DataBindings are broken after update to MvvmCross 4.0 when using AppCompatActivity - data-binding

I'm using the android toolbar at my MvvmCross 3.5.1 app but once I updated it to MvvmCross 4.0 databindings are broken. As long as there is no base appcompat activity I have to implement my own:
MvxActionBarEventSourceActivity : AppCompatActivity , IMvxEventSourceActivity
{
...
}
And then base bindable mvx activity:
MvxActionBarActivity : MvxActionBarEventSourceActivity, IMvxAndroidView
{
...
}
App starts just fine and I can see my toolbar but bindings are just "silent" and don't work. Same implementation works find for MvvmCross 3.5.
You can find full sample here:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/19503836/MvvmCross4_Toolbar_Bindings.zip
Please advise.

You need to override OnCreateView and AttachBaseContext and use the MvxAppCompatActivityHelper to support bindings: https://github.com/MvvmCross/MvvmCross-AndroidSupport/blob/master/MvvmCross.Droid.Support.V7.AppCompat/MvxAppCompatActivity.cs#L78
public override View OnCreateView(View parent, string name, Context context, IAttributeSet attrs)
{
var view = MvxAppCompatActivityHelper.OnCreateView(parent, name, context, attrs);
return view ?? base.OnCreateView(parent, name, context, attrs);
}
protected override void AttachBaseContext(Context #base)
{
base.AttachBaseContext(MvxContextWrapper.Wrap(#base, this));
}
There is a sample available to implement Toolbar instead of Actionbar too: https://github.com/MvvmCross/MvvmCross-AndroidSupport/tree/master/Samples

Related

Proper Page.Loaded event in Xamarin.Forms

For the past 2 month I have been searching tirelessly for a way to implement a proper Page.Loaded event when using Xamarin.Forms but I couldn't implement or find a way to do it.
Most people suggest overriding Page.OnAppearing or adding an event handler for Page.Appearing both of which are not the answers or the proper way to achieve the desired effect and don't event behave as a real Page.Loaded event would.
I would like to know the following:
Why doesn't Xamarin.Forms have a built-in Page.Loaded event?
Is there's a work around?
Can I implement it from the native side?
Edit:
What I mean by "proper Page.Loaded" event is:
It must be called ONCE AND ONLY ONCE the page has loaded all of it's controls, laid them out, initialized them and rendered them for the first time.
It must NOT be called when returning from modal pages.
1.Why not load the data/controls in the constructor of the ContentPage? The constructor method is call only once and it is also called before Page.OnAppearing.
Can I implement it from the native side?
Yes, I think you can.
In iOS, override the ViewDidLoad method in custom renderer:
[assembly:ExportRenderer (typeof(ContentPage), typeof(MyPageRenderer))]
namespace App487.iOS
{
public class MyPageRenderer : PageRenderer
{
protected override void OnElementChanged(VisualElementChangedEventArgs e)
{
base.OnElementChanged(e);
}
public override void ViewDidLoad()
{
base.ViewDidLoad();
//call before ViewWillAppear and only called once
}
public override void ViewWillAppear(bool animated)
{
base.ViewWillAppear(animated);
}
}
}
In Android, try to override the OnAttachedToWindow method:
[assembly: ExportRenderer(typeof(ContentPage), typeof(MyPageRenderer))]
namespace App487.Droid
{
public class MyPageRenderer : PageRenderer
{
public MyPageRenderer(Context context) : base(context)
{
}
protected override void OnElementChanged(ElementChangedEventArgs<Page> e)
{
base.OnElementChanged(e);
}
protected override void OnAttachedToWindow()
{
base.OnAttachedToWindow();
}
}
}
Currently Xamarin.Forms doesn't not provide a proper/complete life cycle events to fulfill all specific requirements, but things are improving, the Dev team is currently working on to address this issue, below mentioned issues and recent pull request on the official GitHub Repos (you may follow, get ideas and maybe implement it yourself before they even ship it), they will for sure provide that in the future, although it is not clear when it will be ready.
Specification: Enhancement Add better life cycle events #2210.
Issue: LifeCycle events for controls #556.
Pull request: Life cycle events for controls
GitHub Branch where currently working on.
MAUI repo (Next evolution of Xamarin) Cross-Platform LifeCycle.
Specification Add Loaded/Unloaded to VisualElement.

