WPF Using images in generic.xaml template - c#

I am writing a style for a custom control derived directly from Control. Visual Studio places the style for a "Custom Control (WPF)" in the Themes\generic.xaml file. My style contains an image which I can't get displayed, seems there's something special about how to set the Source for an image from within the generic.xaml file.
I managed to reproduce the issue with a simpler scenario. Create a "WPF Custom Control library" then add a style for buttons like so, in the themes\generic.xaml . Here's my complete generic.xaml:
<ResourceDictionary
...
<Style TargetType="{x:Type Button}">
<Setter Property="Content">
<Setter.Value>
<Image Source="SmallHandle.png"></Image>
</Setter.Value>
</Setter>
</Style>
</ResourceDictionary>
After this I have create a UserControl (in the same project) containing just a button (for the sake of testing out the style) like so:
<UserControl x:Class="BlendControls.UserControl1"
...
mc:Ignorable="d"
d:DesignHeight="300" d:DesignWidth="300">
<Button/>
</UserControl>
I have added the SmallHandle.png in the root project directory, in the themes directory, I have added it also to the good old Resources page, tried changing the build action to resource, embedded resource, tried copying the image manually to the build directory, but to no effect. The image is never displayed.
This must be related to the generic.xaml file, because copying the entire style to the same file where the Button is placed works fine. That is, the following works as expected:
<UserControl x:Class="BlendControls.UserControl1"
...
d:DesignHeight="300" d:DesignWidth="300">
<UserControl.Resources>
<Style TargetType="{x:Type Button}">
<Setter Property="Content">
<Setter.Value>
<Image Source="SmallHandle.png"></Image>
</Setter.Value>
</Setter>
</Style>
</UserControl.Resources>
<Button></Button>
</UserControl>
So, how should I set the Source of images from generic.xaml? Or alternatively, where should I put the styles/templates for custom controls?
---- Solution ----
As pointed out by Sheridan, I have to use the "full" pack URI notation as:
pack://application,,,/MyAssembly;components/SmallHandle.png
This looks strange to me, as the image is in the same assembly. Not sure, looks like I am referencing from outside the dll.

There's nothing unusual about accessing an image in Generic.xaml, you're just not referencing it correctly. You can reference a resource file in the project assembly using this format:
<Image Source="/AssemblyName;component/Subfolder/SmallHandle.png" />
If your images are directly inside the project root (which is not recommended), then you can access them like this:
<Image Source="/AssemblyName;component/SmallHandle.png" />
If your images are in a folder in another project, then you can access it like this:
<Image Source="/ReferencedAssembly;component/Subfolder/SmallHandle.png" />
See the Pack URIs in WPF page on MSDN for more information.
UPDATE >>>
In .NET 4, the above Image.Source values would work. However, Microsoft made some horrible changes in .NET 4.5 that broke many different things and so in .NET 4.5, you'd need to use the full pack path like this:
<Image Source="pack://application:,,,/AssemblyName;component/Images/image_to_use.png">

If you don't feel as though your generic.xaml is being picked up, you can reference it from your App.cs.xaml like this:
<App.Resources>
<ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries>
<ResourceDictionary Source="/MY.NAMESPACE;component/Themes/generic.xaml" />
</ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries>
</App.Resources>
Your generic.xaml file should be marked as "Resource".
Also, your image file should be marked as "Resource".
Finally, reference your ImageSource like this:
<Image Source="Themes/IMAGE.png" />
or try
<Image Source="../Themes/IMAGE.png" />
Personally, I like to put my style templates in their own .xaml file, and reference them all as MergedDictionaries.

