  </Button.ContextMenu>
</Button>

[FoggyFinder]

Seems like a bug. Workaround:

 Command="{Binding $parent[ItemsControl].DataContext.DeleteCommand}"

0.8.0 isn’t a recent though.