[Proposal] Add methods for all VisualElement Properties

Add methods for all VisualElement Properties

• Proposed
• Prototype
• Implementation: PR raised
  • iOS Support
  • Android Support
  • macOS Support
  • Windows Support
• Unit Tests: at least one for each new method following the conventions for other methods in the class
• Sample: Some uses of new methods added to the Markup sample app
• Documentation: PR raised in docs repo

Link to Discussion

https://github.com/CommunityToolkit/Maui.Markup/discussions/140

Summary

As part of ensuring that Maui.Markup can provide a fluent interface for all standard controls, it will be a good starting point for having fluent methods for all properties of VisualElement as this is the base class to a lot of common controls.

Motivation

Fill in some common gaps in the fluent methods for defining a control instance. Avoid needing to use the clunky method of combining an object initializer and chained fluent methods.

Detailed Design

Fill in the gaps of extension methods for setting the remaining properties of VisualElement that do not have them.

The properties are:

• AnchorX
• AnchorY
• Background
• BackgroundColor
• Clip
• FlowDirection
• Opacity
• InputTransparent
• IsEnabled
• IsVisible
• RotationX
• RotationY
• Rotation
• ScaleX
• ScaleY
• TranslationX
• TranslationY
• ZIndex

These should all be simple extension methods that wrap setting the property and then returning the element.

The implementations will be of the style:

public static TVisualElement AnchorX<TVisualElement >(this TVisualElement element, double anchorX) where TVisualElement : VisualElement
{
	element.AnchorX = anchorX;
	return element;
}

In addition to simple methods for the above properties, I also think it would be useful to add the following helper methods:

A method Anchor() that takes two values that can be applied to AnchorX and AnchorY with a single call. A method Scale() that takes two values that can be applied to ScaleX and ScaleY with a single call.

Usage Syntax

With this change, it will be possible to write

new Label().Text("hello").Opacity(0.5).BackgroundColor(Colors.Red);

rather than having to write

new Label{ Opacity = 0.5, BackgroundColor = Colors.Red }.Text("hello")

Drawbacks

It makes the assembly slightly larger by adding methods where some of these might be rarely used. It feels an appropriate trade-off for completeness though.

Alternatives

No real alternatives other than not doing this. It just makes it easier to provide a more consistent way of writing code when defining a UI in C#.

Unresolved Questions

n/a

[brminnick]

Thanks again, Matt! Just doing some cleanup now, realizing that I forgot to close this as completed 🤦‍♂️ 😆

[msftbot[bot]]

Reopening Proposal.

Only Proposals moved to the Closed Project Column and Completed Project Column can be closed.