I usually create a seperate styling project, which I reference from the projects, which I want to style. The styling project has a fixed structure like this:
For every control, I create a styling ResourceDictionary
. For example for my buttons:
<ResourceDictionary xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml">
<Style x:Key="PrimaryButtonStyle" TargetType="Button">
</Style>
<Style x:Key="ToolbarButton" TargetType="Button">
<Setter Property="BorderThickness" Value="0" />
<Setter Property="Margin" Value="3"/>
<Setter Property="Background" Value="Transparent"></Setter>
</Style>
</ResourceDictionary>
In one main ResourceDictionary
, I merge all the other dictionaries, in this case in the file IncaDesign.xaml, which you can see in the picture above:
<ResourceDictionary xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
xmlns:controls="clr-namespace:Commons.Controls;assembly=Commons">
<ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries>
<ResourceDictionary Source="Converter/Converter.xaml" />
<ResourceDictionary Source="Styles/Button.xaml" />
<ResourceDictionary Source="BitmapGraphics/Icons.xaml" />
</ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries>
<!-- Default Styles -->
<Style TargetType="Button" BasedOn="{StaticResource PrimaryButtonStyle}"></Style>
</ResourceDictionary>
Notice how I defined the default styles, which are applied automatically, unless you specify otherwise. In every window or control, that you want to style, you only need to reference this one ResourceDictionary
. Note the definition of the source, which is a reference to the assembly (/Commons.Styling;component...
)
<UserControl.Resources>
<ResourceDictionary>
<ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries>
<ResourceDictionary Source="/Commons.Styling;component/IncaDesign.xaml" />
</ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries>
</ResourceDictionary>
</UserControl.Resources>
Default styles will be set automatically now, and if you want to access a resource explicitly, you can do this, using StaticResource
.
<Viewbox Height="16" Width="16" Margin="0,0,10,0">
<ContentControl Content="{StaticResource FileIcon32}" />
</Viewbox>
This is very nice solution in my opinion, which works for very complex solutions, including modular solutions, for example built with PRISM.