Xamarin.Forms UI Controls - Early Access Preview (v19.2)

This post summarizes our Xamarin.Forms development plans for this release cycle and what you can expect from DevExpress in our upcoming release (v19.2).
At present, DevExpress Xamarin.Forms UI controls are part of our Universal Subscription. If you own an active Universal Subscription, you can download our early access preview build via the DevExpress Download Manager. DXperience subscribers can explore our Xamarin.UI controls by installing a trial version of this early access preview.

Xamarin Data Grid

We've extended the customization and interactive capabilities of our Xamarin Data Grid as follows:

  • New templates are available for the following elements:
    • Column Header
    • Group Row, Group Row Caption
    • Group Summary
    • Total Summary
    • Swipe Item

  • You can now specify the default Swipe action.

  • Data cells and Column headers now support a LineBreakMode property.
  • Text cells can be edited in multi-line display mode.
  • Custom Group Row height can be specified via the GroupRowHeight property.
  • New options to customize Scrollbar display mode (VerticalScrollBarVisibilityHorizontalScrollBarVisibility) are now available.

Features that are currently in development and therefore not included in this early access preview:

  • Input validation
  • Excel-inspired conditional formatting
  • Export to Excel

Xamarin Charts

  • We have significantly improved the data processing performance of our Xamarin.Forms Chart controls. Data is now loaded at least 10x times faster than in previous builds - Loading speed is nearly the same as that found in our native charting component for iOS and Android. For instance, you can easily process more than 500.000 points without significant UI delay.

  • New data adapters are available for Cartesian and Pie Series (SeriesDataAdapter, PieSeriesDataAdapter, CalculatedSeriesDataAdapter). These adapters support data collections that implement the IBindingList or INotifyCollectionChanged interfaces and allow you to bind to IList, IList<T>, and DataTable collections directly (no need to implement a custom data adapter).
  • We expect to support Secondary Axes prior to official launch (our early access preview does not include this feature).

Xamarin Scheduler and Calendar

  • We changed our Scheduler View implementation by creating separate UI View components for each Scheduler View type (Day View, Week View, Work Week View, Month View). You can now place a specific view on a page instead of using our old SchedulerView component (used for all view types). Scheduler Views obtain data from either a local or shared storage (SchedulerDataStorage) source.

  • Our New Xamarin Reminders API is now available. You can plug it into a platform specific alarm system using the RemindersChanged event and the GetNextReminders method of the data storage object.

  • Our Xamarin Scheduler ships with time zone support. You can specify a working time zone (using the data storage’s TimeZone property) for the Scheduler as a whole or control time zone settings for each appointment individually. We also added the ability to edit the zone information within the default Appointment Edit page.


  • In addition to our existing template customization method, we added a flexible mechanism to customize nearly all visual elements via platform-specific views. You can create a native view for all cells, appointments, and headers and reuse or cache views when necessary.

v19.2 will include two new controls:

  • TabPage

  • DrawerPage - A drawer panel that provides access to app navigation menu items and settings.

Note: We expect to add badges for tab headers in our Xamarin TabView (the early access preview build does not include this feature).

Your Feedback Counts

If you own an active Universal Subscription, please download the early access preview and share your thoughts with us. Your feedback will help us fine tune our Xamarin product line prior to official release.

NOTE: Early Access and CTP builds are provided solely for early testing purposes and are not ready for production use. This build can be installed side by side with other major versions of DevExpress products. Please backup your project and other important data before installing Early Access and CTP builds.

Free DevExpress Products – Get Your Copy Today

The following free DevExpress product offers remain available. Should you have any questions about the free offers below, please submit a ticket via the DevExpress Support Center at your convenience. We’ll be happy to follow-up.
Mo cisse
Mo cisse
Gabriel Phaiphai
Gabriel Phaiphai

Hi Alex,

I think if you open up Early Access and CTP builds like your "Xamarin.Forms UI Controls"
to a broader subscriber base you will get much better feedback even potential to justify
some subscription upgrades.

Just a thought.

Kind Regards


21 August 2019
Stefan Koell
Stefan Koell
Going from free to the most expensive subscription plan is a bad move. I'm out. I will replace the grid with an affordable alternative...
21 August 2019
Eric v H
Eric v H

Very nice!

21 August 2019
Alex (DevExpress Support)
Alex (DevExpress)

@All

Thanks for your feedback.

@Stefan

Our Xamarin UI controls are part of our Universal Subscription. We expect to release a Xamarin only subscription by the time of official launch. Pricing has yet to be determined but will be lower than other single-platform subscriptions.

@Mo

As I mentioned in your recent Support Center ticket, we will take this functionality into account when discussing future plans.

21 August 2019
Stephen Winstanley_2
Stephen Winstanley_2

Does this support all of Android, IOS and UWP ?

22 August 2019
Alex (DevExpress Support)
Alex (DevExpress)

@Stephen


Our Xamarin.Forms components support Android and iOS target platforms. The UWP platform is not currently supported.

23 August 2019
Eugene Botma
Eugene Botma
Will this work on GTK and GTK# for cross platform desktop environments?
30 August 2019
Customer66403
Stefan

I would love to see support for Xamarin.Mac

 
8 October 2019

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