Typed base style in Themes\Generic style is automatically applied only to Custom Control.
If you need use typed based style in your user control you need add generic.xaml to user control resources.
<UserControl.Resources>
<ResourceDictionary>
<ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries>
<ResourceDictionary Source="Themes/Generic.xaml" />
</ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries>
</ResourceDictionary>
</UserControl.Resources>
Also change Image Source URI to
<Image Source="pack://application:,,,/WpfCustomControlLibrary1;component/SmallHandle.png" />

Related

How to reference a local resource dictionary from within the same FrameworkElement's property in UWP

Is there a way to reference a local ResourceDictionary from within the same FrameworkElement's property?
I tried the following
<TextBlock Text="{StaticResource txt}">
<TextBlock.Resources>
<x:String x:Key="txt">asdf</x:String>
</TextBlock.Resources>
</TextBlock>
but get the error
The resource "txt" could not be resolved.
Moving the txt resource from the TextBlock to the Page resources would work but that seems messy and i was hoping that it's possible to reference a FrameworkElements local ResourceDictionary.
Using CustomResource instead of StaticResource at least allows to auto complete to txt, but it doesn't work because then invoking Initializecomponent throws an exception: "No custom resource loader set" and i'm not sure if implementing and setting a custom loader would solve that at all.
Is there a way to do this using the local resource dictionary?
UWP FrameworkElement resource lookup looks for parent control resources, not child control resources.
This document details how Resources works.
Edit
It is recommended to use Resource Dictionary file.
Right click on your project
Choose Add
Choose Resource Dictionary.
You can put your all your resource in this file.
Then add a resource file reference in App.xaml.
Dictionary1.xaml
<ResourceDictionary
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml">
<Style x:Key="txt" TargetType="TextBlock">
<Setter Property="Text" Value="asdf"/>
</Style>
</ResourceDictionary>
App.xaml
<Application.Resources>
<ResourceDictionary>
<ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries>
<ResourceDictionary Source="Dictionary1.xaml"/>
</ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries>
</ResourceDictionary>
</Application.Resources>
Page.xaml
<TextBlock Style="{StaticResource txt}" ></TextBlock>

Unable to override default style of wpf control in generic.xaml

So we are trying to retemplate some stock wpf controls by changing their default styles in the generic.xaml
When we normally do this we subclass a control and then override the default style key of the subclassed control in its static initializer. However, we are trying to just override the basic control now without subclassing it. That way anyone in the company using the stock wpf control will get our new styling by default.
I can't seem to get this to work though.
In my sandbox application which is a watered down version of our actual problem, I have the following.
MainWindow.xaml
<StackPanel>
<TextBlock>It doesn't work</TextBlock>
<local:CustomTextBlock>It works</local:CustomTextBlock>
</StackPanel>
Themes/Generic.xaml
<Style TargetType="{x:Type TextBlock}">
<Setter Property="FontSize" Value="100" />
</Style>
<Style TargetType="{x:Type test:CustomTextBlock}">
<Setter Property="FontSize" Value="100" />
</Style>
CustomTextBlock.cs
public class CustomTextBlock : TextBlock
{
static CustomTextBlock()
{
Type _CustomTextBlock = typeof(CustomTextBlock);
DefaultStyleKeyProperty.OverrideMetadata(
_CustomTextBlock,
new FrameworkPropertyMetadata(_CustomTextBlock));
}
}
Which results in this being displayed.
My theory is that the WPF engine is ignoring our style because the default style key is either A: not overridden or B: is finding their style in their generic.xaml first.
My question is, is there a work around for this? Are my assumptions correct?
UPDATE:
According to reference source, the default style key is overridden in the stock wpf control for TextBlock.cs in this case
Reference Source TextBlock.cs (Line 346)
To accomplish this, you can put your styles either directly into App.xaml or into a separate ResourceDictionary (named DefaultStyles.xaml).
Putting directly into App.xaml is easy enough, just put the style within the Resources element.
If you want to put the styles into a file (this is useful if you want the styles for multiple applications or within multiple assemblies) you add it to the MergedDictionaries of your App.xaml as such
<Application x:Class="MyAwesomeApp"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml">
<Application.Resources>
<ResourceDictionary>
<ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries>
<ResourceDictionary Source="Themes/DefaultStyles.xaml"/>
</ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries>
</ResourceDictionary>
</Application.Resources>
</Application>
This assumes that you put the file DefaultStyles into the Themes folder. If it is in another assembly you would do the following:
<ResourceDictionary Source="/Company.Controls.UI;component/DefaultStyles.xaml"/>
Have a look at this post (What is so special about Generic.xaml).
The main issue seems to be:
WPF looks for the default style in a special resource dictionary in the Themes folder in the same assembly as the control.
'Your' control is defined in 'your' assembly, TextBlock is defined in PresentationFramework. So you better create another ResourceDictionary for re-styling standard controls and include/merge it in each of your xaml documents (I suppose, this hurts).
Hope it helps.

