Using Value Converters in WPF without having to define them as resources first

Question

Is it possible to use value converters without having to define them beforehand as resources?

Right now I have

Answer 1

I don't know of a way to do this the way your are stating, but I just tried this as a sample and it worked. In your App.xaml.cs file you can create a method that uses reflection to load the converters.

private void Application_Startup(object sender, StartupEventArgs e)
{
    LoadConverters();
}

private void LoadConverters()
{
    foreach(var t in Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().GetTypes())
    {
        if (t.GetInterfaces().Any(i => i.Name == "IValueConverter"))
        {
            Resources.Add(t.Name, Activator.CreateInstance(t));
        }
    }
}

Then you can use the converter with like this, half way there I guess.

The problem with the approach you are proposing is that the Xaml parser doesn't know when and how many instances of your converter to create. Creating it as a resource ensure only one instance.