Error - Cannot find static resource in a WPF application

Question

I'm learning WPF and started with this MSDN tutorial.

I was just following the tutorial. When I finished the code as per the tutorial and try to run I get an exception in a XAML page which says

'Provide value on 'System.Windows.StaticResourceExtension' threw an exception.' Line number '27' and line position '55'." . And inner exception reveals that error is "Cannot find resource named 'personItemTemplate'. Resource names are case sensitive.".

The culprit XAML is below.

<Page x:Class="ExpenseIt.ExpenseItHome"
      xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
      xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
      xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006" 
      xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008" 
      mc:Ignorable="d" 
      d:DesignHeight="321" d:DesignWidth="532"
    Title="ExpenseIt - Home">

    <Grid Margin="10,0,10,10">
        <Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
            <ColumnDefinition Width="230" />
            <ColumnDefinition />
        </Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
        <Grid.RowDefinitions>
            <RowDefinition />
            <RowDefinition Height="Auto" />
            <RowDefinition />
            <RowDefinition Height="Auto" />
        </Grid.RowDefinitions>
        <Label Grid.Column="1" Style="{StaticResource headerTextStyle}">View Expense Report</Label>
        <!-- Resource List Label-->
        <Border Grid.Column="1" Grid.Row="1" Style="{StaticResource listHeaderStyle}">
            <Label VerticalAlignment="Center" Foreground="White" FontWeight="Bold">Names</Label>
        </Border>
        <!-- Resource List-->
        <ListBox Name="peopleListBox" Grid.Column="1" Grid.Row="2" 
         ItemsSource="{Binding Source={StaticResource ExpenseDataSource}, XPath=Person}"
         ItemTemplate="{StaticResource personItemTemplate}">
        </ListBox>

        <!-- View button -->
        <Button Grid.Column="1" Grid.Row="3" Click="Button_Click" Style="{StaticResource buttonStyle}">View</Button>

        <!-- Set Background Image-->
        <Grid.Background>
            <ImageBrush ImageSource="watermark.png" />
        </Grid.Background>
        <Grid.Resources>

            <!-- Expense Report Data -->
            <XmlDataProvider x:Key="ExpenseDataSource" XPath="Expenses">
                <x:XData>
                    <Expenses xmlns="">
                        <Person Name="TommyVance" Department="Legal">
                            <Expense ExpenseType="Lunch" ExpenseAmount="50" />
                            <Expense ExpenseType="Transportation" ExpenseAmount="50" />
                        </Person>
                        <Person Name="PhilJackson" Department="Marketing">
                            <Expense ExpenseType="Document printing"
      ExpenseAmount="50"/>
                            <Expense ExpenseType="Gift" ExpenseAmount="125" />
                        </Person>
                        <Person Name="PaulBriggs" Department="Engineering">
                            <Expense ExpenseType="Magazine subscription" 
     ExpenseAmount="50"/>
                            <Expense ExpenseType="New machine" ExpenseAmount="600" />
                            <Expense ExpenseType="Software" ExpenseAmount="500" />
                        </Person>
                        <Person Name="AlfredNobel" Department="Finance">
                            <Expense ExpenseType="Dinner" ExpenseAmount="100" />
                        </Person>
                    </Expenses>
                </x:XData>
            </XmlDataProvider>
            <!-- Data Template to mention that Name should be fetched from the XMLDataProvider -->
            <!-- Name item template -->
            <DataTemplate x:Key="personItemTemplate">
                <Label Content="{Binding XPath=@Name}"/>
            </DataTemplate>
        </Grid.Resources>
    </Grid>
</Page>

I have the required template inside the Grid resources and so adding it as a static resource. Still, it throws the exception that the datatemplate is not available.

Answer 1

Move the <Grid.Resources> ... </Grid.Resources> to the top of your grid definition and it will work. The DataTemplate appears to need to be defined before it is referenced. I copied your sample into an app and confirmed that moving the Resources section up solved the problem.

Answer 2

There are several reasons for this error. The solution to my proplem was that I failed to add a "InitializeComponent();" in the constructor of Application therefore the Xaml containing the ResourceDictionary was never initialized. Hence the error "Can not find..." I failed to mention that I am hand-coding. If you generating code via Visual Studio, this is not required.