Question

I’m writing some extension modules for a WPF Composite application supplied by another vendor. The application is themed, and gives users the option to select from a number of themes which will change the appearance of the entire applications, including any custom modules that register themselves with the theme manager appropriately.

I really want my custom extensions to look like an integrated component, so I’m trying to use only styles defined as resources within the main application. As I’m still learning the nuances of XAML, I’m styling more by trial and error.

I’m wondering if there’s a way of ‘discovering’ what styles are available in a different assembly. Here is an example of what I’m currently doing.

<Window.Resources>
        <ResourceDictionary>
            <ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries>
                <common:DesignTimeResourceDictionary Source="/Vendor.Desktop.WPFCommon;component/themes/generic.xaml" />
            </ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries>
        </ResourceDictionary>
</Window.Resources>

<Border 
    Background="{DynamicResource LightGradientBackgroundBrush}"
    Margin="0"
    >

The LightGradientBackgroundBrush is defined in the vendors assemblies. By including the above ResourceDictionary, the style is present during design time, and the brush isn’t underlined in the XAML editor.

Can I find what other styles are defined? I’m only aware of that style because it was mentioned in passing in a sample provided by the vendor.

Edit:

I’m aware of a BAML add-in for reflector, but it doesn’t work with reflector 7 unless it has been recompiled/patched. Someone has already done that here though.

I was hoping there was a better solution though. Intellisense for styles would be great.

Answer 1

There used to be a Reflector add-in for viewing BAML resources that worked well for that. But I haven’t used Reflector in a while since Redgate crashed the party. It may not work with the current version.