Adding a custom style to an element in an existing theme in WPF

Question

I don't think this has been asked before, if so please redirect me. I'm new to WPF, and I've tried everything I could think of with no success, I'm stuck.

I'm using a WPF Theme, and I want to add some custom styles I created to it. For example, all TextBlock are supposed to have Red foreground, but I have a group of TextBlock that I want in Blue.

So far I've been doing this in the xaml, creating a <Style></Style> in the resources, and calling it using Style="{StaticResource StyleName}". But I want to add it to the theme files instead, and I don't know how to give it a name and call it from the xaml.

I guess I'd start with something like this, but how do I link both elements?

In the theme file (MyStyles.xaml or TextEdit.xaml or similar):

<Style TargetType="{x:Type TextBlock}" x:Key="KeyName" ???>
      <Setter Property="Foreground" Value="Blue" />
</Style>

And then in my xaml:

<TextBlock Name="TextBlockName"
      Style="{???}">
</TextBlock>

I need this style to be in the Theme because the program will allow users to change themes, and these styles can't hardcoded be in the xaml.

JBG · Accepted Answer · 2013-02-12 21:22:53Z

1

You want to first merge that resource file into your resources :

<UserControl.Resources>
    <ResourceDictionary>
        <ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries>
            <ResourceDictionary Source="MyStyles.xaml" />
        </ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries>
        <dxc:IntToBooleanConverter x:Key="IntToBooleanConverter" />
        (...)
    </ResourceDictionary>
</UserControl.Resources>

and then you can use it with

<TextBlock Name="TextBlockName" Style="{StaticResource KeyName}" />

answered Feb 12, 2013 at 21:22

JBG

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2 Comments

Yisela Over a year ago

Would the file change automatically if I swap the theme?

JBG Over a year ago

@yisela Yes, that's what I use to keep my styles central and make sure my application looks consistently the same between windows.

sa_ddam213 · Accepted Answer · 2013-02-12 21:16:43Z

1

If you have loaded your Theme file you can access any of the Styles/Resources the same way as local Styles/Resources

If you use Style="{StaticResource StyleName}" it will look first in the Window/UserControl, if not found it will look though the loaded Resource dictionaries. so as long as you have loaded the Theme (Resource Dictionary) it will work fine.

answered Feb 12, 2013 at 21:16

sa_ddam213

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