How can I display my user control in the MainWindow? - wpf

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();

Answer 2

Build your VS2010 solution, then, go to your MainWindow's XAML.
On the left, there is a toolbar with button "Toolbox"
Open it, it contains all the possible WPF controls you could add to your UI
Your UserControl should appear on top of the list (in a category probably named "MVVM Controls"), just drag&drop it to your UI :)