When ItemsControl.ItemContainerStyle is specified together with ItemsControl.ItemTemplateSelector, the later is ignored

Question

I have a ComboBox in which I specify the ItemTemplateSelector property.

It works properly.

Once I specify the ItemContainerStyle property for the ComboBox too (in addition to the specified ItemTemplateSelector property), the ItemTemplateSelector is ignored (the breakpoint in

public override DataTemplate SelectTemplate

is not hit). What is the reason for that?

It's important to mention the I override the ControlTemplate for the ComboBoxItem in that ItemContainerStyle via

but it is the default WPF template of ComboBoxItem (I've only changed colors).

Once I specify in this default template of ComboBoxItem:

ContentTemplateSelector="{TemplateBinding ContentControl.ContentTemplateSelector}"

for the ContentPresenter element within the default control template, the ItemTemplateSelector starts working again. But how can it be that this

ContentTemplateSelector="{TemplateBinding ContentControl.ContentTemplateSelector}"

it not specified in the default WPF ComboBoxItem Control template? How does it work without it when I don't specify the ItemContainerStyle for the combobox itself (I mean, without me specifying it, the ComboBoxItem has the default template that does not consist of this line)?

EDIT: I've managed to prepare a short POC in which this issue is reproduced - I have only 3 classes in this POC:

MainWindow.xaml

MainWindow.xaml.cs:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Collections.ObjectModel;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using System.Windows;
using System.Windows.Controls;
using System.Windows.Data;
using System.Windows.Documents;
using System.Windows.Input;
using System.Windows.Media;
using System.Windows.Media.Imaging;
using System.Windows.Navigation;
using System.Windows.Shapes;

namespace WpfApp4
{
    /// 
    /// Interaction logic for MainWindow.xaml
    /// 
    public partial class MainWindow : Window
    {
        public MainWindow()
        {
            InitializeComponent();
            this.DataContext = this;
            this.Items = new ObservableCollection() {"D1", "D2", "D3"};
        }

        public ObservableCollection Items { get; set; }
    }
}

TemplateSelector:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using System.Windows;
using System.Windows.Controls;
using System.Windows.Media;

namespace WpfApp4
{


    public class TemplateSelector : DataTemplateSelector
    {

        public DataTemplate SelectedTemplate { get; set; }


        public DataTemplate ListItemTemplate { get; set; }

        public override DataTemplate SelectTemplate(object serviceModel, DependencyObject container)
        {
            var itemControl = container;

            while (itemControl != null && !(itemControl is ComboBoxItem || itemControl is ComboBox))
                itemControl = VisualTreeHelper.GetParent(itemControl);

            return itemControl is ComboBoxItem ? ListItemTemplate : SelectedTemplate;
        }
    }
}

With the current POC code, the DropdownItemTemplate DataTemplate is ignored (I only get there once with the ContentPresenter of the ComboBox itself, but not the actual ComboBoxItems)

Once I remove the

ItemContainerStyle="{StaticResource ComboBoxItemStyle}"

from the ComboBox, it all works perfectly,

public override DataTemplate SelectTemplate

is hit both for the ComboBox itself and also for its ComboBoxItems.

I wonder why adding this ItemContainerStyle property makes the TemplateSelector to stop working properly.

Accepted Answer

If ItemContainerStyle is defined, we need to use ContentTemplateSelector in ContentPresenter with DataTemplateSelector.
According to the display logic of ContentPresenter

If the ContentTemplateSelector property on the ContentPresenter is set, the ContentPresenter applies the appropriate DataTemplate to the Content property and the resulting UIElement and its child elements, if any, are displayed.

ContentPresenter.ContentTemplateSelector Property：

Gets or sets the DataTemplateSelector, which allows the application writer to provide custom logic for choosing the template that is used to display the content of the control.

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When ItemsControl.ItemContainerStyle is specified together with ItemsControl.ItemTemplateSelector, the later is ignored

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