Visual studio's Editor not showing controls correctly when using the WPF UI library in an existing project

[yesseruser]

Describe the bug

After downloading the NuGet package into an existing WPF project, Visual Studio's built-in Editor only seems to show ui:Buttons with the "Appearance" property set to "Primary". All other controls are invisible (see screenshot).

Here's my App.xaml file:

<Application x:Class="Kviz.App"
             xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
             xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
             xmlns:local="clr-namespace:Kviz"
             xmlns:ui="http://schemas.lepo.co/wpfui/2022/xaml"
             StartupUri="Form1.xaml">
    <Application.Resources>
        <ResourceDictionary>
            <ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries>
                <ui:ThemesDictionary Theme="Dark" />
                <ui:ControlsDictionary />
            </ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries>
        </ResourceDictionary>
    </Application.Resources>
</Application>

To Reproduce

1. Create a new standard WPF project.
2. Add the WPF-UI NuGet package to it.
3. Add controls to a page or window.
4. Observe the issue.

Expected behavior

The editor should either:

• Show dark mode and all controls white, or
• Show normal light mode and all controls black.

Screenshots

OS version

Windows 11 Pro 22H2 (Build 22621.1992) - AMD64

.NET version

.NET 7.0.306

WPF-UI NuGet version

WPF UI 2.0.3

Additional context

Visual Studio 2022 version: 17.6.5

[senyangjiang]

i have the same issue, the designer is still showing plain WPF elements

Edit: I was using VS2019, and this was resolved after updating to VS2022

[yesseruser]

For me the designer is showing no elements at all unless I set the appearance property to Primary, and that is only possible on some elements

[robng]

Hey there @yesseruser, did you ever manage to resolve that problem? I'm facing the same issue...

[pomianowski]

This occurs because you are using Dark controls on the light background in preview.

To allow displaying proper preview on a black background, add a Background or ui:Design.Background to your control.

https://github.com/lepoco/wpfui/blob/7fcc2d8410f056d1d6de97c2f8078b3d8b38539b/src/Wpf.Ui.Gallery/Views/Windows/MainWindow.xaml#L19C5-L19C5

[robng]

Thanks a lot @pomianowski, that makes embarrassingly much sense... and sure enough, that fixed it.

[yesseruser]

https://github.com/lepoco/wpfui/blob/7fcc2d8410f056d1d6de97c2f8078b3d8b38539b/src/Wpf.Ui.Gallery/Views/Windows/MainWindow.xaml#L19C5-L19C5

https://github.com/lepoco/wpfui/blob/7fcc2d8410f056d1d6de97c2f8078b3d8b38539b/src%2FWpf.Ui.Gallery%2FViews%2FWindows%2FMainWindow.xaml#L19 ( ui:Design.Background="{DynamicResource ApplicationBackgroundBrush}")

Does {DynamicResource ApplicationBackgroundBrush} auto update based on user's color scheme?

[m0lDaViA]

@robng Please close this issue.