How do I define the default background color for window instances in a shared ResourceDictionary?

wpf xaml themes window resourcedictionary
Nicholas picture Nicholas · Jan 9, 2011 · Viewed 9.4k times · Source

I can't seem to set a default background color for all of my windows in my application. Does anyone know how to do this?

Currently I'm setting a theme in my App.xaml file like this.

<Application>
    <Application.Resources>
        <ResourceDictionary Source="Themes/SomeTheme.xaml" />

This basically styles my entire application.

Inside of SomeTheme.xaml I am trying to set a default color for all of my windows like this.

<SolidColorBrush Color="{DynamicResource MainColor}" x:Key="CommonBackgroundBrush" />
<Style TargetType="{x:Type Window}">
    <Setter Property="Background" Value="{DynamicResource CommonBackgroundBrush}" />
</Style>

This syntax is completely ignored for derivatives of type Window.

Is there some way to force the style to apply to all derivatives of Window?

The weird thing about this syntax, is that it actually shows the correct color in the VS design preview window.

Answer

Rick Sladkey picture Rick Sladkey · Jan 9, 2011

Your windows are not instances of Window, they are instances of classes derived from Window. So I think you will have to list them all, but you can use BasedOn to help.

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