Question

Currently I am trying to load some Xaml files to create testdata.

I used the Xaml files to create data for the WPF designer in Visual Studio (DesignData).
Now I want to reuse them in my Unit Tests. I need to load them somehow programmatically. Here is a small test program:

// The data model
class TestItem
{
    public string Name { get; set; }
    public decimal Value { get; set; }
    public string Category { get; set; }
}

The Xaml data file:

<sys:ArrayList xmlns:sys="clr-namespace:System.Collections;assembly=mscorlib"
               xmlns:local="clr-namespace:WpfApplication1">
  <local:TestItem Name="Item1" Value="123" Category="Cat1" />
  <local:TestItem Name="Item2" Value="456" Category="Cat1" />
  <local:TestItem Name="Item3" Value="789" Category="Cat2" />
</sys:ArrayList>

And now I try to read the data:

var reader = new System.Windows.Markup.XamlReader();

var obj = reader.LoadAsync(File.OpenRead("Test.xaml"));

The LoadAsync method throws an XamlParseException.

‘Cannot create unknown type
‘{clr-namespace:WpfApplication1}TestItem’

Do I need to register my TestItem class somehow? Is this the right approach to solve my problem, or am I missusing XamlReader here? I also spent some time in the System.Xaml-Namespace. But I couldn’t get it working.

Edit:

In the sample code above I have set the Build Action to None. When I set it to DesignData the file cannot be found.

Answer 1

I found the error. Making the TestItem class public solved my problem.

// The data model
public class TestItem
{
    public string Name { get; set; }
    public decimal Value { get; set; }
    public string Category { get; set; }
}