Getting started with .NET MAUI Picker

26 Sep 202410 minutes to read

This section explains how to add the .NET MAUI Picker control. It covers only the basic features needed to get started with the Syncfusion Picker. Follow the steps below to add a .NET MAUI Picker control to your project.

To get start quickly with our .NET MAUI Picker, you can check the below video.

Prerequisites

Before proceeding, ensure the following are set up:

  1. Install .NET 7 SDK or later is installed.
  2. Set up a .NET MAUI environment with Visual Studio 2022 (v17.3 or later) or Visual Studio Code. For Visual Studio Code users, ensure that the .NET MAUI workload is installed and configured as described here.

Step 1: Create a New .NET MAUI Project

Visual Studio

  1. Go to File > New > Project and choose the .NET MAUI App template.
  2. Name the project and choose a location. Then click Next.
  3. Select the .NET framework version and click Create.

Visual Studio Code

  1. Open the command palette by pressing Ctrl+Shift+P and type .NET:New Project and enter.
  2. Choose the .NET MAUI App template.
  3. Select the project location, type the project name and press Enter.
  4. Then choose Create project.

Step 2: Install the Syncfusion .NET MAUI Picker NuGet Package

  1. In Solution Explorer, right-click the project and choose Manage NuGet Packages.
  2. Search for Syncfusion.Maui.Picker and install the latest version.
  3. Ensure the necessary dependencies are installed correctly, and the project is restored.

Step 3: Register the handler

The Syncfusion.Maui.Core NuGet is a dependent package for all Syncfusion controls of .NET MAUI. In the MauiProgram.cs file, register the handler for Syncfusion core.

using Syncfusion.Maui.Core.Hosting;
namespace GettingStarted
{
    public static class MauiProgram
    {
        public static MauiApp CreateMauiApp()
        {
            var builder = MauiApp.CreateBuilder();

            builder.ConfigureSyncfusionCore();
            builder
            .UseMauiApp<App>()
            .ConfigureFonts(fonts =>
            {
                fonts.AddFont("OpenSans-Regular.ttf", "OpenSansRegular");
            });

            return builder.Build();
        }
    }
}

Step 4: Add .NET MAUI Picker control

  1. To initialize the control, import the Syncfusion.Maui.Picker namespace into your code.
  2. Initialize SfPicker.
<ContentPage   
    . . .
    xmlns:picker="clr-namespace:Syncfusion.Maui.Picker;assembly=Syncfusion.Maui.Picker">

    <picker:SfPicker />
</ContentPage>
using Syncfusion.Maui.Picker;
. . .

public partial class MainPage : ContentPage
{
    public MainPage()
    {
        InitializeComponent();
        SfPicker picker = new SfPicker();
        this.Content = picker;
    }
}

Set header to the Picker

The SfPicker control allows you to add the header text by setting the Text property in the PickerHeaderView. To enable the header view by setting the Height property in the PickerHeaderView.

<picker:SfPicker x:Name="picker">
    <picker:SfPicker.HeaderView>
        <picker:PickerHeaderView Text="Select a color" Height="40" />
    </picker:SfPicker.HeaderView>
</picker:SfPicker>
SfPicker picker = new SfPicker();
picker.HeaderView = new PickerHeaderView()
{
    Text = "Select a color",
    Height = 40,
};

this.Content = picker;

Set Header view in .NET MAUI Picker.

Add picker items to the picker

The .NET MAUI Picker control is a data-bound control. Hence, you must create a data collection and bind it to the picker control.

  • Create a simple Observable Collection of data for the picker,
public class ItemInfo
{
    private ObservableCollection<object> dataSource = new ObservableCollection<object>()
    {
        "Pink", "Green", "Blue", "Yellow", "Orange", "Purple", "SkyBlue", "PaleGreen"
    };

    public ObservableCollection<object> DataSource
    {
        get
        {
            return dataSource;
        }
        set
        {
            dataSource = value;
        }
    }

    public ItemInfo()
    {

    }
}
  • Bind the Collection to picker

The Picker control allows you to bind data collection by setting the ItemsSource property from the PickerColumn. Bind data collection in both XAML and C#.

<picker:SfPicker x:Name="picker">
    <picker:SfPicker.HeaderView>
        <picker:PickerHeaderView Text="Select a color" Height="40" />
    </picker:SfPicker.HeaderView>
    <picker:SfPicker.Columns>
        <picker:PickerColumn ItemsSource="{Binding DataSource}" />
    </picker:SfPicker.Columns>
</picker:SfPicker>

<ContentPage.BindingContext>
    <local:ItemInfo />
</ContentPage.BindingContext>

ItemInfo itemInfo = new ItemInfo();
SfPicker picker = new SfPicker()
{
    Columns = new ObservableCollection<PickerColumn>()
    {
        new PickerColumn()
        {
            ItemsSource = itemInfo.DataSource,
        }
    }
};

this.Content = picker;

Picker items in .NET MAUI picker.

In SfPicker control, validation buttons (OK and Cancel) can be customized by setting the OkButtonText and CancelButtonText properties in the PickerFooterView. It allows you to confirm or cancel the selected item. The OkButtonText can be enabled using the ShowOkButton property in the PickerFooterView.

<picker:SfPicker x:Name="picker">
    <picker:SfPicker.FooterView>
        <picker:PickerFooterView ShowOkButton="True" Height="40" />
    </picker:SfPicker.FooterView>
</picker:SfPicker>
SfPicker picker = new SfPicker();
picker.FooterView= new PickerFooterView()
{  
    ShowOkButton = true,
    Height = 40,
};

this.Content = picker;

Picker Footer view in .NET MAUI picker.

Set column header to the Picker items

The SfPicker control allows you to add the column header text by setting the HeaderText property in the PickerColumn, and you need to add the column header height by setting the Height property in the PickerColumnHeaderView. Its text style and background color are customizable.

<picker:SfPicker x:Name="picker">
<picker:SfPicker.HeaderView>
    <picker:PickerHeaderView Text="Select a color" Height="40" />
</picker:SfPicker.HeaderView>

<picker:SfPicker.Columns>
    <picker:PickerColumn HeaderText="Colors" 
                         ItemsSource="{Binding DataSource}" />
</picker:SfPicker.Columns>

<picker:SfPicker.ColumnHeaderView>
    <picker:PickerColumnHeaderView Height="40" />
</picker:SfPicker.ColumnHeaderView>
</picker:SfPicker>
ItemInfo itemInfo = new ItemInfo();
SfPicker picker = new SfPicker()
{
    HeaderView = new PickerHeaderView()
    {
        Text = "Select a color",
        Height = 40,
    },

    Columns = new ObservableCollection<PickerColumn>()
    {
        new PickerColumn()
        {
            HeaderText = "Colors",
            ItemsSource = itemInfo.DataSource,
        }
    },

    ColumnHeaderView = new PickerColumnHeaderView()
    {
        Height = 40,
    },
};

this.Content = picker;

Picker Column header view in .NET MAUI picker.

Set height and width to the Picker

The SfPicker control allows you to change the height and width by using the [HeightRequest] and [WidthRequest] properties in the SfPicker.

<picker:SfPicker x:Name="picker" 
                    HeightRequest="280" 
                    WidthRequest="300">
</picker:SfPicker>
SfPicker picker = new SfPicker()
{
    HeightRequest = 280,
    WidthRequest = 300,
};

this.Content = picker;

Set Picker height and width in .NET MAUI picker.

NOTE

You can refer to our .NET MAUI Picker feature tour page for its groundbreaking feature representations. You can also explore our .NET MAUI Picker Example that shows you how to render and configure the Picker in .NET MAUI.