Shaunebu.MAUI.FormsManager 1.0.0

Shaunebu.MAUI.FormsManager 📗

A powerful, dynamic forms library for .NET MAUI that generates complete user interfaces from JSON configuration with full MVVM support, validation, and extensibility.

📊 Comparative Analysis

🚀 Features

• 🎯 Dynamic Forms - Create complex UIs from JSON configuration

• 📱 Full MAUI Support - All native MAUI controls implemented

• 🔄 MVVM Ready - Complete data binding and command support

• ✅ Built-in Validation - Client-side validation with custom rules

• 🔌 Plugin System - Extensible architecture for custom controls

• 📊 State Management - Auto-save and form history

• 🎨 Theming - Global styling and theming support

• 🌐 Localization Ready - Multi-language form support

• ⚡ High Performance - View caching and virtualization ready

🏁 Quick Start

1. Installation

dotnet add package Shaunebu.MAUI.FormsManager

2. Configure Services

// MauiProgram.cs
builder.Services.AddDynamicForms();

3. Create JSON Form Definition

{
  "name": "UserRegistration",
  "title": "User Registration",
  "sections": [
    {
      "title": "Personal Information",
      "elements": [
        {
          "type": "Entry",
          "name": "FirstName",
          "properties": {
            "placeholder": "Enter your first name"
          },
          "bindings": {
            "Text": {
              "path": "FirstName",
              "mode": "TwoWay"
            }
          },
          "validations": [
            {
              "type": "required",
              "message": "First name is required"
            }
          ]
        },
        {
          "type": "Button",
          "name": "SubmitButton",
          "properties": {
            "text": "Register",
            "backgroundcolor": "#007BFF",
            "textcolor": "White"
          },
          "command": {
            "name": "SubmitCommand"
          },
          "bindings": {
            "Command": {
              "path": "SubmitCommand",
              "mode": "OneWay"
            }
          }
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

4. Create ViewModel

public partial class UserRegistrationViewModel : DynamicFormViewModel
{
    [ObservableProperty]
    private string _firstName;

    public UserRegistrationViewModel()
    {
        RegisterCommand("SubmitCommand", new AsyncRelayCommand(SubmitForm));
    }

    private async Task SubmitForm()
    {
        // Handle form submission
        await Application.Current.MainPage.DisplayAlert("Success", "Form submitted!", "OK");
    }
}

5. Navigate to Form

private async void OnNavigateToForm()
{
    var viewModel = Handler.MauiContext.Services.GetService<UserRegistrationViewModel>();
    await _navigationService.NavigateToFormAsync("forms/user_registration.json", viewModel);
}

📋 Supported Controls

Basic Inputs

• Entry - Text input field

• Editor - Multi-line text editor

• Picker - Dropdown selection

• DatePicker - Date selection

• TimePicker - Time selection

Selection Controls

• CheckBox - Boolean toggle

• Switch - On/off switch

• RadioButton - Exclusive selection

• Slider - Range selection

• Stepper - Incremental values

Layout & Containers

• StackLayout - Linear layout

• Grid - Table layout

• FlexLayout - Flexible box layout

• ScrollView - Scrollable container

• Frame - Styled container

• Border - Border container

Data Display

• Label - Text display

• Image - Image display

• ProgressBar - Progress indicator

• ActivityIndicator - Loading indicator

• BoxView - Colored box

Collection Views

• CollectionView - Modern list

• ListView - Traditional list

• CarouselView - Horizontal carousel

Special Controls

• SearchBar - Search input

• WebView - Web content

• BlazorWebView - Blazor components

• RefreshView - Pull-to-refresh

• SwipeView - Swipe gestures

Shapes & Graphics

• Rectangle, Ellipse, Line

• Polygon, Polyline, Path

⚙️ Advanced Features

Plugin System

Extend the library with custom controls:

public class RichTextEditorPlugin : IFormPlugin
{
    public string Name => "RichTextEditor";
    public string Version => "1.0.0";

    public void Initialize(IPluginContext context)
    {
        context.RegisterCustomControl("RichTextEditor", CreateRichTextEditor);
    }

    private View CreateRichTextEditor(FormElement element, object bindingContext)
    {
        return new Editor { HeightRequest = 150 };
    }
}

