WPF doesn't apply style to first element

Question

I have a simple WPF window that has 12 buttons on it. I want the same style to be applied to all of them. This code produces the same error:

<Window x:Class="TestApp.TestWindow"
        xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
        xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
        Title="TestWindow" Height="400" Width="500"
        WindowStyle="None" WindowState="Maximized">
    <Window.Resources>
        <ResourceDictionary>
            <ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries>
                <ResourceDictionary Source="Resources/AllResources.xaml"/>
                <ResourceDictionary>
                    <Style TargetType="{x:Type Button}">
                        <Setter Property="FontSize" Value="100"/>
                    </Style>
                </ResourceDictionary>
            </ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries>
        </ResourceDictionary>
    </Window.Resources>
    <Grid>
        <Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
            <ColumnDefinition/>
            <ColumnDefinition/>
        </Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
        <Button Grid.Column="0" Content="1" Name="Button1"/>
        <Button Grid.Column="1" Content="2" Name="Button2"/>
    </Grid>
</Window>

The first button does not get the style applied to it, but the second one does. I could set a key and use that on every button, but I would prefer to let WPF handle that for me. I just found out while writing this that when I do not include the outside ResourceDictionary, it works as expected. This will be a problem in the future as my application expands as I have multiple windows that need to share the same resources. The modified code is as follows:

<Window x:Class="TestApp.TestWindow"
        xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
        xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
        Title="TestWindow" Height="400" Width="500"
        WindowStyle="None" WindowState="Maximized">
    <Window.Resources>
        <Style TargetType="{x:Type Button}">
            <Setter Property="FontSize" Value="100"/>
        </Style>
    </Window.Resources>
    <Grid>
        <Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
            <ColumnDefinition/>
            <ColumnDefinition/>
        </Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
        <Button Grid.Column="0" Content="1" Name="Button1"/>
        <Button Grid.Column="1" Content="2" Name="Button2"/>
    </Grid>
</Window>

It also works if I (instead of removing the merged dictionaries) add an x:Key="key" attribute and then explicitly assign that style to each button.

What is the issue here? Why does the first one skip "Button1" and the second not?

Answer 1

I've seen this problem a couple of times before and it's a pretty weird "bug". It happends when you put a Style directly in a ResourceDictionary inside <ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries>. The Style is skipped for the first item. This code produces the same result, the Style is skipped for the first ListBoxItem

<Window.Resources>
    <ResourceDictionary>
        <ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries>
            <ResourceDictionary>
                <Style TargetType="{x:Type ListBoxItem}">
                    <Setter Property="Foreground" Value="Green"/>
                </Style>
            </ResourceDictionary>
        </ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries>
    </ResourceDictionary>
</Window.Resources>
<ListBox>
    <ListBoxItem Content="Item 1"/>
    <ListBoxItem Content="Item 2"/>
    <ListBoxItem Content="Item 3"/>
</ListBox>

To get both the styles and MergedDictionaries to work, do it like this instead

<Window.Resources>
    <ResourceDictionary>
        <ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries>
            <ResourceDictionary Source="Resources/AllResources.xaml"/>
        </ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries>
        <Style TargetType="{x:Type Button}">
            <Setter Property="FontSize" Value="100"/>
        </Style>
    </ResourceDictionary>
</Window.Resources>
<Grid>
    <Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
        <ColumnDefinition/>
        <ColumnDefinition/>
    </Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
    <Button Grid.Column="0" Content="1" Name="Button1"/>
    <Button Grid.Column="1" Content="2" Name="Button2"/>
</Grid>

Answer 2

Although it does not produce an error, according to the documentation:

• ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries Property

a dictionary used in merged dictionaries should not have content and should use the Source property to refer to another dictionary indirectly. In fact if you put the Style in a resource dictionary and reference both of them in the merge, it works as it should.

We can only speculate why this is not supported but since it isn't, and since the workaround is easy, we can't complain too bitterly except to wish that we received an error at compile time.