Creating a Style Group’s Class

This topic is second in a multi-part walkthrough. Refer to Creating and Setting Up a ThemePack Project for information on setting up the Microsoft® Visual Studio® 2008 project. In this topic, you will create the style group’s class file.

Note	Note Each style group’s class file is similar in content and layout; therefore, this multi-part walkthrough will discuss DataPresenter’s style group.

In the "MyThemePack" project, right click on the DataPresenter folder under ResourceSets. In the pop-up menu, click Add, then click Class.
In the Add New Item dialog box, name the class file "DataPresenter_ResourceSets" and click Add.

Note	Note We recommend that you name the class file using the following convention: " StyleGroupName _ResourceSets"

Change the name of the class (not the class file) from "DataPresenter_ResourceSets" to "DataPresenter." Place the public (Public in Visual Basic) keyword before the class keyword.
Change the class' namespace from "MyThemePack.ResourceSets.DataPresenter" to "MyThemePack.ResourceSets.OrangePeel."
Before you start writing any code, you should place using/Imports directives at the top of your class file so you don’t need to always type out a member’s fully qualified name.

In Visual Basic:

Imports System.ComponentModel
Imports System.Reflection
Imports Infragistics.Windows
Imports Infragistics.Windows.Themes

In C#:

using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Reflection;
using Infragistics.Windows;
using Infragistics.Windows.Themes;

The DataPresenter class derives from DataPresenterResourceSet. The ResourceSet that you derive from depends upon the style group (i.e., if you were creating the ResourceSet for the Editors, you would derive from EditorsResourceSet).

In Visual Basic:

Public Class DataPresenter
        Inherits DataPresenterResourceSet(Of Locator)
        ...
End Class

In C#:

public class DataPresenter : DataPresenterResourceSet<Locator>
{
        ...
}

Create a static variable that is an instance of the DataPresenter class and provide a static method that accesses the static instance. This makes sure that there is only one instance of this style’s DataPresenterResourceSet at all times.

In Visual Basic:

...
        Private Shared g_Instance As DataPresenter
        Public Shared ReadOnly Property Instance() As DataPresenter
                Get
                        If g_Instance Is Nothing Then
                                g_Instance = New DataPresenter()
                        End If
                        Return g_Instance
                End Get
        End Property
...

In C#:

...
        private static DataPresenter g_Instance;
        public static DataPresenter Instance
        {
                get
                {
                        if (g_Instance == null)
                                g_Instance = new DataPresenter();
                        return g_Instance;
                }
}
...

A style group’s class file must contain a Locator class. The Locator class derives from ResourceSetLocator and defines key properties such as:
- access to the Assembly containing the resource set
- the Theme or name of the style
- the Grouping, which is specific to the style group
- the ResourcePath to the embedded ResourceDictionary for the style group within the assembly

In Visual Basic:

...
        Public Class Locator
                Inherits ResourceSetLocator
                Public Overrides ReadOnly Property [Assembly]() As [Assembly]
                        Get
                                Return Me.GetType().Assembly
                        End Get
                End Property
                Public Overrides ReadOnly Property Theme() As String
                        Get
                                Return "OrangePeel"
                        End Get
                End Property
                Public Overrides ReadOnly Property Grouping() As String
                        Get
                                Return DataPresenterGeneric.Instance.Grouping
                        End Get
                End Property
                Public Overrides ReadOnly Property ResourcePath() As String
                        Get
                                Return "ResourceSets\DataPresenter\DataPresenter.xaml"
                        End Get
                End Property
        End Class
...

In C#:

...
        [EditorBrowsable(EditorBrowsableState.Never)]
        public class Locator : ResourceSetLocator
        {
                public override Assembly Assembly { get { return this.GetType().Assembly; } }
                public override string Theme { get { return "OrangePeel"; } }
                public override string Grouping { get { return DataPresenterGeneric.Instance.Grouping; } }
                public override string ResourcePath { get { return @"ResourceSets\DataPresenter\DataPresenter.xaml"; } }
        }
...

The file the ResourcePath is set to is created in the Creating a Style Group’s ResourceDictionary Files.

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Creating a Style Group’s Class