VS Developer Express for Windows Phone new project shows XamlParseException

Question

I recently installed windows 8 along with Visual Studio Express 2012 for Windows Phone. However, if I start a new Windows Phone App project (7.1, although 8 has the same issue) and open the MainPage.xaml file, an error appears in the designer window as follows:

XamlParseException: Cannot find a Resource with the Name/Key PhoneBackgroundBrush [Line: 47 Position: 111]

The MainPage.xaml file is as follows:

<phone:PhoneApplicationPage 
    x:Class="PhoneApp1.MainPage"
    xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
    xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
    xmlns:phone="clr-namespace:Microsoft.Phone.Controls;assembly=Microsoft.Phone"
    xmlns:shell="clr-namespace:Microsoft.Phone.Shell;assembly=Microsoft.Phone"
    xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008"
    xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006"
    mc:Ignorable="d" d:DesignWidth="480" d:DesignHeight="768"
    FontFamily="{StaticResource PhoneFontFamilyNormal}"
    FontSize="{StaticResource PhoneFontSizeNormal}"
    Foreground="{StaticResource PhoneForegroundBrush}"
    SupportedOrientations="Portrait" Orientation="Portrait"
    shell:SystemTray.IsVisible="True">

    <!--LayoutRoot is the root grid where all page content is placed-->
    <Grid x:Name="LayoutRoot" Background="Transparent">
        <Grid.RowDefinitions>
            <RowDefinition Height="Auto"/>
            <RowDefinition Height="*"/>
        </Grid.RowDefinitions>

        <!--TitlePanel contains the name of the application and page title-->
        <StackPanel x:Name="TitlePanel" Grid.Row="0" Margin="12,17,0,28">
            <TextBlock x:Name="ApplicationTitle" Text="MY APPLICATION" Style="{StaticResource PhoneTextNormalStyle}"/>
            <TextBlock x:Name="PageTitle" Text="page name" Margin="9,-7,0,0" Style="{StaticResource PhoneTextTitle1Style}"/>
        </StackPanel>

        <!--ContentPanel - place additional content here-->
        <Grid x:Name="ContentPanel" Grid.Row="1" Margin="12,0,12,0"></Grid>
    </Grid>

</phone:PhoneApplicationPage>

The App.xaml file contains this:

<Application 
    x:Class="PhoneApp1.App"
    xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"       
    xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
    xmlns:phone="clr-namespace:Microsoft.Phone.Controls;assembly=Microsoft.Phone"
    xmlns:shell="clr-namespace:Microsoft.Phone.Shell;assembly=Microsoft.Phone">

    <!--Application Resources-->
    <Application.Resources>
    </Application.Resources>

    <Application.ApplicationLifetimeObjects>
        <!--Required object that handles lifetime events for the application-->
        <shell:PhoneApplicationService 
            Launching="Application_Launching" Closing="Application_Closing" 
            Activated="Application_Activated" Deactivated="Application_Deactivated"/>
    </Application.ApplicationLifetimeObjects>

</Application>

The solution looks like this:

There doesn't appear to be any other style related files anywhere. Can anyone shed any light on this? its driving me insane.

Answer 1

Based on your own answer instead of copying the original ThemesResources.xaml I'd create a new one and merge it with the original.

Create a new Resource Dictionary (e.g. FixedDictionaryResources.xaml). In Visual Studio you need to create a Windows Phone Page or use any other template that creates a XAML file. In Blend you can create a resource dictionary directly. In VS you need to remove then all the content and put in the following code. In Blend just add the

<ResourceDictionary
    xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation" 
    xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml">
    <!-- Resource dictionary entries should be defined here. -->
    <SolidColorBrush x:Key="PhoneBackgroundBrush" Color="{StaticResource PhoneBackgroundColor}"/>
</ResourceDictionary>

Open App.xaml and add the following code to merge the new dictionary with the default resources dictionary.

<Application.Resources>
    <ResourceDictionary>
        <ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries>
            <ResourceDictionary Source="Resources/FixingResourceDictionary.xaml"/>
        </ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries>
    </ResourceDictionary>
</Application.Resources>

Reopen the pages that are still showing the PhoneBackgroundBrush missing issue and everything should work now.

Answer 2

Phew! fixed this as follows:

Right click the project in the solution explorer panel on the right Select Add -> Existing Item Select C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Windows Phone\v7.1\Design\ThemeResources.xaml in he file browser Click 'Add' button In your App.xaml file, add the following replace the section with this:

<Application.Resources>
    <ResourceDictionary>
        <ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries>
            <ResourceDictionary Source="ThemeResources.Xaml" />
        </ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries>
    </ResourceDictionary>
</Application.Resources>

Open the designer at MainPage.xaml - should now work ok. Hope this saves someone a bit of time!