Displaying authenticated user info on AppShell FlyoutHeaderTemplate - xamarin

I'm trying to create a flyout header that displays the authenticated user's avatar and name in the FlyoutHeaderTemplate.
The issue I ran into is that it looks like OnAppearing() method is not invoked at all for AppShell. I put break points in that method and never hit it.
I also tried using a ContentView to display the header in my Flyout but turns out ContentView's don't have OnAppearing() or OnDisappearing() lifecycle events either.
How do I display authenticated user info in my flyout? I have the user info in my local database. All I need to do is:
Be able to call var user = await _dbService.GetUser(); to read user info
I also need to be able to bind to certain controls i.e. Label for username and Avatar for user image.
Here's what I have in my AppShell:
<Shell.FlyoutHeaderTemplate>
<DataTemplate>
<StackLayout>
<Label Text="{Binding ???}"/>
</StackLayout>
</DataTemplate>
</Shell.FlyoutHeaderTemplate>

First time you run the Appshell it will hit the constructor so you can call var user = await _dbService.GetUser(); in the constructor . Then Bind the shell to itself this.BindingContext = this;. Add a string property to bind it to the Text Label in xaml.
private string name;
public string Name { get{return name;} set { SetProperty(ref name, value); }
public AppShell()
{
InitializeComponent();
Task.Run(async () =>
{
await GetUser();
});
this.BindingContext = this;
}
public async void GetUser(){
var user = await _dbService.GetUser();
Name = user.Name;
}
The OnAppearing() will hit whenever you go to await Shell.Current.GoToAsync("..");. So you can call var user = await _dbService.GetUser(); in it also.

Related

UI freezes for 2-3 seconds when loading a carouselview

I have a carouselview binded to a viewmodel, on the previous page (call it first page) user can select 2 arguments and with the help of those, the next view (call it second page) is generated accordingly. However, I can't wrap my head around why my view won't load asynchronously.
So my problem: When I click the button on the first page the UI would freeze for like a solid 2-3 seconds, and then start load (asynchronously?) and once it's done it's all good.
Also I couldn't really figure out a better way to inherit values from first page to second so if someone has an idea please let me know.
Any help on how can I fix this I would really appreciate.
The viewmodel for second page
public class DataSelectionViewModel : BaseViewModel
{
public ObservableCollection<Items> FilteredData { get; set; }
public UserSelectionViewModel()
{
_dataStore = DependencyService.Get<IDataStore>();
LoadData= new AsyncAwaitBestPractices.MVVM.AsyncCommand(FilterData);
FilteredData = new ObservableRangeCollection<Items>();
}
public async Task FilterData()
{
FilteredData.Clear();
var filtereddata = await _dataStore.SearchData(Hard, Subject).ConfigureAwait(false);
foreach (var data in filtereddata)
{
FilteredData.Add(data);
}
}
}
The carouselview in second page
<ContentPage.BindingContext>
<db:DataSelectionViewModel/>
</ContentPage.BindingContext>
...
<!-- DataTemplate for carouselview has radiobuttons, label and button all in a grid -->
<CarouselView ItemsSource="{Binding FilteredData}">
Second Page c#
public partial class SecondPage : ContentPage
{
public Coll(bool hard, string subject)
{
InitializeComponent();
var vm = (BaseViewModel)BindingContext;
vm.Hard = hard;
vm.Subject = subject;
/* had to set "hard" and "subject" here again, otherwise data won't load */
}
protected override async void OnAppearing()
{
var vm = (DataSelectionViewModel)BindingContext;
base.OnAppearing();
await vm.LoadData.ExecuteAsync().ConfigureAwait(false);
}
}
The first page view containing the button
<Button x:Name="Start" Pressed="ButtonClick"/>
First page c# --> Here I also tried doing it with a command and a pressed at the same time, because I couldn't come up with a way to save variables to second page viewmodel, that's why I use pressed here
private async void ButtonClick(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
var vm = (BaseViewModel)BindingContext;
vm.Hard = HardButtonSelected == Hard;
vm.Subject = vm.Subject.ToLower();
await Navigation.PushAsync(new SecondPage(vm.Hard, vm.Subject));
}
I have tried not using the OnAppearing method to get my data, but then it wouldn't bind to the page and it would not show, if I were to previously fill the ObservableCollection with my data and then load the page although I would love to be able to do this because it would allow me to create a loading popup also.

How do I close all pages after changing an item's data?

