I am working in WPF .Net 6 I have a Master.exe application and many DLLs, each of which contains functionality for every entity: Customers.dll | Bookings.dll | Vehicles.dll etc. In the each DLL I have WPF/XAML windows, view models, models, etc like a mini complete and isolated application.
I have also created a Base.dll that has the abstract classes that the models and viewmodels inherit. This works fine for a bit of shared code among all the dlls.
Similarly I want a one stop shop for uniform styling across all of the XAML windows.
The question now is; can I have XAML resources and styles in the Base.dll that are used by all the XAML windows in the other dlls?
Sure. Create a WPF Custom Control Library project and define your common XAML resources in one or several resource dictionaries in this project, e.g.:
<!-- Dictionary1.xaml in WpfControlLibrary1.dll: -->
<ResourceDictionary xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml">
<SolidColorBrush x:Key="CommonBrush" Color="Red" />
</ResourceDictionary>
Then add a reference to this project from the project where you intend to use the common resources and merge the resource dictionary:
<ResourceDictionary>
<Style x:Key="ButtonStyle" TargetType="Button">
<Setter Property="Foreground" Value="{StaticResource CommonBrush}" />
</Style>
<ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries>
<ResourceDictionary Source="pack://application:,,,/WpfControlLibrary1;component/Dictionary1.xaml" />
</ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries>
</ResourceDictionary>
Related
I have a class library where I'm defining (basically extending) some controls such as TextBox, Button etc. I'm also using MaterialDesignInXamlToolkit which is used to stylize controls. So my class library will essentially have controls with my own extended functionality and they will look like styles defined in MaterialDesignInXamlToolkit.
Now my question is, since I don't have App.xaml in class library project, where should I write the XAML code to import the styles of MaterialDesignInXamlToolkit, so that they will be applied to my extended controls? What is the place in class library where you can specify styles which are globally accessible and are applied to all the controls?
I searched about this but didn't find what I want. Please help.
Update: Here is my code (not working).
MaterialTextBox.cs
using System.Windows.Controls;
namespace MaterialControls
{
public class MaterialTextBox : TextBox
{
... some extra features here (no XAML file for this class, just this .cs)...
}
}
Themes.xaml (this will contain all the global styles)
<ResourceDictionary
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
xmlns:local="clr-namespace:MaterialControls">
<ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries>
<ResourceDictionary Source="pack://application:,,,/MaterialDesignThemes.Wpf;component/Themes/MaterialDesignTheme.Light.xaml" />
<ResourceDictionary Source="pack://application:,,,/MaterialDesignThemes.Wpf;component/Themes/MaterialDesignTheme.Defaults.xaml" />
<ResourceDictionary>
<Style TargetType="local:MaterialTextBox">
<Setter Property="FontWeight" Value="Bold"/>
<Setter Property="Height" Value="100"/>
</Style>
</ResourceDictionary>
</ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries>
</ResourceDictionary>
Now I want these styles to apply to MaterialTextBox so that wherever I use it, it should come with this look and featues out of the box.
What is the place in class library where you can specify styles which are globally accessible and are applied to all the controls?
There is none really. In a single resource dictionary, you could use <ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries> to import resources that the resources that you define in the resource Dictionary itself are based on, e.g.:
<ResourceDictionary xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
xmlns:local="clr-namespace:WpfApplication8">
<ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries>
<ResourceDictionary Source="pack://application:,,,/MaterialDesignThemes.Wpf;component/Themes/MaterialDesignTheme.Light.xaml" />
</ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries>
<Style TargetType="...">
<!-- style based on MaterialDesignTheme -->
</Style>
</ResourceDictionary>
But there is no concept of an App.xaml or some kind of "global resource cache" in a class library.
Found the solution.
I was using Class Library project where I actually should have used WPF Custom Control Library project. Here project type is important otherwise you will have to play with .csproj file to make it work.
So now created a new WPF Custom Control Library project (New Project > Windows > Classic Desktop > WPF Custom Control Library template). This project has Themes\Generic.xaml file which will be used as a default location for styles.
There is no concept for a dictionary in the assembly which is automaticaly merged into app.xaml. But for a default control style there is one.
