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Data form builder for Maui .NET, easily create forms using a data schema

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Maui-Gen

Maui-Gen is a template based code generator for building the scaffolding needed for a data driven .Net Maui application. Using a data schema to describe the required data fields, Maui-Gen then generates the Models, Views, View model and List, edit, detail pages, populated with form elements needed to edit and read the data from the model, as well as SqlLite Crud service for data storage and retrieval. Maui-Gen also creates supporting files and injects singleton and route data where needed.


introduction

After moving one of my Xamarin app over to Maui I found myself staring from scratch and this meant recreating Models Model Views Pages ect. I found this to be time consuming i did speed up the process a bit by creating templates but this only worked as a staring point and still had to edit to fit the requirement.

So i decided to write Maui-Gen a tool to help save time writing underlying code needed for Maui data entry forms. I found this a really useful tool so i decided to put it out there for other to use.

Its not pretty or well polished but more of a proof of concept. If there is the interest, then will look at investing the time.


Warning

You can apply changes directly to a .net Maui project but at this point i would strongly advised to only do this on a newly created project, so that it does not break your hard work or make sure your project is back up so can restore it.

Use at you own risk on existing project.

a safer option is to generate the code to a new folder and then copy the files over.


When to use Maui-Gen

  • When you need to create data entry forms in a .NET Maui application

Requirements

Maui-Gen Cli

you will need to install go 1.20 https://go.dev/doc/install

.NET Maui development environment

Below are the tools you will need to create and build a .NET Maui application. The MAUI App Accelerator will install the required components such as Maui Community Tool Kit, SQLlite that Maui-Gen needs.

Visual Studio

Nuget Packages to add to project

How to install

Below are the steps required to install and configure maui-gen ready for use.

1. Install maui-genTo install Maui-gen run the command below

go install github.com/Mrpye/maui-gen
2. Copy templates to the home directoryRun the command below, this will copy the templates to your home directory so that you can add your own customization and look at some data schema examples.

maui-gen init all

How to use Maui-Gen

Below will take you thought the steps needed to be performed so that the code genrated by Maui-Gen will run.


Create a New .NET MAUI Project and configure

First you will need to create a new project in Visual Studio using the MAUI App Accelerator this will install the required components and setup your project ready for Maui-gen.

1. Create a new .Net Maui project in Visual StudioOpen Visual Studio and create a new project this will start the project selection menu.

New Project

2. Create project using MAUI App Accelerator Select the MAUI App Accelerator to start the project wizard.

App Accelerator

3. Configure the MAUI ProjectEnter the project name and solution name.

  • Make a note of the path where the project will be created
  • Also solution Name this will be the namespace we will use later.

Configure Project

4. Select the version of .NET to useSelect the .NET version to use either .Net 6 or .NET 7.

.Net Version

5. Select MVVM Toolkit as the coding styleSelect the MVVM Toolkit

Code Style

6. Select Flyout Menu for Navigation StyleYou can select Flyout or Tabs

Navigation

7. Click next on PagesYou can just click next on the pages.

Pages

8. Configure FeaturesAdd the following libraries:

  • MAUI Community Toolkit
  • sqllite-net-pcl

Features

9. click Next to create the projectMAUI App Accelerator will create the project

Solution Explorer

10. Add the route comment to the project
  • So that Maui-gen knows where to inject the route code it uses the following comment
  • //<%REGISTER_ROUTE%>
    • You will need to add this to the file AppShell.xaml.cs AppShell
    • Add the comment just below the InitializeComponent and save changes.
    public partial class AppShell : Shell
    {
    	public AppShell()
    	{
    		InitializeComponent();
    
            //<%REGISTER_ROUTE%>
        }
    }
    11. Add the singleton comment
  • So that Maui-gen knows where to inject the singleton code it uses the following comment
  • //<%REGISTER_SINGLETON%
    • You will need to add this to the file AppShell.xaml.cs MauiProgram
    • Add the comment just below the builder.Services.AddSingleton<MainViewModel(); and save changes.
    public static class MauiProgram {
        public static MauiApp CreateMauiApp() {
            var builder = MauiApp.CreateBuilder();
            builder
               .UseMauiApp<App()
                .UseMauiCommunityToolkit()
                .ConfigureFonts(fonts = {
                    fonts.AddFont("OpenSans-Regular.ttf", "OpenSansRegular");
                    fonts.AddFont("OpenSans-Semibold.ttf", "OpenSansSemibold");
                });
    
            builder.Services.AddSingleton<MainViewModel();
    
           //<%REGISTER_SINGLETON%
    
            builder.Services.AddSingleton<MainPage();
    
            return builder.Build();
        }
    }

    Use Maui-gen to build the data forms using specified schema.