I have a doubt in Xamarin forms, I have an application that I would like after finishing the training, it closes all the training screens and only the main screen remains, today I got a cod that does this, but when I restart the app and I login,
when he closes the screens instead of going back to the main screen he goes back to the login, I'm not using masterpage, could that be it?
source:
private async void BtnVoltar_Clicked(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
int numModals = Application.Current.MainPage.Navigation.ModalStack.Count;
// Pop each modal in the stack
for (int currModal = 0; currModal < numModals; currModal++)
{
await Application.Current.MainPage.Navigation.PopModalAsync();
}
await Navigation.PushModalAsync(new TabbedPageMenu());
}
Image Link
https://imgur.com/pOVVYBu
Another doubt would be after updating the data of an item, if it is possible to close the two screens and update it on the main screen
image link2
https://imgur.com/ZpevVNg
You can use the method to navigate to the different pages instead of close the pages.
The code in xaml you can add the command to do the navigation.
Command="{Binding NavigateCommand}"
CommandParameter="{x:Type views:targetpagename}"
The code in xaml.cs or viewmodel
public ICommand NavigateCommand { get; private set; }
public MainPage()
{
InitializeComponent();
NavigateCommand = new Command<Type>(
async (Type pageType) =>
{
Page page = (Page)Activator.CreateInstance(pageType);
await Navigation.PushAsync(page);
});
BindingContext = this;
}

