Nesting ResourceDictionaries with MergedDictionaries in UWP - c#

I'm trying to split up a ResourceDictionary containing styles for multiple controls in our current UWP application. The file has grown to about 3000 lines and has become a living hell to manage, so I decided to split it up into smaller, more specific ResourceDictionaries and include them using MergedDictionaries.
App.xaml
<common:BootStrapper x:Class="Asteria.Ion.App"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
xmlns:common="using:Template10.Common"
xmlns:styles="using:Asteria.Ion.Styles"
RequestedTheme="Dark">
<common:BootStrapper.Resources>
<ResourceDictionary>
<ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries>
<ResourceDictionary Source="Styles\Custom.xaml" />
<ResourceDictionary Source="Styles\CustomControls.xaml" />
</ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries>
</ResourceDictionary>
</common:BootStrapper.Resources>
</common:BootStrapper>
CustomControls.xaml contains references to other ResourceDictionaries.
<ResourceDictionary
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
xmlns:controls="using:Template10.Controls"
xmlns:behaviors="using:Template10.Behaviors"
xmlns:interactivity="using:Microsoft.Xaml.Interactivity"
xmlns:local="using:Asteria.Ion.Styles">
<ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries>
<ResourceDictionary Source="Shared.xaml" />
<ResourceDictionary Source="Templates.xaml" />
<ResourceDictionary Source="ComponentBlock.xaml" />
<ResourceDictionary Source="FlowAgent.xaml" />
<ResourceDictionary Source="Planning.xaml" />
<ResourceDictionary Source="ProjectDialog.xaml" />
<ResourceDictionary Source="Inspector.xaml" /-->
</ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries>
</ResourceDictionary>
This will always produce the following exception:
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: 12 Position: 37]
I've tried changing the source URI numerous times, but it keeps giving this error. Only commenting out all the ResourceDictionary elements in CustomControls.xaml helps. But then I get exceptions concerning missing styles of course.
Some URI formats I've tried:
/Styles/Shared.xaml
Styles/Shared.xaml
Styles\Shared.xaml
.\Shared.xaml
ms-appx:///Styles/Shared.xaml
None of them work.
Any advice would be appreciated.

In the end it had nothing to do with the URI structure, but with a combination of ThemeDictionaries and MergedDictionaries.
What was working before:
In App.Resources:
<ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries>
<ResourceDictionary Source="Styles/Themes.xaml" />
<ResourceDictionary Source="Styles/CustomControls.xaml" />
</ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries>
Where Themes.xaml contained ThemeDictionaries and CustomControls.xaml contained <Styles> ( a lot of them ).
After splitting CustomControls.xaml, it no longer contained any styles, but only MergedDictionaries.
Looking something like this:
<ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries>
<ResourceDictionary Source="ControlStyles/ProjectDialog.xaml" />
<ResourceDictionary Source="ControlStyles/Inspector.xaml" />
</ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries>
Inspector.xaml contained a Style using {ThemeResource} and it appears that's where it went wrong. The solution/work-around in the end was to include a MergedDictionaries with a references to Themes.xaml in Inspector.xaml.
Now if anyone can explain the exact reasoning behind this solution, I'd be much obliged.

From the error message,XAML Compiler failed to translate the Source Property of nested ResourceDictionaries. The easiest and fastest workaround is to add the nested ResourceDictionaries in App.Xaml.cs:
protected override void OnLaunched(LaunchActivatedEventArgs e)
{
...
var applicationMergedDics = Application.Current.Resources.MergedDictionaries;
applicationMergedDics[0].MergedDictionaries.Add(new ResourceDictionary() { Source = new Uri("ms-appx:///Styles/Shared.xaml") });
applicationMergedDics[0].MergedDictionaries.Add(new ResourceDictionary() { Source = new Uri("ms-appx:///Styles/Templates.xaml") });
...
rootFrame.Navigate(typeof(MainPage), e.Arguments);
}
Notes: Don't forget to remove the MergedDictionaries in CustomControls.xaml. And the error will be gone.

Related

ResourceDictionary not found in design time

I have some shared resources that I have bundled within a resource dictionary. The following code works as expected (The resources are loaded at design time and intellisense works perfect.):
Alternative 1:
<UserControl.Resources>
<ResourceDictionary>
<ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries>
<ResourceDictionary Source="pack://application:,,,/MyCompany.Helpers.UI;component/Resources/SharedResources.xaml"></ResourceDictionary>
</ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries>
</ResourceDictionary>
</UserControl.Resources>
At this point I changed the code to:
Alternative 2:
<UserControl.Resources>
<ResourceDictionary>
<ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries>
<ResourceDictionary Source="{x:Static appCode:DesignResource.GlobalResource}"></ResourceDictionary>
</ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries>
</ResourceDictionary>
</UserControl.Resources>
public static class DesignResource
{
public static Uri GlobalResource
{
get { return new Uri("pack://application:,,,/MyCompany.Helpers.UI;component/Resources/SharedResources.xaml"); }
}
}
Now Intellisense only gives me: "An error occured while finding the resource dictionary". Am I missing something? Why does Alternative 2 not work?

UWP - Reference StaticResource from different style resource dictionary: Failed to assign to property 'Windows.UI.Xaml.ResourceDictionary.Source'

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.

