Load a Xaml inside a stacklayout in Xamarin forms - xamarin

Question

I have a Content View in Xamarin forms with 2 StackLayout horizontally aligned in it. I want to change the Content of the 2nd Stacklayout dynamically, but I don't want to use Master details page in that case. Please find an attachment to see what my UI looks like. I want to load different pages in StackLayout 2 on button clicks in StackLayout 1.
Update: I want to achieve above using MVVM.

Answer 1

You specifically said you want to load different pages inside Stacklayout2.
Out of the box, this is not possible. A Page can not be nested inside another view in Xamarin.Forms*
However, you most likely don't need to nest a whole page either, which is good news.
You can create custom xaml views as separate xaml files, and then reference them like regular controls. For example you would create a xaml file MyDataView, inside you could use a and fill it out with your different labels, entries and what nots, then instantiate and add that MyDataView inside your page like you would any other control.
For your host page, I would recommend you change your StackLayout2 to a ContentView, as it will only ever contain one view, which in case of something like your custom "MyDataView" from above, would actually contain the stack layout and all the details.
From the point of view of your page, it has the left layout with all the buttons, and it has the "container" on the right to host different complex views. So it does not need a stacklayout there.
There is also an important decision that you need to make on when and how you want to instantiate all the views that you will host inside the right pane.
You might choose to instantiate them all at once, when loading the page, if there aren't too many. Then switchig to each one during page use should be quite quick. Something like this:
public partial class MainPage
{
private MyDataView myDataView = new myDataView();
private OtherView otherView = new OtherView();
private ThirdView thirdView = new ThirdView();
public void OnSomeButtonClick(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
Container.View = myDataView; //Container would be the x:Name you gave to your ContentView control on the right side of the page that will host the different views
}
}
Or you might prefer to "lazy" instantiate the views, which would only instantiate the view the first time it is navigated to. This is useful if some views will never actually be accessed, and you can save some cpu cycles and ram by not loading the view until it's needed. The downside of course is when you do load it for the first time, it will load slower. Like this:
public partial class MainPage
{
private MyDataView myDataView;
private OtherView otherView;
private ThirdView thirdView;
public void OnSomeButtonClick(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
if (myDataView == null) myDataView = new MyDataView();
Container.View = myDataView; //Container would be the x:Name you gave to your ContentView control on the right side of the page that will host the different views
}
}
And finally you can instantiate the view everytime it is needed. I would not go with this route in most cases. Unless you really specifically need to recreate the entire view each time (like if you are dynamically changing it during use, and you need to reset it when it's shown again)
*I have seen a custom renderer implementation that nested a whole page inside a view on github. I did not test it as it was not completely implemented at the time.

Answer 2

Cant you do something like this:
button1.OnClick += (sender, args) =>{
StackLayout2.Children.Remove(currentview);
StackLayout2.Children.Add(newview);
}
Not sure if its called onclick or clicked.