I tried to update a label in Xamarin.Forms, and it broke the entire app

I have a label on my app's main page that is supposed to update every fifteen seconds, but it only updates once and after that, a lot of things stop working. For example, if I try to open a new page after the label updates, the page's title is drawn in the same place as the back button (both of which are generated in the toolbar by Xamarin), and the page's content doesn't load at all. Also, I have a ListView on the page and if I try to select an item (which is supposed to open a new page) it only works the first time, after which point the ListView disappears, but the orange box that appears behind a selected item stays there.
How the label works at the moment is I have a timer in the App class that chooses a random piece of text from a list that I load in the app's OnStart() function (that part works properly) and then fires an event that is supposed to update the label.
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.IO;
using System.Linq;
using System.Timers;
using System.Reflection;
using Xamarin.Forms;
using Xamarin.Forms.Xaml;
using Partylist.Views;
using Partylist.Models;
namespace Partylist
{
public partial class App : Application, INotifyPropertyChanged
{
// Variable to store the currently selected event.
public static Event selectedEvent;
// Variable to store the currently selected list.
public static PartylistList selectedList;
// Struct to store information about tips.
public struct Tip
{
// A short version of the tip for the banner at the bottom of the screen.
public string Summary { get; set; }
// The full tip, which you can read by clicking the "More" button in the banner.
public string Full { get; set; }
}
// Array of tips.
public List<Tip> tips = new List<Tip>();
// Current tip.
public Tip CurrentTip { get; set; }
// Timer that gets the tip to update.
public Timer tipTimer = new Timer(15000);
// Random number generator for choosing the tip.
public Random rand = new Random();
// Event that tells the tip banners on the pages to update.
public static event EventHandler TipUpdate;
// Constructor.
public App()
{
// Do whatever initialization stuff this does.
InitializeComponent();
// Subscribes the timer's event handling function to its event.
tipTimer.Elapsed += OnTimerElapsed;
// Open the first page: the list of events.
MainPage = new NavigationPage(new EventsPage()) {
BarTextColor = Color.FromHex("FF4081")
};
}
// Loads tips data.
private void LoadTips()
{
// Variable for the assembly.
var assembly = IntrospectionExtensions.GetTypeInfo(typeof(App)).Assembly;
// Variable for the stream I use to read the text file.
Stream tipsStream = assembly.GetManifestResourceStream("Partylist.Resources.tips.txt");
// And a variable for the StreamReader.
StreamReader tipsReader = new StreamReader(tipsStream);
// Read the whole file into the list of tips.
while (!tipsReader.EndOfStream)
{
// Read a line into a "sumamry" variable.
string sum = tipsReader.ReadLine();
// Read another line into a "full" variable.
string full = tipsReader.ReadLine();
// Add an item to the list of tips that uses "summary" as the summary
// and "full" as the full tip.
tips.Add(new Tip()
{
Summary = sum,
Full = full
});
}
// Random index of the chosen tip.
int index = rand.Next(tips.Count);
// Set the current tip as the tip at that index.
CurrentTip = tips.ElementAt(index);
// Start timer (if it needs it).
tipTimer.Start();
}
// Event handling function for when the timer goes off.
private void OnTimerElapsed(object source, ElapsedEventArgs e)
{
// Random index of the chosen tip.
int index = rand.Next(tips.Count);
// Set the current tip as the tip at that index.
CurrentTip = tips.ElementAt(index);
// Fire the event to update the pages' tip banners.
TipUpdate?.Invoke(this, e);
}
// Standard lifecycle events.
protected override void OnStart()
{
// Call a function that loads the tips.
LoadTips();
}
protected override void OnSleep()
{
}
protected override void OnResume()
{
}
}
}
In the page's OnAppearing() method, I have the label's text set to the current tip (which at this point is null) and I subscribe the function that updates it to the event that the timer fires.
using Partylist.Models;
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Collections.ObjectModel;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.IO;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using Xamarin.Forms;
using Xamarin.Forms.Xaml;
namespace Partylist.Views
{
[XamlCompilation(XamlCompilationOptions.Compile)]
public partial class EventsPage : ContentPage
{
// Text of the tip banner.
public string BannerText { get; set; }
// List of events, used to populate
// the page's ListView (see the XAML).
public ObservableCollection<Event> EventList { get; set; }
// Constructor.
public EventsPage()
{
// Does all the stuff to make the page
// exist that doesn't involve anything
// specific to this particular page in
// this particular app.
InitializeComponent();
// Set the label's BindingContext to the
// App class so it can update its text.
tipLabel.BindingContext = (App)App.Current;
}
// Runs when the page appears.
protected override void OnAppearing()
{
// Call the regular OnAppearing method.
base.OnAppearing();
// Set the BindingContext of the page to itself.
BindingContext = this;
// Update the ListView.
UpdateListView();
// Set the banner's text to the current tip's sumamry.
