I believe this to be a bug in WPF (v4.0 if it matters), but it is late, and maybe I'm missing something.
I am binding to a fake example for illustrative purposes:
<x:Array x:Key="SampleItems" Type="sys:String">
<sys:String>Foo</sys:String>
<sys:String>Bar</sys:String>
<sys:String>Baz</sys:String>
</x:Array>
This works and displays three tabs with the same header and content:
<TabControl ItemsSource="{StaticResource SampleItems}">
<TabControl.ItemContainerStyle>
<Style TargetType="TabItem">
<Setter Property="Header" Value="{Binding}" />
<Setter Property="Content" Value="{Binding}" />
</Style>
</TabControl.ItemContainerStyle>
</TabControl>
However, this throws an exception with the message "Error 10 Specified element is already the logical child of another element. Disconnect it first.":
<TabControl ItemsSource="{StaticResource SampleItems}">
<TabControl.ItemContainerStyle>
<Style TargetType="TabItem">
<Setter Property="Header">
<Setter.Value>
<!-- Anything here causes this problem. -->
<TextBlock Text="{Binding}"/>
</Setter.Value>
</Setter>
<Setter Property="Content" Value="{Binding}" />
</Style>
</TabControl.ItemContainerStyle>
</TabControl>
It is important to note that this is reproducible with any text in either TextBlock. In fact, I can replace the header TextBlock with any XAML and get this message. I'm at a loss to explain this. Any ideas, or is this just a bug?
The problem appears in the VS designer, but here is a portion of the relevant stack trace at runtime as well:
at System.Windows.FrameworkElement.ChangeLogicalParent(DependencyObject newParent)
at System.Windows.FrameworkElement.AddLogicalChild(Object child)
at System.Windows.Controls.HeaderedContentControl.OnHeaderChanged(Object oldHeader, Object newHeader)
at System.Windows.Controls.HeaderedContentControl.OnHeaderChanged(DependencyObject d, DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs e)
at System.Windows.DependencyObject.OnPropertyChanged(DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs e)
at System.Windows.FrameworkElement.OnPropertyChanged(DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs e)
at System.Windows.DependencyObject.NotifyPropertyChange(DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs args)
at System.Windows.DependencyObject.UpdateEffectiveValue(EntryIndex entryIndex, DependencyProperty dp, PropertyMetadata metadata, EffectiveValueEntry oldEntry, EffectiveValueEntry& newEntry, Boolean coerceWithDeferredReference, Boolean coerceWithCurrentValue, OperationType operationType)
at System.Windows.StyleHelper.ApplyStyleOrTemplateValue(FrameworkObject fo, DependencyProperty dp)
at System.Windows.StyleHelper.InvalidateContainerDependents(DependencyObject container, FrugalStructList`1& exclusionContainerDependents, FrugalStructList`1& oldContainerDependents, FrugalStructList`1& newContainerDependents)
at System.Windows.StyleHelper.DoStyleInvalidations(FrameworkElement fe, FrameworkContentElement fce, Style oldStyle, Style newStyle)
at System.Windows.StyleHelper.UpdateStyleCache(FrameworkElement fe, FrameworkContentElement fce, Style oldStyle, Style newStyle, Style& styleCache)
at System.Windows.FrameworkElement.OnStyleChanged(DependencyObject d, DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs e)
at System.Windows.DependencyObject.OnPropertyChanged(DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs e)
at System.Windows.FrameworkElement.OnPropertyChanged(DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs e)
at System.Windows.DependencyObject.NotifyPropertyChange(DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs args)
at System.Windows.DependencyObject.UpdateEffectiveValue(EntryIndex entryIndex, DependencyProperty dp, PropertyMetadata metadata, EffectiveValueEntry oldEntry, EffectiveValueEntry& newEntry, Boolean coerceWithDeferredReference, Boolean coerceWithCurrentValue, OperationType operationType)
at System.Windows.DependencyObject.SetValueCommon(DependencyProperty dp, Object value, PropertyMetadata metadata, Boolean coerceWithDeferredReference, Boolean coerceWithCurrentValue, OperationType operationType, Boolean isInternal)
at System.Windows.DependencyObject.SetValue(DependencyProperty dp, Object value)
at System.Windows.Controls.ItemsControl.ApplyItemContainerStyle(DependencyObject container, Object item)
at System.Windows.Controls.ItemsControl.MS.Internal.Controls.IGeneratorHost.PrepareItemContainer(DependencyObject container, Object item)
at System.Windows.Controls.ItemContainerGenerator.System.Windows.Controls.Primitives.IItemContainerGenerator.PrepareItemContainer(DependencyObject container)
at System.Windows.Controls.Panel.GenerateChildren()