To assign a default style set the DefaultStyleKeyProperty for the control.
static MaterialTextBox() {
DefaultStyleKeyProperty.OverrideMetadata(typeof(MaterialTextBox), new FrameworkPropertyMetadata(typeof(MaterialTextBox)));
}
and in Themes\Generic.xaml add the style:
<Style TargetType="{x:Type local:MaterialTextBox}">
...
</Style>
Do not merge Themes\Generic.xaml in your App.xaml
do only add default styles for controls created in this assembly.
The resources in Themes\Generic.xaml are not globaly available, but through the DefaultStyleKeyProperty the resource is found and assigned to the control.
Hello my team and I recently started developing an win10 uwp application. Application will have a lot of views and components so heavy use of styles is expected, so we need to organize our styles through file/folder structure we did this using following structure (unfortunately I cannot embed images yet see the link):
Anyways my Resource.xaml merges all other dictionaries as following:
<ResourceDictionary xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation" xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml">
<ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries>
<ResourceDictionary Source="/Resources/Colors.xaml" />
<ResourceDictionary Source="/Resources/Icons.xaml" />
<ResourceDictionary Source="/Resources/Fonts.xaml" />
<ResourceDictionary Source="/Resources/Converters.xaml" />
<ResourceDictionary Source="/Resources/Buttons.xaml" />
<ResourceDictionary Source="/Resources/RadioButton.xaml" />
</ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries>
</ResourceDictionary>
And in my App.xaml I reference this dictionary:
<Application.Resources>
<ResourceDictionary>
<ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries>
<ResourceDictionary Source="Resources/Resources.xaml" />
</ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries>
<vm:ViewModelLocator x:Key="Locator" d:IsDataSource="True" />
</ResourceDictionary>
</Application.Resources>
Now I managed to find the source of the problem in my RadioButton.xaml I reference a brush defined in Colors.xaml using StaticResource lookup:
<Setter Property="Foreground" Value="{StaticResource TopMenuTextBrush}" />
If I remove this line everything will start but with it I get following exception:
Exception {Windows.UI.Xaml.Markup.XamlParseException: The text associated with this error code could not be found.
Failed to assign to property
'Windows.UI.Xaml.ResourceDictionary.Source' because the type
'Windows.Foundation.String' cannot be assigned to the type
'Windows.Foundation.Uri'. [Line: 28 Position: 37]} System.Exception
{Windows.UI.Xaml.Markup.XamlParseException}
Interesting thing is when I start the app with this line commented and uncomment it visual studio will recognize the brush and apply it correctly, it only breaks on application start.
We used same approach before when developing WPF, so I'm thinking it might have to do with something regarding application deployment.
All help is greatly appreciated.
Exception = {Windows.UI.Xaml.Markup.XamlParseException: The text associated with this error code could not be found.
The problem is that you have used wrong ResourceDictionary source . I found the Resources.xaml and other xaml file stored in the same level directory in your screenshot. So you could not declare the parent directory of these xaml files within source. Please modify ResourceDictionary like the following
<ResourceDictionary Source="Colors.xaml"/>
For more you could refer to ResourceDictionary and XAML resource references.
i am Using the Fluent-Ribbons to create my view in wpf.
to have a better organisation of my code i wanted to put the different RibbonTabItems into their own files.
The problem is:
the designer does not show the content of the ribbontab.
I only see the a blank page.
Is there a way to make the RibbonTab visible in the designer?
If anyone else lands here from google, I was having this situation where the ribbon was not only invisible in the designer, but also not showing at runtime. After spending some time, I found that you have import generic fluent ribbon theme resources into your Window or Application Resources section, like this:
<Window.Resources>
<ResourceDictionary>
<ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries>
<ResourceDictionary Source="pack://application:,,,/Fluent;component/Themes/Generic.xaml" />
</ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries>
</ResourceDictionary>
</Window.Resources>
After this my ribbon started showing in the designer as well as at runtime.