Xamarin.Forms - getting Control from ImageButtonRenderer

I am trying to create a subclass of ImageButton called TintedImageButton that (surprise) can tint the image. I am following the basic structure of some TintedImage code I have found.
TintedImageButton has three renderers for iOS, Android and UWP.
The Android version of TintedImageButtonRenderer isn't working because it can't access the "Control" property of its superclass, ImageButtonRenderer. The Control should be the native widget.
I have been unable to locate the class documentation for ImageButtonRenderer but decompiling seems to indicate that the Control property has been made private for Android, but not for iOS. Does anyone know why this might be? How can I get the native widget so I can modify it?
The ImageButtonRenderer inherits from AppCompatImageButton, so the class myImageButtonRender itself is a native control which is a subclass of AppCompatImageButton.
[assembly: ExportRenderer(typeof(TintedImageButton), typeof(myImageButtonRender))]
namespace App261.Droid
{
class myImageButtonRender : ImageButtonRenderer
{
public myImageButtonRender(Context context) : base(context)
{
}
protected override void OnElementChanged(ElementChangedEventArgs<Xamarin.Forms.ImageButton> e)
{
base.OnElementChanged(e);
this.SetImageResource(Resource.Drawable.sample);
AppCompatImageButton imagV = this as AppCompatImageButton;
}
}
}

Is it possible to delay-load PRISM / Xamarin Forms components that aren't immediately needed?

I have the following AppDelegate which takes quite some time to load:
Syncfusion.ListView.XForms.iOS.SfListViewRenderer.Init();
new Syncfusion.SfNumericUpDown.XForms.iOS.SfNumericUpDownRenderer();
Syncfusion.SfCarousel.XForms.iOS.SfCarouselRenderer.Init();
Syncfusion.XForms.iOS.Buttons.SfSegmentedControlRenderer.Init();
Syncfusion.XForms.iOS.Buttons.SfCheckBoxRenderer.Init();
new Syncfusion.XForms.iOS.ComboBox.SfComboBoxRenderer();
//Syncfusion.XForms.iOS.TabView.SfTabViewRenderer.Init();
new Syncfusion.SfRotator.XForms.iOS.SfRotatorRenderer();
new Syncfusion.SfRating.XForms.iOS.SfRatingRenderer();
new Syncfusion.SfBusyIndicator.XForms.iOS.SfBusyIndicatorRenderer();
What options should I consider when I know some of these components aren't needed for the main screen, but for subscreens?
I am using PRISM, and it appears that every tab is pre-loaded immediately before allowing display or interaction with the end user. What can I do to delay the pre-rendering that the Prism TabView does prior to showing the interface?
Should I use Lazy<T>? What is the right approach?
Should I move these components to another initialization section?
There are a number of ways you could ultimately achieve this, and it all depends on what your real goals are.
If your goal is to ensure that you get to a Xamarin.Forms Page as fast as possible so that you have some sort of activity indicator, that in essence says to the user, "it's ok I haven't frozen, we're just doing some stuff to get ready for you", then you might try creating a "SpashScreen" page where you do additional loading. The setup might look something like the following:
public partial class AppDelegate : FormsApplicationDelegate
{
public override bool FinishedLaunching(UIApplication app, NSDictionary options)
{
global::Xamarin.Forms.Forms.Init();
LoadApplication(new App(new iOSInitializer()));
return base.FinishedLaunching(app, options);
}
}
}
public class iOSInitializer : IPlatformInitializer, IPlatformFinalizer
{
public void RegisterTypes(IContainerRegistry containerRegistry)
{
containerRegistry.RegisterInstance<IPlatformFinalizer>(this);
}
public void Finalize()
{
new Syncfusion.SfNumericUpDown.XForms.iOS.SfNumericUpDownRenderer();
Syncfusion.SfCarousel.XForms.iOS.SfCarouselRenderer.Init();
Syncfusion.XForms.iOS.Buttons.SfSegmentedControlRenderer.Init();
Syncfusion.XForms.iOS.Buttons.SfCheckBoxRenderer.Init();
}
}
public class App : PrismApplication
{
protected override async void OnInitialized()
{
await NavigationService.NavigateAsync("SplashScreen");
}
}
public class SplashScreenViewModel : INavigationAware
{
private IPlatformFinalizer _platformFinalizer { get; }
private INavigationService _navigationService { get; }
public SplashScreenViewModel(INavigationService navigationService, IPlatformFinalizer platformFinalizer)
{
_navigationService = navigationService;
_platformFinalizer = platformFinalizer;
}
public async void OnNavigatedTo(INavigationParameters navigationParameters)
{
_platformFinalizer.Finalize();
await _navigationService.NavigateAsync("/MainPage");
}
}
If you're working with Modules you could take a similar approach though any Modules that would initialize at Startup would still be making that call to Init the renderers before you've set a Page to navigate to. That said, working with Modules does give you a number of benefits here as you only ever would have to initialize things that the app actually requires at that point.
All of that said I'd be surprised if you see much in the way of gain as these Init calls are typically empty methods only designed to prevent the Linker from linking them out... if you aren't linking or have a linker file you could simply instruct the Linker to leave your Syncfusion and other libraries alone.

