Is the use of DataTemplates imperative for MVVM?

Recently i got explained that MVVM can only be done "the right way" if i use DataTemplates. Is this truely the case?

I'd say its a good idea to use DataTemplates if you want highly reusable "Views".

But if i am going to develop an appl开发者_如何学Goication that has, say, five to ten different pages, and there is very little to none reuse of specific controls (like the "Person" view is only used once, and its highly likely that this requirement doenst change), why cant i simply create a usercontrol and put that directly into the code?

Am i missing some important core principle of MVVM here?

Main selling point of MVVM is separation of View from the ViewModel (so that VM doesnt know about View) by using powerful Binding feature of WPF.

DataTemplates are a just another feature which allows you to represent data in different way. As you have said, if you dont have reusable DataTemplate then dont create one, even if you do make sure it resides in the View's Resources, you can share it wider group if you wanted do.

using UserControl can be useful where you need to do something extra (apart from simple representing data), for example, some complex validation or extra commands/buttons

I dont think MVVM and DataTemplates are related in the same context.

There is no special needing for DataTemplate, you have a view and a viewmodel that cooperates with databindings and events. The MVVM goal in WPF is to remove the code from the view to achieve a real presentation only view, and not a messy code behind store. Having the ViewModel agnostic from the view is another goal, even if not always achieved.