How to add a svg/xaml file in C# WPF windows just like image?

How to add a .svg file in a WPF window in C# as an image (,png || ,jpg)?
I use the code
<Image HorizontalAlignment="Left" Height="53" Margin="34,39,0,0"
VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="71"
Source="Test.svg" Name="MyImage"/>
But I get an error:
Blend does not support format svg.
I found that I could change the .svg file into a .xaml file. But I still do not know how to add the xaml as an image.
Based on an answer, I changed my code like this:
<Window x:Class="NIA_UI_Demo_CSharp.ShareDocumentsWin"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:svgc="http://sharpvectors.codeplex.com/svgc/"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
Title="ShareDocumentsWin" Height="350" Width="569">
<ResourceDictionary>
<Style x:Key="TheAwesomeXAMLimage" TargetType="ContentControl">
<Setter Property="Template">
<Setter.Value>
<ControlTemplate TargetType="ContentControl">
my code
</ControlTemplate>
</Setter.Value>
</Setter>
</Style>
</ResourceDictionary>
<Grid Margin="0,0,2,3">
<ContentControl Style="{StaticResource TheAwesomeXAMLimage}"/>
</Grid>
</Window>
But I get an error:
Content is set more than once;
As far as I know you cannot include svg-files directly.
Two options:
use library that can handle svg-files in runtime: https://sharpvectors.codeplex.com/ (moved to https://github.com/ElinamLLC/SharpVectors)
convert the svg to xaml and use them with native wpf objects (Path, Image..)
I prefer the second option, so I wrote a tool which can convert a single svg to xaml and can also batch convert a bunch of svg-files. The workflow is: just put the svg-file to your images-folder, call the batch-converter and find the images.xaml file (a resource-dictionary) updated with the new icons/images.
See https://github.com/BerndK/SvgToXaml
I was lucky that I have DevExpress available where you can use WpfSvgRenderer.CreateImageSource. Don't want to advertise here, but since it's a widely used library, probably some are happy to know.
Unfortunately text element inside the svg is not supported yet.

FindResource not working in Custom Control DLL

While I am still learning WPF I have yet run into another problem. I have a DLL which is of type Custom Control. I've implemented my base control and I have several controls which derive from this base; the base control is never used. The problem is whenever I call FindResource or TryFindResource it always fails. I have a separate dictionary that I merged in my Themes/Generic.xaml file:
Gernieric.xaml
<ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries>
<ResourceDictionary Source="/DllProject;component/Themes/NewResource.xaml" />
<!-- I've tried several other ways for the Source format, i.e. pack:... -->
</ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries>
Now I am trying to set the Style of my derived controls in the derived controls constructor without the control being on a visible canvas or panel at the time. I also want to export a VisualBrush of the control as a BitmapSource. All of the code was working when I put my NewResource.xaml in the EXE project (where it doesn't belong). I've read articles on adding a dummy tag to the resource dictionary as well as put all of my code in the Generic.xaml file. Like I said all of this works fin if move the xaml file to the main EXE. Its as if the DLL isn't even loading the xaml file or even aware there is anything declared in it until the control is on a visible window.
I have a style for my base control (NewResource.xaml):
<Style TargetType="{x:Type local:MyDerivedControl}">
<Setter Property="Template">
<Setter.Value>
<ControlTemplate TargetType="{x:Type local:MyDerivedControl}">
<Grid>
<Path x:Name="MyPath" Style="{TemplateBinding DepProp}" />
<TextBlock x:Name="Text" HorizontalAlignment="Center" VerticalAlignment="Center" Text="{TemplateBinding Text}"/>
</Grid>
</ControlTemplate>
</Setter.Value>
</Setter>
</Style>
After doing a lot of research on the internet it seems WPF dropped the ball on DLLs and resources.
I found the answer that worked. Basically change the x:Key to contain a ComponentResourceKey. A full description can be viewed here that is straight forward to understand.

