Question

I’d like to add several resources to a ResourceDictionary from within one single line of XAML. I’ll try to make an example out of it.

Imagine this:

<ResourceDictionary
  xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation" 
  xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml" 
  xmlns:util="clr-namespace:Util">

  <util:MyResourceDictionaryA x:Key="MyResourceDictionaryA" />
  <util:MyResourceDictionaryB x:Key="MyResourceDictionaryB" />
  <util:MyResourceDictionaryC x:Key="MyResourceDictionaryC" />
  <util:MyResourceDictionaryD x:Key="MyResourceDictionaryD" />
</ResourceDictionary>

I’d like to have something like:

<ResourceDictionary
  xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation" 
  xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml" 
  xmlns:util="clr-namespace:Util">

  <util:AllDictionaries x:Key="AllDictionaries" BaseName="MyResourceDictionary" />
</ResourceDictionary>

I’ve tried making a new ResourceDictionary like this:

  public class AllDictionaries : ResourceDictionary
  {
    public string BaseName { get; set; }

    public AllDictionaries ()
    {
      Clear();
      var s = BaseName;
      var DictionariesToLoad = new[] { "A", "B", "C", "D" };
      foreach (var b in DictionariesToLoad )
      {
        var t = Type.GetType(b + s);
        var resDir = Activator.CreateInstance(t) as ResourceDictionary;
        Add(b + s, resDir);
      }
    }
  }

However the constructor never gets called (or, not before something else in XAML references {StaticResource MyResourceDictionaryX} which hasn’t been added to the application resources so it throws an exception). I also tried putting the code on the BaseName setter, to no avail.

This is an oversimplication of what I need, but I’m just trying to make the XAML more generic.

Any hints on how could one achieve this?

Note 1: the generated resource dictionaries need to be available (using their Key) resources for the rest of the XAML in the scope where I have created the AllDictionaries resource.

Note 2: for practical purposes, let’s say I don’t have access to MyResourceDictionaryX classes source code so I can’t change anything on those

Answer 1

Merged Resource Dictionary already does what you want… it can be created through XAML or code.