WPF Lookless control not showing in VS designer

Question

I have a lookless control I've built that has a default style defined in generic.xaml in my Themes directory. I also have the following in the constructor.

 static MyControl()
 {
     DefaultStyleKeyProperty.OverrideMetadata(typeof(MyControl), new FrameworkPropertyMetadata(typeof(MyControl)));
 }

 public MyControl()
 {
     //DoSomeWork
 }

Is there something else I'm suppose to set in WPF land? In Silverlight all I have to do is:

DefaultStyleKey = typeof(MyControl);

NOTE: It does render in Expression Blend though.

Answer 1

Is that constructor static? if not, it should be. The OverrideMetadata call should live in a static constructor to work properly. change or add your constructor like this:

static MyControl()
 {
     DefaultStyleKeyProperty.OverrideMetadata(typeof(MyControl), new FrameworkPropertyMetadata(typeof(MyControl)));
 }

Answer 2

Is your VS designer crashes or it shows nothing but a plain border like appearance.

I would suggest. You have a separate style for the control, relatively light weight. Apply that style from constructor of the control by checking whether IsInDesignTime.

If, your designer crashes or displays some error. Then, you should try design time debugging.

Also, in few cases. If, the application type is ".NetFramework 4 Client Profile" [Which is the default, wpf application type in VS2010] you might get some wired things like this.

HTH