Form Versioning

{
  "versionInfo": {
    "version": "2.1.0",
    "changeLog": {
      "added": ["PhoneNumber field"],
      "modified": ["Email validation"],
      "deprecated": ["OldAddress field"]
    }
  }
}

Auto-Save & History

{
  "autosave": {
    "enabled": true,
    "interval": 30000
  }
}

🎨 Theming & Styling

{
  "style": {
    "theme": "Light",
    "primaryColor": "#007BFF",
    "fontFamily": "OpenSans",
    "cornerRadius": 8,
    "spacing": 15
  }
}

🔧 Configuration

Service Registration Options

builder.Services.AddDynamicForms()
    .AddCustomPlugin<MyCustomPlugin>()
    .WithDefaultTheme(new FormTheme { /* ... */ });

Custom Element Registry

builder.Services.AddSingleton<ICustomElementRegistry>(provider =>
{
    var registry = new DefaultCustomElementRegistry();
    registry.RegisterCustomType("RatingControl", CreateRatingControl);
    return registry;
});

🔄 Migration Guide

From Traditional MAUI Forms

// BEFORE - Hardcoded UI
var stackLayout = new VerticalStackLayout();
stackLayout.Children.Add(new Entry { Placeholder = "Name" });

// AFTER - Dynamic & Maintainable
var schema = await LoadSchemaAsync("user_form.json");
var dynamicForm = await _formBuilder.BuildFormAsync(schema);

⚡ Performance Benchmarks

Performance Tips

// ✅ RECOMMENDED - Use view caching for repeated forms
services.AddDynamicForms()
    .WithViewCaching(true)
    .WithCompression(true);

// ✅ Use virtualization for large forms
<forms:VirtualizedForm Elements="{Binding Elements}" />

🛠️ API Reference

Core Services

• IFormBuilderService - Form construction from JSON

• INavigationService - Form navigation

• IFormValidator - Validation engine

• IPluginManager - Plugin system

• IFormHistoryManager - State management

Key ViewModels

• DynamicFormViewModel - Base ViewModel with form support

• Custom ViewModels - Extend for specific forms

🔍 Validation

Built-in Validators

• Required fields

• Email format

• Minimum/Maximum length

• Regular expressions

• Custom validation rules

Custom Validators

public class CustomValidator : IFormValidator
{
    public ValidationResult Validate(FormElement element, object value)
    {
        // Custom validation logic
    }
}

🛡️ Enterprise Ready

Security Features

• 🔒 Schema Validation - Prevent malicious form definitions
• 🛡️ XSS Protection - Auto-sanitization of dynamic content
• 🔐 Secure Bindings - Type-safe data binding
• 📝 Audit Logging - Complete form interaction history

Compliance

• ✅ GDPR compliant - Built-in data privacy features
• ✅ HIPAA ready - Medical form security
• ✅ SOC2 compatible - Enterprise security standards

🔍 Common Patterns & Recipes

Multi-step Wizard Forms

{
  "name": "onboarding_wizard",
  "sections": [
    {
      "title": "Step 1: Personal Info",
      "elements": ["firstName", "lastName", "email"]
    },
    {
      "title": "Step 2: Preferences", 
      "elements": ["theme", "notifications", "language"]
    }
  ]
}

📱 Platform Support

🚀 Performance

• View Caching - Reuses rendered views

• Virtualization Ready - Efficient large forms

• Optimized Bindings - Minimal overhead

• Lazy Loading - Load forms on demand

📄 License

MIT License © Shaunebu 2025