Tag Archives: MVVMCross

MVVM Cross Upgrade to 4.2.2

Coming back to MVVMCross and trying to create a new project, I found that some of the documentation available for the new version (4.2.2 at the time of writing this) is no longer correct; for example, the ToDo file in the sample projects still looks like this:

The steps to get this Store UI working are:

1. Add a reference to your Core PCL project
2. Change App.Xaml.cs so that it creates a ‘new Setup(RootFrame)’ during its OnLaunched:

protected override void OnLaunched(LaunchActivatedEventArgs args)
{
var rootFrame = Window.Current.Content as Frame;

// Do not repeat app initialization when the Window already has content,
// just ensure that the window is active
if (rootFrame == null)
{
// Create a Frame to act as the navigation context and navigate to the first page
rootFrame = new Frame();

if (args.PreviousExecutionState == ApplicationExecutionState.Terminated)
{
//TODO: Load state from previously suspended application
}

// Place the frame in the current Window
Window.Current.Content = rootFrame;
}

if (rootFrame.Content == null)
{
// When the navigation stack isn’t restored navigate to the first page,
// configuring the new page by passing required information as a navigation
// parameter

var setup = new Setup(rootFrame);
setup.Initialize();

var start = MvvmCross.Core.Mvx.Resolve();
start.Start();
}
// Ensure the current window is active
Window.Current.Activate();
}

3. For Windows 8 – Add a views folder and a view – xaml.cs and .xaml based on BasicPage – this
will add 5 files to the Common folder.
– Change the Common/LayoutAwarePage.cs inheritance to MvvmCross.WindowsStore.Views.MvxStorePage
– Change the Common/LayoutAwarePage.cs – remove the OnNavigatedTo and OnNavigatedFrom handlers
– Add some content for your Xaml – e.g.

5. For Windows 8.1 – Add a views folder and a view based on the BasicPage template
– In the .xaml.cs – remove public NavigationHelper NavigationHelper and all referencing code
– In the .xaml.cs – remove the OnNavigatedTo and OnNavigatedFrom handlers
– Add some content for your Xaml – e.g.

This document was very useful. I was looking specifically at the Babel project in the above sample; this won’t compile under MvvmCross 4.2.2. I’ve listed here everything I needed to do to make it.

Mvx has now been replaced with MvxSimpleIoCContainer.Instance

In App.xaml.cs:

var start = MvxSimpleIoCContainer.Instance.Resolve<IMvxAppStart>();

Is now:

var start = MvxSimpleIoCContainer.Instance.Resolve<IMvxAppStart>();
start.Start();

In App.cs:

        private void InitializeText()
        {
            var builder = new TextProviderBuilder();
            Mvx.RegisterSingleton<IMvxTextProviderBuilder>(builder);
            Mvx.RegisterSingleton<IMvxTextProvider>(builder.TextProvider);
        }

Is now is a separate plug-in by the looks of things:

The new code is:

        private void InitializeText()
        {            
            var builder = new TextProviderBuilder();
            MvxSimpleIoCContainer.Instance.RegisterSingleton<IMvxTextProviderBuilder>(builder);
            MvxSimpleIoCContainer.Instance.RegisterSingleton<IMvxTextProvider>(builder.TextProvider);
        }

Serialise and De-Serialise Helpers for ObservableCollection

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I recently came across a need to serialise and de-serialise an ObservableCollection from an MVVMCross application. To achieve this, I created a couple of helper methods which I’d like to share.

Both use the MVVM Cross File plug-in.

Serialise

        public static void Serialise<T>(ObservableCollection<T> collection, string fileName)
        {
            var file = Mvx.Resolve<IMvxFileStore>();
            var fileData = file.OpenWrite(fileName);

            DataContractSerializer serializer = new
                        DataContractSerializer(typeof(ObservableCollection<T>));
            serializer.WriteObject(fileData, collection);
            fileData.Flush();
        }

De-serialise

        public static ObservableCollection<T> DeSerialise<T>(string fileName)
        {
            var file = Mvx.Resolve<IMvxFileStore>();
            if (!file.Exists(fileName))
                return null;

            var fileData = file.OpenRead(fileName);
            if (!fileData.CanRead || fileData.Length == 0)
                return null;

            DataContractSerializer serializer = new
                        DataContractSerializer(typeof(ObservableCollection<T>));

            ObservableCollection<T> data = (ObservableCollection<T>)serializer.ReadObject(fileData);
            return data;
        }

The Serialise method can be wrapped in an extension method, too:

        public static void Serialise<T>(this ObservableCollection<T> collection, string fileName)
        {
            Helpers.SerialiseHelper.Serialise(collection, fileName);
        }

Obviously, the `DeSerialise` cannot, as it would change the object that you are extending.

MVVM Cross – Stubbing out IMvxMainThreadDispatcher with RhinoMocks

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This article describes how to stub out the IMvxMainThreadDispatcher, used by MVVM Cross, using Rhino Mocks.

Here is an excellent article on unit testing in MVVM Cross.

