Accessing ResourceDictionary from WPF UserControl

Question

I'm trying to access a resource dictionary in a UserControl code-behind via C# and I'm having little success.

Merged Dictionary:

<UserControl.Resources>
    <ResourceDictionary>
        <ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries>
            <ResourceDictionary Source="/Resources/BiometricDictionary.xaml" />                
        </ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries>
    </ResourceDictionary>
</UserControl.Resources>

Embedded Dictionary:

<UserControl.Resources>
    <BitmapImage x:Key="imageDefault">/Resources/Images/default_thumb.png</BitmapImage>
    <BitmapImage x:Key="imageDisconnected">/Resources/Images/disconnect_thumb.png</BitmapImage>
    <BitmapImage x:Key="imageFailed">/Resources/Images/failed_thumb.png</BitmapImage>
    <BitmapImage x:Key="imageSuccess">/Resources/Images/success_thumb.png</BitmapImage>
</UserControl.Resources>

Code behind:

        var resourceDictionary = new ResourceDictionary();
        resourceDictionary.Source = new Uri("/Resources/BiometricDictionary.xaml", UriKind.Relative);

I've tried all of the examples and helpful tips but coming up short. Right now, success would be the ability to load the dictionary. Any suggestions?

Answer 1

To access one of your UserControl's XAML resources in your codebehind, all you need to do is access the Resources property of the UserControl. Something like this:

BitmapImage myImage = (BitmapImage)this.Resources["imageDefault"];

Though, the preferred method is to use FindResource(), which will search the entire logical tree for a match to the key, rather than just the object it is called on.

BitmapImage myImage = (BitmapImage)this.FindResource("imageDefault");