You can also use other themes in the same way. Just override the generic theme like this:
<Window.Resources>
<ResourceDictionary>
<ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries>
<ResourceDictionary Source="pack://application:,,,/Fluent;component/Themes/Generic.xaml" />
<!-- change "Cobalt" to the color you want -->
<ResourceDictionary Source="pack://application:,,,/Fluent;component/Themes/Themes/Dark.Cobalt.xaml" />
</ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries>
</ResourceDictionary>
</Window.Resources>
Hope this helps someone down the road.
Credit to the project documentation at github.
We migrate from WinForms to WPF... slowly =)
No we use WPF User Controls with ElementHost.
Is it possible to define application wide resources in this context? In pure WPF Application.Resources stands for it. But there's no WPF App when integrating with WinForms.
You can use a WPF application object even if your project is a WinForms one with a few separate WPF forms or controls. The object won't be precreated for you, but if you manually create it, simply by new App() (or even without a derived class, new System.Windows.Application()), everything in your project will see it.
You can create a common ResourceDictionary and add it to the Resources of your UserControls. That way you just have to change your Styles in one location.
Dictionary1.xaml
<ResourceDictionary xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml">
</ResourceDictionary>
and add it to your UserControl using MergedDictionarys
<UserControl.Resources>
<ResourceDictionary>
<ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries>
<ResourceDictionary Source="Dictionary1.xaml" />
</ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries>
</ResourceDictionary>
</UserControl.Resources>
or just add it to the Control's Resources like this
<UserControl.Resources>
<ResourceDictionary Source="Dictionary1.xaml"/>
</UserControl.Resources>
I have a prism application and various modules. I am wondering where is the best place to locate resources such as styles, brush, controltemplates, datatemplates?
Should I make one single resource dictionary and put everything there? Should each module have their own resources? Or each view? I would like to follow the Prism goal of keeping everything modular, but also I dont see the point in re-declaring the same resources in every module...
I develop application with Prism, and I use technique very close to described in Prism's manual. There is YourApplication.Infrastructure project, where you usually place all your shared interfaces etc. So:
I just add project YourApplication.Resources
Create there folder Themes
Create separate xaml file in Themes folder for each group of resources (like Generic.WPF.xaml for standard WPF controls' styles, Generic.Brushes.xaml for brushes etc.)
Create file Themes\Generic.xaml (exactly with this name, it will add huge benefits in the future) with content like
<ResourceDictionary xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation" xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml">
<ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries>
<ResourceDictionary Source="Generic.Brushes.xaml"/>
<ResourceDictionary Source="Generic.WPF.xaml"/>
</ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries>
</ResourceDictionary>
Now you can add those resources in any module (you have separate project for it, right?) by adding reference to YourApplication.Resources to that project and adding to your view's xaml:
<UserControl.Resources>
<ResourceDictionary>
<ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries>
<ResourceDictionary Source="pack://application:,,,/YourApplication.Resources;component/Themes/Generic.xaml"/>
</ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries>
<!-- Put your not shared resource here -->
</ResourceDictionary>
</UserControl.Resources>
I don't know, maybe this way has some problems, but it works, and works well for me. If anybody can comment somehow this way (pros/cons) - I will be very happy to hear it!
Application-wide resources I usually put in a ResourceDictionary, which is added to either App.xaml or StartupWindow.xaml
Resources for a specific View are usually located with the View. For example, a UserControl that is being used for a CalendarView will contain any custom resources for the Calendar, such as calendar-specific brushes, styles, templates, etc.
I usually don't see a reason to make module-wide resources, but if I ever do I'd have a ResourceDictionary for the Module which can be loaded into the app's merged dictionaries at runtime, or included in individual Views in the Module.
I would like to share some new knowledges. I am using #chopikadze approach. And it is really cool approach. Thanks to you!
However, if you do not want write every time for each control these piece of code:
<UserControl.Resources>
<ResourceDictionary>
<ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries>
<ResourceDictionary Source="pack://application:,,,/YourApplication.Resources;component/Themes/Generic.xaml"/>
</ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries>
<!-- Put your not shared resource here -->
</ResourceDictionary>
</UserControl.Resources>
Then you can just declare <ResourceDictionary/> in App.xaml of your Bootstrapper like that:
<Application.Resources>
<ResourceDictionary Source="pack://application:,,,/YourApplication.Resources;component/Themes/Generic.xaml"/>
</Application.Resources>