tipLabel.Text = ((App)App.Current).CurrentTip.Summary;
OnPropertyChanged("CurrentTip");
// Subscribe the OnTipUpdate function to the tipUpdate event in the app
// class.
App.TipUpdate += OnTipUpdate;
}
// Function to update the ListView whent he page loads or when something changes.
private void UpdateListView()
{
// Set the EventList to a new ObservableCollection
// which will be populated.
EventList = new ObservableCollection<Event>();
// Loop to populate the ObservableCollection.
for (int i = 0; i < Directory.GetDirectories(
Environment.GetFolderPath(
Environment.SpecialFolder
.LocalApplicationData))
.Length; i++)
{
// Add a new event.
EventList.Add(new Event()
{
// Set the folder name to the name of the folder
// that the even corresponds to.
FolderName = new DirectoryInfo(Directory.GetDirectories(
Environment.GetFolderPath(
Environment.SpecialFolder
.LocalApplicationData))[i]).Name,
// Sets the date/time created to the folder's
// creation date.
DateCreated = Directory
.GetCreationTime(Directory.GetDirectories(
Environment.GetFolderPath(
Environment.SpecialFolder
.LocalApplicationData))[i]),
// Sets the date/time last edited to the
// folder's write date.
DateEdited = Directory
.GetLastWriteTime(Directory.GetDirectories(
Environment.GetFolderPath(
Environment.SpecialFolder
.LocalApplicationData))[i])
});
// Set the ItemsSource of the ListView in the
// XAML to the ObservableCollection.
EventsListView.ItemsSource = EventList;
// Calls OnPropertyChanged() which makes the ListView update.
OnPropertyChanged("EventList");
}
}
// Function to go to the "New Event" page.
async void OnNewEventClicked(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
await Navigation.PushAsync(new NewEventPage());
}
// Function for when a ListView item is selected.
async void OnItemSelected(object sender, SelectedItemChangedEventArgs e)
{
App.selectedEvent = (Event)e.SelectedItem;
await Navigation.PushAsync(new ListsPage());
}
// Function to delete an event if the "Delete" context action is selected.
async void OnDelete(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
// Represents the thing to be deleted.
var del = (MenuItem)sender;
// Displays a confirmnation popup and stores the user's answer in a variable.
var answer = await DisplayAlert("Delete this event?",
"Are you sure you want to delete the event: \"" +
((Event)del.CommandParameter).FolderName + "\"?", "Delete", "Cancel");
// If the user accepted, delete the event with the MenuItem that ran this function.
if (answer)
{
Directory.Delete(Path.Combine(Environment.GetFolderPath(
Environment.SpecialFolder.LocalApplicationData),
((Event)del.CommandParameter).FolderName), true);
// Set the ItemsSource to null and back to make the ListView update.
EventsListView.ItemsSource = null;
UpdateListView();
}
}
// Function for when the current tip updates.
public void OnTipUpdate(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
// Make the label's text update.
tipLabel.Text = ((App)App.Current).CurrentTip.Summary;
OnPropertyChanged("CurrentTip");
}
}
}
Also, here is the page's XAML in case something is wrong with that.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<ContentPage xmlns="http://xamarin.com/schemas/2014/forms"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2009/xaml"
xmlns:d="http://xamarin.com/schemas/2014/forms/design"
xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006"
mc:Ignorable="d"
x:Class="Partylist.Views.EventsPage"
Title="Events"
BackgroundColor="White">
<ContentPage.ToolbarItems>
<ToolbarItem IconImageSource="settings_gear.png"
Priority="0"/>
</ContentPage.ToolbarItems>
<ContentPage.Content>
<!--Main layout of the page-->
<StackLayout>
<!--ListView of the events-->
<ListView x:Name="EventsListView"
ItemSelected="OnItemSelected">
<ListView.ItemTemplate>
<DataTemplate>
<ViewCell>
<!--These contewxt actions are buttons that appear
when you long press the item (Android) or swipe
left (iOS).-->
<ViewCell.ContextActions>
<MenuItem Clicked="OnDelete"
CommandParameter="{Binding .}"
Text="Delete"
IsDestructive="true"/>
</ViewCell.ContextActions>
<!--This is the content that actually appears-->
<StackLayout Padding="20,5">
<Label Text="{Binding FolderName}"
TextColor="#FF7700"
FontSize="Large"/>
</StackLayout>
</ViewCell>
</DataTemplate>
</ListView.ItemTemplate>
</ListView>
<!--"New Event" button-->
<Button Text="+ Add New Event"
TextColor="#ff418b"
FontSize="Large"
BackgroundColor="#00ffffff"
Clicked="OnNewEventClicked"/>
<!--The banner at the bottom of the screen that gives tips-->
<Frame BorderColor="#ff418b"
Padding="0">
<FlexLayout Direction="Row"
AlignItems="Stretch"
JustifyContent="SpaceBetween">
<!--The "Tip" icon-->
<Image Source="tip_icon.png"
Margin="10"
FlexLayout.Basis="50"/>
<!--The short version of the tip-->
<Label x:Name="tipLabel"
VerticalTextAlignment="Center"
TextColor="#bb0099"
FontSize="Medium"
FontAttributes="Bold"
FlexLayout.Basis="250"/>
<!--The button that opens up a screen
with tyhe rest of the tip-->
<Button Text="More"
TextColor="White"
FontAttributes="Bold"
FontSize="Medium"
BackgroundColor="#ff418b"
FlexLayout.Basis="100"/>
</FlexLayout>
</Frame>
</StackLayout>
</ContentPage.Content>
</ContentPage>
What am I doing wrong and how do I keep my app from breaking when the label updates?
You need to update the text in Main thread:
Device.BeginInvokeOnMainThread (() => {
label.Text = "Async operation completed";
});
Refer: xamarin.forms.device.begininvokeonmainthread