Xamarin Forms native customrenderer

I have followed James Montemagno's guide on how to make a custom renderer for round images in my Xamarin Forms Shared Project.
https://blog.xamarin.com/elegant-circle-images-in-xamarin-forms/
(being a true copy of the guide it feels redundant to actually add the code itself to my project but please comment if that is not the case)
It is working flawless, however, I need to change the colour of the circle border dynamically with the press of a button when the app is running.
But since the colour of the circle is set natively in each renderer I am uncertain how I could possibly change it from my shared code.
Maybe this snippet can help:
public class CircleImage : Image
{
public static readonly BindableProperty CurvedBackgroundColorProperty =
BindableProperty.Create(
nameof(CurvedBackgroundColor),
typeof(Color),
typeof(CurvedCornersLabel),
Color.Default);
public Color CurvedBackgroundColor
{
get { return (Color)GetValue(CurvedBackgroundColorProperty); }
set { SetValue(CurvedBackgroundColorProperty, value); }
}
}
//Android/iOS
[assembly: ExportRenderer(typeof(CircleImage), typeof(CircleImageRenderer))]
namespace SchedulingTool.iOS.Renderers
{
public class CircleImageRenderer : ImageRenderer
{
protected override void OnElementChanged(ElementChangedEventArgs<Image> e)
{
base.OnElementChanged(e);
if (e.NewElement != null)
{
var xfViewReference = (CircleImage)Element;
//Here you can reference xfViewReference.CurvedBackgroundColor to assign what ever is binded.
}
}
}
}
I hope you get the main idea, you can create your own bindable properties and access them on the Native Renderer.
If everything does not go as expected you can always download the NuGet (which has everything you need):
https://github.com/jamesmontemagno/ImageCirclePlugin

disable back button xamarin.forms

I am sorry, if this question is asked before, but I am unable to find my answer that is why I am asking again this question.
My Scenario is I have placed a back button on my axml views from which I am performing Navigation of Going back on previous views using GoBack() Method.
what I need I want to disable back button on my hardware so that my app should not go back to previous screens which are available in the navigation stack. I am using Prism MVVM for my app, so is there any possibility to disable this button or have some overrideable action method on my ViewModel from which I should stop it.
Hope you could understand my question.
B.R
I found the best way to do this was to use the provided override of OnBackPressed in the android MainActivity and then access a bool I saved somewhere. I use the settings plugin personally but the example below uses the built in application properties (it should work but I haven't tested it).
public class MainActivity : FormsApplicationActivity
{
protected override void OnCreate(Bundle bundle)
{
base.OnCreate(bundle);
Forms.Init(this, bundle);
LoadApplication(new App());
}
public override void OnBackPressed()
{
var disable = (bool) App.Current.Properties["isBackButtonDisabled"];
if (disable) return;
base.OnBackPressed();
}
}

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