HTML In Listview - xamarin.forms

Question

I need to show list of post titles coming from wordpress. The titles have unicode characters in them. Like this “I Shall Not Forget” I want it to show “I Shall Not Forget”
In code behind System.Net.WebUtility.HtmlDecode(text.Title.Rendered) will take care of it. Can I do that somehow in the XAMAL?
<ListView x:Name="postList" ItemSelected="Handle_ItemSelected">
<ListView.ItemTemplate>
<DataTemplate>
<ViewCell>
<StackLayout>
<Label FormattedText="{Binding Title.Rendered}"/>
</StackLayout>
</ViewCell>
</DataTemplate>
</ListView.ItemTemplate>
</ListView>

Answer 1

Code based on what #Jason said: Using a converter.
Create a class called HtmlConverter:
using System;
using Xamarin.Forms;
namespace StackoverflowQ.Converters
{
public class HtmlConverter : IValueConverter
{
#region Converter
public object Convert(object value, Type targetType, object parameter,
System.Globalization.CultureInfo culture)
{
if (value != null)
{
string text = (string)value;
return System.Net.WebUtility.HtmlDecode(text);
}
else
{
return "";
}
}
public object ConvertBack(object value, Type targetType, object parameter,
System.Globalization.CultureInfo culture)
{
throw new NotSupportedException();
}
#endregion
}
}
In your xaml reference that class (Mine is in a folder called Converters)
xmlns:converters="clr-namespace:StackoverflowQ.Converters;assembly=StackoverflowQ"
Then add it in your ResourceDictionary from there you should be able to reference it
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<ContentPage
xmlns="http://xamarin.com/schemas/2014/forms"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2009/xaml"
x:Class="StackoverflowQ.Views.MainPage"
Title="{Binding Title}">
<ContentPage.Resources>
<ResourceDictionary>
<converters:HtmlConverter x:Key="HtmlConverter" />
</ResourceDictionary>
</ContentPage.Resources>
<StackLayout HorizontalOptions="CenterAndExpand" VerticalOptions="CenterAndExpand">
<ListView x:Name="postList" ItemSelected="Handle_ItemSelected">
<ListView.ItemTemplate>
<DataTemplate>
<ViewCell>
<StackLayout>
<Label Text="{Binding Title.Rendered , Converter={StaticResource HtmlConverter}}" />
</StackLayout>
</ViewCell>
</DataTemplate>
</ListView.ItemTemplate>
</ListView>
</StackLayout>
</ContentPage>

Answer 2

You can create a Label Renderer to convert HTML text like this:
CustomLabel:
public class CustomLabel: Label
{
}
Android Renderer:
[assembly: ExportRenderer(typeof(CustomLabel), typeof(HtmlFormattedLabelRenderer))]
namespace XYZ.Droid.Renderer
{
public class HtmlFormattedLabelRenderer : LabelRenderer
{
protected override void OnElementChanged(ElementChangedEventArgs<Label> e)
{
base.OnElementChanged(e);
var view = (CustomLabel)Element;
if (view == null) return;
if(!string.IsNullOrEmpty(Control.Text))
Control.SetText(Html.FromHtml(view.Text.ToString()), TextView.BufferType.Spannable);
}
}
}
iOS Renderer:
[assembly: ExportRenderer(typeof(CustomLabel), typeof(HtmlFormattedLabelRendereriOS))]
namespace XYZ.iOS.Renderer
{
public class HtmlFormattedLabelRendereriOS:LabelRenderer
{
protected override void OnElementChanged(ElementChangedEventArgs<Label> e)
{
base.OnElementChanged(e);
var view = (CustomLabel)Element;
if (view == null) return;
var attr = new NSAttributedStringDocumentAttributes();
var nsError = new NSError();
attr.DocumentType = NSDocumentType.HTML;
Control.AttributedText = new NSAttributedString(view.Text, attr, ref nsError);
var mutable = Control.AttributedText as NSMutableAttributedString;
UIStringAttributes uiString = new UIStringAttributes();
uiString.Font = UIFont.FromName("Roboto-Regular",15f);
uiString.ForegroundColor = UIColor.FromRGB(130, 130, 130);
mutable.SetAttributes(uiString, new NSRange(0, Control.Text.Length));
}
}
}
Hope this may solve your issue.

Answer 3

The HtmlText property of Forms9Patch.Label decodes escapes. Forms9Patch is a free, open source (MIT License) NuGet package. Full disclosure: I am the author of Forms9Patch.