diff --git a/include/wx/xrc/xmlres.h b/include/wx/xrc/xmlres.h
index bee65df5a4..aba488cd0f 100644
--- a/include/wx/xrc/xmlres.h
+++ b/include/wx/xrc/xmlres.h
@@ -485,7 +485,7 @@ protected:
 
     // Returns true if the node has a property class equal to classname,
     // e.g. <object class="wxDialog">.
-    bool IsOfClass(wxXmlNode *node, const wxString& classname);
+    static bool IsOfClass(wxXmlNode *node, const wxString& classname);
 
     // Gets node content from wxXML_ENTITY_NODE
     // The problem is, <tag>content<tag> is represented as
diff --git a/src/xrc/xmlres.cpp b/src/xrc/xmlres.cpp
index ba4a986bb3..4aeeb37a11 100644
--- a/src/xrc/xmlres.cpp
+++ b/src/xrc/xmlres.cpp
@@ -1555,9 +1555,10 @@ wxXmlNode *wxXmlResourceHandler::GetParamNode(const wxString& param)
     return NULL;
 }
 
+/* static */
 bool wxXmlResourceHandler::IsOfClass(wxXmlNode *node, const wxString& classname)
 {
-    return node->GetAttribute(wxT("class"), wxEmptyString) == classname;
+    return node->GetAttribute(wxT("class")) == classname;
 }