How can I display my user control in the MainWindow?

Question

I'm trying to build a small MVVM test application, but can't really figure how to display my user control in the MainWindow.

My Solution Explorer:

I got a resource dictionary:

    <ResourceDictionary
    xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
    xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
    xmlns:vm="clr-namespace:MVVM.ViewModel"
    xmlns:vw="clr-namespace:MVVM.View">

    <DataTemplate DataType="{x:Type vm:ViewModel}">
        <vw:View />
    </DataTemplate>

</ResourceDictionary>

I got my view:

<UserControl x:Class="MVVM.View.View"
             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="300" d:DesignWidth="300">
    <UserControl.Resources>
        <DataTemplate x:Key="PersonTemplate">
            <StackPanel>
                <TextBlock Text="{Binding FirstName}" />
            </StackPanel>
        </DataTemplate>
    </UserControl.Resources>

    <ListBox ItemsSource="{Binding Path=Persons}"
             ItemTemplate="{StaticResource PersonTemplate}" />
</UserControl>

and My MainWindow

<Window x:Class="MVVM.MainWindow"
        xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
        xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
        xmlns:vm="clr-namespace:MVVM.ViewModel"
        Title="MainWindow" Height="350" Width="525">
    <Window.Resources>
        <ResourceDictionary Source="MainWindowResources.xaml" />
    </Window.Resources>

    <Grid>

    </Grid>
</Window>

Answer 1

The most obvious and easiest way is to add the ContentControl element:

<Grid>
    <ContentControl x:Name="mainContentControl" />
</Grid>

And after that set the Content property of this control to your view model, and the corresponding view will be loaded and applied automatically:

this.mainContentControl.Content = new ViewModel.ViewModel();

But I would prefer to use another way without datatemplates:

<Grid>
    <vw:View x:Name="mainView"/>
</Grid>
this.mainView.DataContext = new ViewModel.ViewModel();