    1. Set the output directoryFirst we need to tell Maui-gen where to output the generated code to. In this case we are pointing it to the DemoMauiApp created earlier.

    Note! Make sure it is the directory where all the code is, see below.

    MauiProgram

    Run the following command to set the output directory. This is where Maui-gen will output the code to.

    Adjust the path to point to your project.

    maui-gen set output "C:\projects\Net\DemoMauiApp\DemoMauiApp"
    2. Set the data schema to useUnder your home directory where the Maui-gen templates are saved are some example schemas. we are going to set maui-gen to use one of these schemas.

    maui-gen set schema "C:\Users\[user]\.maui-gen\examples\person_and_pet.yaml"
    3. Check the paths are correctYou can check what paths are set by using the following command this will open the config file in notepad.

    maui-gen set edit
    4. Install Nuget PackagesYou will need to install the following packages into the project.

    • Use the maui-gen install tool
    maui-gen nuget install --output [project_path]
    • Or if you set the output using the maui-gen set output then you can just use
    maui-gen nuget install
    • Or add each package using the nuget install in Visual Studio
    SQLitePCLRaw.core
    SQLitePCLRaw.bundle_green
    SQLitePCLRaw.provider.sqlite3
    SQLitePCLRaw.provider.dynamic_cdecl
    SQLiteNetExtensions
    SQLiteNetExtensions.Async
    
    • Or open command prompt and cd to the project directory then paste the following code into the command prompt.
    cd C:\projects\Net\MauiGenDemoApp\MauiGenDemoApp
    
    dotnet add C:\projects\Net\MauiGenDemoApp\MauiGenDemoApp package SQLitePCLRaw.core
    dotnet add package SQLitePCLRaw.bundle_green
    dotnet add package SQLitePCLRaw.provider.sqlite3
    dotnet add package SQLitePCLRaw.provider.dynamic_cdecl
    dotnet add package SQLiteNetExtensions
    dotnet add package SQLiteNetExtensions.Async
    5. Generate the code based on the data schemaFinally we are ready to generate the code you will need to pass in the project root namespace this is the ? "solution name" you entered when creating the Maui project.

    you can also change the name space in the Data Schema file

    name_space: "DemoMauiApp"
    resources:
      - App
      - Enums
      - AppShell
      - MauiProgram
    maui-gen build --namespace "[solution name]"
    6. Run the Maui ProjectNow that the code has been generated your can goto you Visual studio and you will see lots of new folders and files have been created.

    Generated Code

    You can now simple run the project and you should see.

    Main Menu

    Menu

    Edit Person Form

    Add Person

    List Person Form

    Add Person


    Documents

    maui-gen CLI documents

    # Run maui-get to build template documents
    maui-gen gen_docs

    You can find the generated documents here.

    • C:\Users[User].maui-gen\documents\maui-gen.md
    # Run maui-get to build template documents
    maui-gen gen_template_docs

    You can find the generated template documents here.

    • C:\Users[User].maui-gen\template_doc/Templates.md

    Videos

    How to use Maui Gen


    Examples

    Example PicturesMain Menu

    Menu

    Edit Person Form

    Add Person

    List Person Form

    Add Person


    TODO

    This is just a proof of concept to see if it draws any attention if it does then i'll put some time into it.

    If you do use it I would be interested to hear what you think about it.


    History

    v0.1.0

    • First Release

    v0.1.1

    • Added CLI Doc
    • Embedded the template and examples (need to run maui-gen init all)
    • Updated the project structure

    v0.1.2

    • Fix the template path not using parameters or config

    v0.1.3

    • Added nuget package install cmd

    v0.1.4

    • Added template function to inject other templates
    • Added Template Auto Generating documentation maui-gen gen_template_docs

    License

    Maui-gen is Apache 2.0 licensed.

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