XAML factoring

We are using the Infragistics Ribbon component in our application.  Our application has the same Ribbon Group content specified in multiple tabs.  I was looking for a way to share the group content so it wasn't copied and pasted in both locations.

I searched online and found a forum where one of their staff said it was not a feature.

This is not a problem as WPF allows you to share UI elements for compiled resource dictionaries.

When we compile XAML we get BAML stored inside the assembly as a resource.  This allows the x:Shared keyword to enable special functionality not available from C#.   Why not IL?  BAML is more compact than IL, can be localized after compilation, and is less of a security threat.

Specifying x:Shared in a resource dictionary means the content will be fetched new each time it is requested allowing the same user interface elements to be added in multiple places.

Here is an example:

    <Window.Resources>

        <StackPanel x:Key="moreContent" x:Shared="false">

            <TextBlock Text="local" />

        </StackPanel>

    </Window.Resources>

    <StackPanel>

        <StaticResourceExtension ResourceKey="moreContent" />

        <StaticResourceExtension ResourceKey="moreContent" />

    </StackPanel>

One may also put the shared content in another XAML file to share the resource with other XAML files in your application:

Window1.xaml

    <Window.Resources>

        <ResourceDictionary >

            <ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries>

                <ResourceDictionary Source="Ribbon.xaml" />

            </ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries>

            <StackPanel x:Key="moreContent" x:Shared="false">

                <TextBlock Text="local" />

            </StackPanel>

        </ResourceDictionary>

    </Window.Resources>

    <StackPanel>

        <StaticResourceExtension ResourceKey="moreContent" />

        <StaticResourceExtension ResourceKey="content" />

        <StaticResourceExtension ResourceKey="moreContent" />

    </StackPanel>

Ribbon.xaml:

<ResourceDictionary xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"

    xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml">

    <StackPanel x:Key="content" x:Shared="false">

        <TextBlock Text="From Ribbon" />

    </StackPanel>

</ResourceDictionary>