Accessing a resource via codebehind in WPF

Question

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 :)

Answer 1

You should use FindResource or TryFindResource.

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)

Answer 2

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