Xamarin: Updating an ObservableCollection in the Background

I have a Xamarin.Forms Application based on a Listview populated by an ObservableCollection<Item> and bound to a SQLite model exposed as List<Item>.
Now I have difficulties figuring out how I can update the data via the web.
The whole process is supposed to run in the background. If everything runs as desired, the update process would be based on async ... await tasks and new items would appear one by one on the screen as they are pulled in.
Would anyone please guide me how to lay out my application and how to implement such a background update task?
Notes:
More experienced colleagues warned me that such a concept cannot be done in Xamarin at all, since, so they say, ObservableCollection "does not support to be updated by a background task". I did some research on this, and found indeed some indication that this could be true, but the infos were long outdated (from 2008), things have very likely changed since then.
For performance reasons I cannot simply pull in the complete list and throw away the existing list, but I need to implement a record based update looking at the items one by one. To accomplish this records have an unique Id, and are timestamped. My app knows when it has last seen the web service, and can query all items which have changed since then. I already have a REST service pulling in the changed Items data from the backend as a List, but cannot figure out how to refresh the ObservableCollection and the underlying database.
I do all my updates on change to the ListView. Here I have a button in the a list view which when clicked updates a property which persists by saving it to the sql database. It assumes you have your database set up.
Database:
Function which updates item if exist or saves new. This is a Task so can be called asynchronously.
public Task<int> SaveItemAsync(Item item)
{
if(item.ItemId != 0)
{
return database.UpdateAsync(item);
}
else
{
return database.InsertAsync(itme);
}
}
Xaml
List View which binds to an Observable collection created from the item database.
GestureRecognizers is set up on the image and is bound to a tapCommand in the ViewModel - The code behind the Xaml defines the binding context
Code behind
ItemViewModel viewModel;
public MessagePage ()
{
InitializeComponent ();
viewModel = new ItemViewModel();
BindingContext = viewModel;
}
And then the Xaml
Bind to the ObsevableCollection "ItemsPassed" and this set as the binding context within it. As a result you need to go back to the
page BindingContext so note the binding path for the TapCommand.
Pass the ItemId through as a parameter
<ListView ItemsSource="{Binding ItemsPassed}"
HasUnevenRows="True"
x:Name="ItemListView">
<ListView.ItemTemplate>
<DataTemplate>
<ViewCell>
<ContentView>
<StackLayout Padding="20">
<StackLayout Orientation="Horizontal">
<StackLayout Orientation="Vertical" HorizontalOptions="Start">
<Label Text="{Binding ItemText}"
FontAttributes="Bold"/>
</StackLayout>
<Image Source="{Binding Favourited, HeightRequest="12" HorizontalOptions="EndAndExpand">
<Image.GestureRecognizers>
<TapGestureRecognizer
Command="{Binding Path=BindingContext.TapCommand, Source={x:Reference ItemListView}}"
CommandParameter="{Binding ItemId}"/>
</Image.GestureRecognizers>
</Image>
</StackLayout>
</StackLayout>
</ContentView>
</ViewCell>
</DataTemplate>
</ListView.ItemTemplate>
</ListView>
ViewModel
Define the ICommand and assign a function to it
Find the item in the observable collection and change the property
This also needs to be changed in the database using the await App.Database.SaveItemAsync(item) - because of this the function called of the command must be async
public class ItemsViewModel : INotifyPropertyChanged
{
public ObservableCollection<Item> ItemsPassed { get; set; } = new ObservableCollection<Item>();
// Get items out of yourdatabase
public async void GetItems()
{
List<Item> itemsOut = await App.Database.GetItemsAsync();
foreach (Item i in itemsOut)
{
ItemsPassed.Add(i);
}
}
ICommand tapCommand;
public ItemsViewModel()
{
GetItems();
tapCommand = new Command(ExecuteTap);
}
public ICommand TapCommand
{
get { return tapCommand; }
}
// Find the item selected and change the property
private async void ExecuteTap(object obj)
{
var item = ItemsPassed.FirstOrDefault(i => i.ItemId.ToString() == obj.ToString());
if (item != null)
{
if (item.Favourited == true)
{
item.Favourited = false;
}
else
{
item.Favourited = true;
}
await App.Database.SaveItemAsync(item);
Console.WriteLine("update the database");
}
}
}
You then want to make sure the changes occur in the view - this is done through extending INotifyPropertyChange in the Model and calling it when the property changes.
Model
When the item is changed in the viewmodel the OnPropertyChanged is fired which cause the view to update.
public class Item : INotifyPropertyChanged
{
[PrimaryKey, AutoIncrement]
public int ItemId { get; set; }
public string ItemText { get; set; }
public string Author { get; set; }
private bool _favourited;
public bool Favourited
{
get { return _favourited; }
set
{
_favourited = value;
OnPropertyChanged("Favourited");
}
}
public event PropertyChangedEventHandler PropertyChanged;
protected virtual void OnPropertyChanged([CallerMemberName] string propertyName = null)
{
PropertyChanged?.Invoke(this, new PropertyChangedEventArgs(propertyName));
}
Hope this helps. Sorry I had to put things in snippets the code section wasn't working properly probably because some of the code is wrong, but its just for example.

ViewModel's properties become null when navigating

I have two Pages, which share the same ViewModel. I did this in order to handle the same data when navigating from Page1 to Page2.
The data that I need when I navigate to Page2 is the text of Page 1 entries, which are binded to the ViewModel. Page1 constructor:
public Page1()
{
InitializeComponent();
this.BindingContext = new ViewModel(this.Navigation);
}
In XAML of Page1:
<Entry Text="{Binding Entry1TextFromPage1}"/>
<Entry Text="{Binding Entry2TextFromPage1}"/>
In the ViewModel I do:
public ViewModel(INavigation navigation)
{
this.Navigation = navigation;
this.ButtonOnPage1Command = new Command( async () =>
await this.Navigation.PushAsync(new Page2());
);
this.ButtonOnPage2Command = new Command( async () =>
Use(this.Entry1TextFromPage1); //Here the text is null
Use(this.Entry2TextFromPage1); //Here the text is null
);
}
All the binded text entries (from Page1) become null. What am I missing?
Your Page2 probably don't have its BindingContext set to the same ViewModel. Pass your ViewModel as a parameter to your Page2 constructor, so you'd call it like this PushAsync(new Page2(this)).
public Page2(ViewModel viewModel)
{
InitializeComponent();
BindingContext = viewModel;
}

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