Following last post about grouping selection in a ListView this time we will focus on adding an image to display when grouping. (if my words don’t paint a complete picture refer to the image above).
This can be useful for example for products and categories. You can display a picture of the Category certain products belong and show those products when expanding the group. Let’s take a look:
This was a small request coming from a friend but I had the same question asked a few more times in the past so I decided to do a quick post, that way if it comes up again I can just send them this link.
OK, to the point: How do we make a XAF Web ListView selectable by groups?
After I found https://referencesource.microsoft.com/ I have been using it non stop every time I want to do quick check on a class implementation, or even out of curiosity when I am bored. (I know, my hobbies 🤦♂️).
I really like how fast it is and how it has many features we already love: Go To Definition, Find all References, Highlight References and more.
Reading the support tickets daily it has become one of my most rewarding morning routines. Besides the constant learning factor, I am all the time running into some amazing questions / implementations/ samples that I can put in practice right away.
I have said it before but I will reiterate here:
When presented with a XAF challenge the first thing I do it is a quick search trough the support tickets to see if there is already an implementation that I can adapt to my needs. Most of the time I find something that I can use, but also most of the time I have to actually code it and run it to see if it is exactly what I need it.
If you are like me, you would love to have a visual before getting to deep and realizing I am on the wrong path. I also realize DevExpress receives tons of tickets daily so this is not feasible for them.
“He is talking again about conferences. Yeah, Yeah, we know, they are great.”
Well, before you run away, hear me out. This time I have a different point. Yes conferences are great and CDC is one of my favorites but what no one talk about is, they are a lot of work for the organizers.
I had the opportunity to be part of the staff of CDC 2019 and I have to give a big shout out to the Megsoft team for all their hard work and for making this event possible.
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On September 18, I arrived in Montreal for UnoConf. The conference took place the 19th with an amazing workshop held on the 20th.
Without delay I will drop here a great recap so you can see for yourself how amazing it was. Spoilers: Great Keynote by Miguel de Icaza. Awesome session by Jerome Laban and, wait for it … WebAssembly Renderers for Xamarin.Forms.
OBSOLETE: Please use the Xpand.XAF.ModelEditor package that contains a standalone version of XAF Model Editor, designed to integrate with Visual Studio, Rider, Explore.
Also coming soon is the Model Editor for .NET Core and .NET Standard Projects. Read the announcement here.
If you’ve unloaded your csproj and take a look you’ve seen how cumbersome they can be and you must probably know how much simpler, leaner the new sdk project is. In Hanselman words:
“It lets you manage all project dependencies in one place and gives you and uncluttered view of top-level dependencies.”
And that statement above it is crucial for a smooth CI/CD flow.
We also won’t be needing to have DevExpress assemblies installed in the GAC we could use Nugets and have our projects in as many different versions as we want.
One really neat tool that help you with the migration is CsprojToVs2017 or if you prefer to do it manually you can follow this post.
As a proof of concept I wanted to give a try of using Uno Platform and XPO together. Uno has been gaining popularity and I have to say that after this I will have a tough decision on the framework selection for my next mobile project. I love Xamarin but the benefits that Uno brings to the table are hard to pass.
From their own website:
What that means to us?
First, A web front end thanks to web assembly (I honestly don’t know why Xamarin has not invested in this route yet. Besides Ooui that I believe it is awesome but not even close to production, there is nothing else out there)
Update: UNO has WebAssembly Renderers for Xamarin Forms.
And second, a UWP first approach where all the VS tooling just work. Including Designers, Hot reload, Brushes and more.
If you guys have not use this combination I strongly suggest to give it a try. Prism handles navigation like a boss, ReactiveUI makes your code readable that you will comeback 6 months from today and you will still be able to pick it up fairly quickly (that is not the only reason of course but one of the most appealing for me) and Xamarin Forms (no need for introductions here).
If you have never used Prism or ReactiveUI I recommend:
And
Now, How do we use them together?
I know I still owe you guys the complete article about the XAF POS Teaser but I could not help it. Here is a quick XAF to Xamarin Teaser.
Remarks:
I am really happy about this template. I believe it will save a ton of time. As always feel free to reach out with any question/suggestion or if you are struggling trying to make your XAF project mobile.
Xafmarin out!