Accessing colors in a resource dictionary from a value converter

Question

I defined several colors in a ResourceDictionary. e.g.:

<ResourceDictionary ...>
  <Color x:Key=Gray1>#FFF7F1F3</Color>
  <Color x:Key=Gray2>#FFDDD8DA</Color>
&lt/ResourceDictionary>

So I can reuse them everywhere in application.

Now I wrote a value converter to convert the items inner state to the related color.

How can I access the defined colors in the code of the value converter?

My first thought was to pass the dictionary as converter parameter. But I don't know how to achieve that.

Regards

EDIT

Application.Current.Resources is not an option. Because I won't have access to it later.

Answer 1

The annoying thing about using a converter parameter is that you have to add that text every single time you want to use the binding.

Instead you could make the ResourceDictionary a property on your converter and set it when you instantiate the converter.

code for converter:

public class SomeConverter : IValueConverter
{
    private ResourceDictionary _resourceDictionary;
    public ResourceDictionary ResourceDictionary
    {
        get { return _resourceDictionary; }
        set 
        {
            _resourceDictionary = value; 
        }
    }

    public object Convert(object value, Type targetType, object parameter, System.Globalization.CultureInfo culture)
    {
        //do your own thing using the _dict
        //var person = value as Person
        //if (person.Status == "Awesome")
        //    return _resourceDictionary["AwesomeBrush"]
        //else
        //    return _resourceDictionary["NotAwesomeBrush"];
    }

    public object ConvertBack(object value, Type targetType, object parameter, System.Globalization.CultureInfo culture)
    {
        throw new NotImplementedException();
    }

}

instantiate and use converter:

<Window.Resources>
    <local:SomeConverter x:Key="MyConverter" >
        <local:SomeConverter.ResourceDictionary>
            <ResourceDictionary Source="SomeRandomResourceDictionary.xaml" />
        </local:SomeConverter.ResourceDictionary>
    </local:SomeConverter>
</Window.Resources>

...

<StackPanel Background="{Binding CurrentPerson, Converter={StaticResource MyConverter}}" >
</StackPanel>