WPF Style for base window not applied in App.xaml, but is in Themes/Generic.xaml

I am in the process of creating a base window class for most of my windows to derive from. Obviously the best solution for this was a separate class, and a style that applies to it.
The issue is that the <Style ../> I have is not being applied when it is in App.Resources. That is, if it's defined in an external ResourceDictionary, and merged into App.xaml's resources, or a local dictionary and merged, or placed inline into App.Resources. The <Style ../> is, however, applied when it is placed into Themes/Generic.xaml.
The problem can be demonstrated without doing anything special at all in the base window, apart from overriding the DefaultStyleKeyProperty.
Below is ThemeWindow:
public class ThemeWindow : Window
{
static ThemeWindow()
{
DefaultStyleKeyProperty.OverrideMetadata(typeof(ThemeWindow), new FrameworkPropertyMetadata(typeof(ThemeWindow)));
}
}
Here is the very simple <Style ../> I am trying to apply (it makes the Window background red, nothing more):
<Style TargetType="{x:Type testing:ThemeWindow}">
<Setter Property="Template">
<Setter.Value>
<ControlTemplate TargetType="{x:Type testing:ThemeWindow}">
<Grid>
<Grid.Background>
<SolidColorBrush Color="Red"/>
</Grid.Background>
<AdornerDecorator>
<ContentPresenter />
</AdornerDecorator>
</Grid>
</ControlTemplate>
</Setter.Value>
</Setter>
</Style>
The MainWindow that uses ThemeWindow, is simply the following XAML:
<testing:ThemeWindow x:Class="Testing.MainWindow"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
xmlns:testing="clr-namespace:Testing"
Title="MainWindow" Height="350" Width="525">
<Grid>
<Button Content="Button" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Margin="125,83,0,0" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="75"/>
</Grid>
</testing:ThemeWindow>
Now, as stated, if you place that Style in its own ResourceDictionary, and include it like this:
<App.Resources>
<ResourceDictionary>
<ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries>
<ResourceDictionary Source="/Themes/ThemeWindow.xaml" />
</ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries>
</ResourceDictionary>
</App.Resources>
.. it does not work. If you inline the style straight into App.Resources, it does not work.
The only situation I can find it working is to call the ResourceDictionary xaml Generic.xaml, and place it into the Themes/ directory of the application.
I am wondering exactly why this is happening.
My only theory is that when WPF sees a control type, it will head over to Themes, and scan all ResourceDictionarys for the type, then fall back to Generic.xaml and load it. This doesn't explain why it would not load if the <Style /> is available in a merged ResourceDictionary though. Note that it does work if the MergedDictionary is placed into Generic.xaml, for obvious reasons.
I'm perfectly fine with having to merge the ResourceDictionary into Generic.xaml if that's what I have to do. I just want to get down at the technical details as to why it needs to be like this.
Screenshots of this not working / working:
I have a simple workaround that would allow you to set your Style in you app.xaml.
Define your style in app.xaml like this :
<Style x:Key="{x:Type testing:ThemeWindow}" TargetType="{x:Type testing:ThemeWindow}">
And change your ThemWindow to this :
public class ThemeWindow : Window
{
static ThemeWindow()
{
StyleProperty.OverrideMetadata(typeof(ThemeWindow), new FrameworkPropertyMetadata(GetDefautlStyle()));
}
private static Style GetDefautlStyle()
{
if (defaultStyle == null)
{
defaultStyle = Application.Current.FindResource(typeof(ThemeWindow)) as Style;
}
return defaultStyle;
}
private static Style defaultStyle = null;
}
It does not really solve the question, but that would allow you to achieve what you need !
EDIT : Looking at DefaultStyleKey reference, it's clearly stated that it's used for theme style lookup. That explains why it won't find it in app.xaml or any other dictionary. It will only search in Theme dictionaries. So you either have to define your style in a Theme Dictionary, or to use the Style property directly as in the above example.
I come around the following solution already discussed in stackoverflow. it would required to add in the load component when load of the application.
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