Accessing a resource via codebehind in WPF

user_255876 0
Viewed 117174

I have a custom collection defined in my window resources as follows (in a Sketchflow app so the window is actually a UserControl):

<UserControl.Resources>
    <ds:MyCollection x:Key="myKey" x:Name="myName" />
</UserControl.Resources>

I want to be able to refer to this collection in the codebehind, which I expected would be by the x:Name, but I can't seem to access it.

I can get a reference to it using

myRef = (MyCollection) this.FindName("myKey");

but this seems hackish. Is this bad practice, and what would be better? Thanks :)

code-behind resources xaml wpf c#
7 Answers

You should use System.Windows.Controls.UserControl's FindResource() or TryFindResource() methods.

Also, a good practice is to create a string constant which maps the name of your key in the resource dictionary (so that you can change it at only one place).

user_1462220

You may also use this.Resources["mykey"]. I guess that is not much better than your own suggestion.

t4rzsan_641610

If you want to access a resource from some other class (i.g. not a xaml codebehind), you can use

Application.Current.Resources["resourceName"];

from System.Windows namespace.

user_61848660

I got the resources on C# (Desktop WPF W/ .NET Framework 4.8) using the code below

{DefaultNamespace}.Properties.Resources.{ResourceName}
user_98408710

A nice clean example from Microsoft documents makes it simple:

private void myButton_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
  Button button = (Button)sender;
  button.Background = (Brush)this.FindResource("RainbowBrush");
}
user_11617520
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