Can I reference non-WPF classes in a resource file?

I am glad you made your code downloadable - it contains multiple problems that you need to fix to get it compiled:

Replace the following XAML in StringRes.xaml

xmlns:topicsmd="clr-namespace:SchoolPrism.Topics.Model"
xmlns:topicsvm="clr-namespace:SchoolPrism.Topics.ViewModel">

with

xmlns:topicsmd="clr-namespace:SchoolPrism.Topics.Model;assembly=Topics"
xmlns:topicsvm="clr-namespace:SchoolPrism.Topics.ViewModel;assembly=Topics">

This is actually what I tried to suggest in Solution 1 without seeing your code...

Make the classes

TopicsViewModel

and

TopicSchema

public since they will otherwise be invisible outside of their assembly.

I can compile and start your code when I make these changes. But then I get an unrelated PRISM Exception:

$exception	{"Directory ../../SchoolPrismInfrastructure/Modules was not found."}	System.InvalidOperationException

which I fixed further below for you.

Based on the questions you asked and the simplicity of the problems you cannot seem to recognize and fix I recommend you build your project without PRISM first - and then introduce PRISM when you have a working application - otherwise, you'll be trying to juggle more than one completely new topic at a time and some balls will smash into the ground (I am afraid)...

I hope this was helpful, though...

public class TopicSchema
    {
        public string Name {
            get; set;
        }

        public int Week
        {
            get; set;
        }

        public Uri VidLink { get; set; }

        public List<string> Instructions
        {
            get; set;
        }

        public string Code
        {
            get; set;
        }
        public string VidString
        {
            get { return VidString; }
            set {
                VidLink = new Uri("../../Topics/View/Assets/" + value, UriKind.Relative); // relative paths read from debug folder
            }
        }
    }

public class TopicsViewModel
    {
        public TopicSchema currentTopic
        {
            get; set;
        }

        public ObservableCollection<TopicSchema> getAllWeeks
        {
            get { return TopicsModel.GetAllWeeks(); }

            set { }
        }

        public DelegateCommand<string> displayTopic
        {
            get { return new DelegateCommand<string>(DisplayTopic); }

            set { }
        }

        public void DisplayTopic (string week) {

            var query = from topic in getAllWeeks where topic.Week== int.Parse(week) select topic;

            currentTopic = query.First();

            IModule allModules = ServiceLocator.Current.GetInstance<ModuleCatalog>().Modules.Where((ModuleInfo m) => m.ModuleName.Equals("TopicsModule")).Cast<IModule>().First(); //.ShowSandbox();
        }
    }

I played a little more with it and found a simple solution for the additional exception. Go into the Solution Exporer and:

1) add a Modules folder to the

SchoolPrism

project and
2) add a ReadMe.txt file into the modules folder
3) Right-Click on the ReadMe.txt file and select properties - select Build Action=Content and Copy to OutputDirectory = Always

Go into

BootStrapper.cs

class and edit the following lines:

protected override IModuleCatalog CreateModuleCatalog ( ) {

            return new DirectoryModuleCatalog() {
                ModulePath = @".\Modules\" // executing path is debug/bin
            };
        }

this should make sure that you always have a Modules directory and PRISM won't throw the above exception... The application starts up for me when I do this... don't forget to give the solution stars...