In it, Stuart Lodge describes a manual mock to replace the `IMvxMainThreadDispatcher`. I’ve recently started using RhinoMocks again, and the following is basically the manual mock described in the above article, in RhinoMocks:

var mainThreadDispatcher = MockRepository.GenerateMock<IMvxMainThreadDispatcher>();
mainThreadDispatcher.Stub(x => x.RequestMainThreadAction(Arg<Action>.Is.Anything)).WhenCalled(a => ((Action)a.Arguments.First())()).Return(true);
Mvx.RegisterSingleton<IMvxMainThreadDispatcher>(mainThreadDispatcher);

As with many of my posts, this is predominantly for my own use; and, as with those other posts, I hope you’ll find this useful.

MVVM Cross – Creating a New Plug-in

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This is quite a straightforward process, and well documented in several places – including here and here; and the sample that I used to create mine (and this tutorial) is here. However, I couldn’t find a step-by-step tutorial in a single place. So this is pretty much for my future self.

Disclaimer(s)

This only applies to Windows Store and Windows Phone. Although I believe the same process applies to iOS and Android.

The plug-in that I’m creating here will create a secondary tile on Windows Phone / Windows Store. However, this only covers the phone part, and doesn’t actually cover tile creation.

Create a Project

The project that I’m dealing with is a re-write of this application, using C# and MVVM Cross.

Obviously, your structure may be different, but the important thing is the Plugins folder at this stage; create a new portable project.

Next, add the MVVMCross libraries:

Interface and Plugin Loader

The portable class library above needs two files. Start with creating an interface:

    public interface ITile
    {
        Task<bool> CreateTile(string title);
    }

And next, the plug-in loader:

    public class PluginLoader : IMvxPluginLoader
    {
        public static readonly PluginLoader Instance = new PluginLoader();

        public void EnsureLoaded()
        {
            var manager = Mvx.Resolve<IMvxPluginManager>();
            manager.EnsurePlatformAdaptionLoaded<PluginLoader>();
        }
    }
}

Obviously, the next stage depends on your specific implementation. Mine depends entirely on the platform, so that’s all I need to do in the portable library.

Windows Phone

Create a new library project:

As before, you need to add the MVVM Cross Libraries, and a reference to the portable class above:

The next stage is to implement your plug-in logic for the destination platform; in my case, this is logic to add a tile to Windows Phone:

    public class TilePlugin : ITile
    {
        public async Task<bool> CreateTile(string title)
        {
            // Create Tile code
        }
    }

Finally, just implement IMvxPlugin like this:

    public class Plugin : IMvxPlugin
    {
        public void Load()
        {
            Mvx.RegisterSingleton<ITile>(new TilePlugin());
        }
    }

Using the plug-in – the View Model

So, to all intents and purposes, the plug-in is now written (admittedly it only exists for Windows Phone, but that’s beside the point).

Next, it needs to be used; the first thing is to reference it.

Here’s my logic to actually use the plug-in inside the view model:

    class SetupNewMailViewModel : BaseViewModel
    {
	. . . 
	
	        private void AddTile()
	        {
	            var tile = Mvx.Resolve<ITile>();
	            tile.CreateTile(MailHeading);
	        }
	    }

Using the plugin – Platform Specific

In the relevant project, a reference is needed:

The only thing left to do for the platform is to add the bootstrap code:

public class TilePluginBootstrap : MvxPluginBootstrapAction<Tile.Plugin.PluginLoader> {    }

`MvxPluginBootstrapAction` signifies that the call to `MvxSetup` will call the BootstrapRunner for this plugin. Or, to put it another way, this magically makes MVVMCross aware of your new plugin for each platform.

Notes on Deployment

Above, I’ve basically manually added the reference to the correct project. This works fine when I’m working locally, but for an actual distributed plug-in, it’s NuGet that handles this.

MVVMCross – ShowViewModel not working?

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I thought I’d jot this down, as it had me for a short while. Imagine that you have a line of code that looks like this:

ShowViewModel<MyViewModel>();

But nothing happens when you call it.

The Output Window

The output window is definitely your friend with MVVMCross; it may say something like this:

mvx:Diagnostic: 36.44 Error seen during navigation request to MyViewModel – error KeyNotFoundException: Could not find view for MyApp.PCL.ViewModels.MyViewModel
at Cirrious.MvvmCross.Views.MvxViewsContainer.GetViewType(Type viewModelType)
at Cirrious.MvvmCross.WindowsStore.Views.MvxStoreViewPresenter.Show(MvxViewModelRequest request)

So, what’s the problem?

Some things to check: firstly, check that you are using an MVVMCross view; that is, for example, in Windows 8, you need your page to inherit from MvxStorePage, not Page:

Conclusion

Nothing here that you won’t see on one of Stuart Lodge’s tutorials, and probably a good handful of SO questions. So now it’s here as well.

The Long Walk

A blog about one man's journey through code… and some pictures of the Peak District

Tag Archives: MVVMCross

MVVM Cross Upgrade to 4.2.2

Serialise and De-Serialise Helpers for ObservableCollection

MVVM Cross – Stubbing out IMvxMainThreadDispatcher with RhinoMocks

MVVM Cross – Creating a New Plug-in

MVVMCross – ShowViewModel not working?