Is this a good user control layout for WPF?

Question

Below is a code snippet of how I have been laying out my WPF control XAML. I do it mainly because I get intellisense in the editor and I can change the implementation of the viewmodel and push the layout into a resource file.

However, I am not sure whether you gurus have a better insight into why I should not do this?

I'm just after a critique really.

<UserControl.Resources>
<ResourceDictionary>
 <ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries>
 <ResourceDictionary Source="../../Styles/BaseStyles.xaml"/>
 </ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries>
 <DataTemplate x:Key="LayoutRoot" 
 DataType="{x:Type ns:IViewModel}">
 <Grid Height="200" Width="300">
 <Grid.RowDefinitions>
 <RowDefinition Height="Auto" />
 <RowDefinition Height="Auto" />
 <RowDefinition Height="*"/>
 <RowDefinition Height="Auto" />
 </Grid.RowDefinitions>
 <Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
 <ColumnDefinition Width="Auto"/>
 <ColumnDefinition Width="*"/>
 </Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
 <Label Content="Some Label" Style="{StaticResource BoldLabel}" Margin="5, 0" 
 Target="{Binding ElementName=Lcb1}"/>
 <endorsements:LimitComboBox Grid.Row="0" Grid.Column="1" x:Name="Lcb1" 
 Limit="{Binding SomeData}" />
 <Label Grid.Row="1" Grid.Column="0" Content="Some Other Label" 
 Style="{StaticResource BoldLabel}" Margin="5, 0" Target={Binding ElementName=Lcb2/>
 <endorsements:LimitComboBox Grid.Row="0" Grid.Column="1" x:Name="Lcb2" 
 Limit="{Binding SomeOtherData}" />
 <StackPanel Grid.Row="3" Grid.Column="0" Orientation="Horizontal" HorizontalAlignment="Right" Grid.ColumnSpan="2">
 <Button Content="OK" Command="{Binding ApplyCommand}" IsDefault="True"/>
 <Button Content="Cancel" IsCancel="True"/>
 </StackPanel>
 </Grid>
 </DataTemplate>
</ResourceDictionary>

• svick: Could you explain how is this user control meant to be used?
• hiding.ape: It not so much about what the control does, but more about how to layout the markup. Instead of putting the markup directly into the body, I am placing it in a data template which may or may not be in the resources tag, then using a content presenter to display.

Answer 1

There are 2 things that I could critisize on your code with the information you gave us:

1. Don't load style resources inside the usercontrol. Let the application hold control over how to style a usercontrol
2. Try not to use a grid in this context, because it prevents the control from adopting itself to new sizes of the window. StackPanels and Dockpanel are much better for this

• svick: How exactly would another kind of panel help here? I think that Grid is ideal for this kind of label-value UIs.
• RononDex: Well it depends where you will integrate that user control. If you know that that part of the UI never will get resized then you are fine using grid yes.