Xamarin.Forms Data Templates

A DataTemplate is used to specify the appearance of data on supported controls, and typically binds to the data to be displayed.

Introduction

Xamarin.Forms data templates provide the ability to define the presentation of data on supported controls. This article provides an introduction to data templates, examining why they are necessary.

Creating a DataTemplate

Data templates can be created inline, in a ResourceDictionary, or from a custom type or appropriate Xamarin.Forms cell type. An inline template should be used if there's no need to reuse the data template elsewhere. Alternatively, a data template can be reused by defining it as a custom type, or as a control-level, page-level, or application-level resource.

Creating a DataTemplateSelector

A DataTemplateSelector can be used to choose a DataTemplate at runtime based on the value of a data-bound property. This enables multiple DataTemplate instances to be applied to the same type of object, to customize the appearance of particular objects. This article demonstrates how to create and consume a DataTemplateSelector.