SetFocusOnEntryCompletedBehavior

Article
04/02/2024

The SetFocusOnEntryCompletedBehavior is a Behavior that gives focus to a specified VisualElement when an Entry is completed. For example, a page might have several Entrys in sequence, and this makes it convenient to the user if completing an Entry automatically switched focus to the next Entry.

Important

The .NET MAUI Community Toolkit Behaviors do not set the BindingContext of a behavior, because behaviors can be shared and applied to multiple controls through styles. For more information refer to .NET MAUI Behaviors

Syntax

The following examples show how to add the SetFocusOnEntryCompletedBehavior to an Entry so that when the Next button on the soft keyboard is pressed another Entry is given focus.

XAML

Including the XAML namespace

In order to use the toolkit in XAML the following xmlns needs to be added into your page or view:

xmlns:toolkit="http://schemas.microsoft.com/dotnet/2022/maui/toolkit"

Therefore the following:

<ContentPage
    x:Class="CommunityToolkit.Maui.Sample.Pages.MyPage"
    xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/dotnet/2021/maui"
    xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2009/xaml">

</ContentPage>

Would be modified to include the xmlns as follows:

<ContentPage
    x:Class="CommunityToolkit.Maui.Sample.Pages.MyPage"
    xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/dotnet/2021/maui"
    xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2009/xaml"
    xmlns:toolkit="http://schemas.microsoft.com/dotnet/2022/maui/toolkit">

</ContentPage>

Using the SetFocusOnEntryCompletedBehavior

The SetFocusOnEntryCompletedBehavior can be used as follows in XAML:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<ContentPage
    x:Class="CommunityToolkit.Maui.Sample.Pages.Behaviors.SetFocusOnEntryCompletedBehaviorPage"
    xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/dotnet/2021/maui"
    xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2009/xaml"
    xmlns:toolkit="http://schemas.microsoft.com/dotnet/2022/maui/toolkit">

    <VerticalStackLayout Spacing="12">

        <Entry
            x:Name="FirstNameEntry"
            toolkit:SetFocusOnEntryCompletedBehavior.NextElement="{x:Reference LastNameEntry}"
            Placeholder="Entry 1 (Tap `Next` on the keyboard when finished)"
            ReturnType="Next" />
    
        <Entry
            x:Name="LastNameEntry" />

    </VerticalStackLayout>
</ContentPage>

C#

The SetFocusOnEntryCompletedBehavior can be used as follows in C#:

class SetFocusOnEntryCompletedBehaviorPage : ContentPage
{
    public SetFocusOnEntryCompletedBehaviorPage()
    {
        var firstName = new Entry
        {
            Placeholder = "Entry 1 (Tap `Next` on the keyboard when finished)",
            ReturnType = ReturnType.Next
        };

        var lastName = new Entry();

        SetFocusOnEntryCompletedBehavior.SetNextElement(firstName, lastName);

        Content = new VerticalStackLayout
        {
            Spacing = 12,
            Children = 
            {
                firstName,
                lastName
            }
        };
    }
}

C# Markup

Our CommunityToolkit.Maui.Markup package provides a much more concise way to use this behavior in C#.

using CommunityToolkit.Maui.Markup;

class SetFocusOnEntryCompletedBehaviorPage : ContentPage
{
    public SetFocusOnEntryCompletedBehaviorPage()
    {
        Content = new VerticalStackLayout
        {
            Spacing = 12,
            Children = 
            {
                new Entry { ReturnType = ReturnType.Next }
                    .Assign(out var firstName)
                    .Placeholder("Entry 1 (Tap `Next` on the keyboard when finished)"),

                new Entry()
                    .Assign(out var lastName)
            }
        };

        SetFocusOnEntryCompletedBehavior.SetNextElement(firstName, lastName);
    }
}

Examples

You can find an example of this behavior in action in the .NET MAUI Community Toolkit Sample Application.

API

You can find the source code for SetFocusOnEntryCompletedBehavior over on the .NET MAUI Community Toolkit GitHub repository.

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