WPF Cannot locate resource

I have a resource file and two views. This views use a resource file
<ResourceDictionary>
<ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries>
<ResourceDictionary Source="/Dictionary1.xaml"/>
</ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries>
</ResourceDictionary>
And it will work while i dont put one view to the another. In this case i get this error
Cannot locate resource 'dictionary1.xaml'
How to fix it?
Use Pack Uri's
<ResourceDictionary>
<ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries>
<ResourceDictionary Source="pack://application:,,,/Assembly_Name;component/Dictionary1.xaml"/>
</ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries>
</ResourceDictionary>
If Dictionary1.xaml in your project's rootpath, remove '/' before Dictionary1
<ResourceDictionary Source="Dictionary1.xaml"/>
Or you can use packuri like :
/yourAssemblyName;component/Dictionary1.xaml

App.OnExit no suitable method found to override when adding ResourceDirectory

I've came across this error, which I couldn't find the solution for. I'm implementing an mvvm application and in main window I'm setting the main DataContext in xaml using a loader:
in App.xaml:
<Application.Resources>
<viewModel:KinectViewModelLoader x:Key="KinectViewModelLoader"/>
</Application.Resources>
In MainWindow.xaml:
<Window x:Class="KinectFittingRoom.MainWindow"
...
DataContext="{Binding KinectViewModel, Source={StaticResource KinectViewModelLoader}}">
...
</Window>
Everything was running well, but now I wanted to add some dynamic resources, so I've created some xaml files containing styles and other elements.
In example:
<ResourceDictionary xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml">
<ModelUIElement3D x:Key="BirthdayHatModel">
...
</ModelUIElement3D>
</ResourceDictionary >
To use them in MainWindow.xaml I've added them to App.xaml file as ResourceDirectory and then my application began to crash.
App.xaml:
<Application x:Class="KinectFittingRoom.App"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
xmlns:viewModel="clr-namespace:KinectFittingRoom.ViewModel"
StartupUri="MainWindow.xaml">
<Application.Resources>
<viewModel:KinectViewModelLoader x:Key="KinectViewModelLoader"/>
<ResourceDictionary x:Key="ResourceDictionary">
<ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries>
<ResourceDictionary Source="Resources/Styles/GlassButton.xaml"/>
<ResourceDictionary Source="Resources/Models/BirthdayHat.xaml"/>
</ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries>
</ResourceDictionary>
</Application.Resources>
</Application>
And now I'm getting an error on App.xaml.cs file saying that KinectFittingRoom.App.OnExit(System.Windows.ExitEventArgs) has no suitable method to override.
My overriden method:
protected override void OnExit(ExitEventArgs e)
{
KinectViewModelLoader.Cleanup();
base.OnExit(e);
}
Mabe someone could explain to me why adding ResourceDirectory node causes my application to throw an error? What can I do to include those resources and avoid such problem? I would appreciate any advice.
I think you need to change two things in your XAML:
In your App.xaml file Move the declaration of your ViewModel inside ResourceDictionary section. Also if possible you should delete x:Key="ResourceDictionary". So now your App.xaml should look like:
<Application x:Class..................>
<Application.Resources>
<ResourceDictionary>
<viewModel:KinectViewModelLoader x:Key="KinectViewModelLoader"/>
<ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries>
<ResourceDictionary Source="Resources/Styles/GlassButton.xaml"/>
<ResourceDictionary Source="Resources/Models/BirthdayHat.xaml"/>
</ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries>
</ResourceDictionary>
</Application.Resources>
</Application>
If after following the above step your program does not work then please follow this step along. Change the DataContext Property of your window like the code shown below:
<Window x:Class="KinectFittingRoom.MainWindow"
DataContext="{StaticResource KinectViewModelLoader}">
...
</Window>
If still your application does not work then change the order of the lines in App.OnExit() as follows:
protected override void OnExit(ExitEventArgs e)
{
base.OnExit(e);
KinectViewModelLoader.Cleanup();
}

How to apply styles to all windows in WPF app?

I have the following App.xaml file:
<Application x:Class="MiniDeviceConfig.App"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
StartupUri="MiniDeviceConfig.xaml">
<Application.Resources>
<ResourceDictionary>
<ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries>
<ResourceDictionary Source="Button.xaml"/>
<ResourceDictionary Source="CheckBox.xaml"/>
<ResourceDictionary Source="ComboBox.xaml"/>
<ResourceDictionary Source="Common.xaml"/>
<ResourceDictionary Source="GroupBox.xaml"/>
<ResourceDictionary Source="Label.xaml"/>
<ResourceDictionary Source="LinkButton.xaml"/>
<ResourceDictionary Source="ListBox.xaml"/>
<ResourceDictionary Source="ListView.xaml"/>
<ResourceDictionary Source="RadioButton.xaml"/>
<ResourceDictionary Source="Tooltip.xaml"/>
<ResourceDictionary Source="Window.xaml"/>
</ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries>
</ResourceDictionary>
</Application.Resources>
In my application, my main window is MiniDeviceConfig.xaml (as seen above). In my Button.xaml file, I clearly set the button height to some obscene number. And, this size is reflected in my main window's buttons. However, some action on the main window triggers a modal window that has more buttons on it. I was expecting the same tall buttons but no such luck. How do I get the style to propagate into all windows in the application?
You can try very helpful class ThemeManager from http://wpfthemes.codeplex.com. In our project we had similiar problems and solve it by using it.
Figured it out. There were other resources included that were conflicting.

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