Silverlight 2 and Resources

Question

What is the standard, best practise for using StaticResources in Silverlight 2?

I recently found out that I cannot use a ResourceDictionary like I use in WPF. That was handy because I could keep like resources in seperate files (Resources/brushes.xaml etc.) and merge them into the dictionary.

In Silverlight 2, I can define resources in App.xaml Application.Resources section, but I cannot seem to access them from another namespace. For example, I have App.xaml and the resources defined in a assembly/namespace something like: Company.Project.Silverlight. I have several user controls defined within the same assembly in the Company.Project.Silverlight.Controls namespace. If a UserControl there references a StaticResource define in App.xaml it locks up the browser.

I can put the resource in the user control's UserControl.Resources section and it works fine. However, this defeats the purpose of having one global place to define resources.

Am I missing something?

Answer 1

Yes, the current beta1 release dose not support ResourceDictionary.

But I have been putting the Application level style definitions in the App.xaml and I have controls in other name space( and in other Control Library assembly dll) using those styles without problem. You might have to add your extra name space in your App.XAML; and when you trying to define Style for those controls, do not forget the prefix

<Application xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/client/2007"
             xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
             x:Class="YourCompany.Silverlight.App"         
             xmlns:controls="clr-namespace:YourCompany.Silverlight.Controls;assembly=YourControlAssebmly">

        <Style TargetType="controls:MyControl" x:Key="MyControlStyle">

       </Style>
 

</Application> 

Answer 2

I ended up having to delete and re–create my App.xaml file and re–set it as the startup object in order for it work.  Not sure what was wrong…