Accessibility in Xamarin DataForm (SfDataForm)

1 Oct 20212 minutes to read

The SfDataFormcontrol has built-in AutomationId support for inner elements. Please find the following table of Automation IDs for inner elements. To keep unique AutomationId, these inner elements’ AutomationIds are updated based on the control’s AutomationId. For example, if you set SfDataForm AutomationId as SfDataForm.AutomationId = ContactsInfo, then the Automation framework will interact with the text editor as ContactsInfoEnter FirstName. The following screenshots denote the AutomationIds for inner elements.

Floating label layout

Editor	AutomationId Format	Example
Text editor	LabelText	FirstName
Multiline text editor	LabelText	Address
Password Editor	LabelText	Password
Date Editor	LabelText	Birth Date
Time editor	LabelText	Birth Time
Dropdown Editor	LabelText	ItemName
AutoComplete Editor	LabelText	Country Input Field
Numeric Editor	LabelText	Value
NumericUpDown Editor	LabelText	Amount
Masked Editor	LabelText	Contact
Picker	LabelText	Name

Default Layout

Editor	AutomationId Format	Example
Text editor	“Enter ” + LabelText	Enter FirstName
Multiline text editor	“Enter ” + LabelText	Enter Address
Password Editor	“Enter ” + LabelText	Enter Password
Switch Editor	"Toggle ” + LabelText	Toggle TrackHours
Picker	"Select ” + LabelText	Select Name
Date Editor	"Select ” + LabelText	Select Birth Date
Time editor	"Select ” + LabelText	Select Birth Time
Dropdown Editor	"Select ” + LabelText	Select Team
AutoComplete Editor	“Enter ” + LabelText	Enter Country Input Field
Numeric Editor	“Enter ” + LabelText	Enter Value
NumericUpDown Editor	“Enter ” + LabelText	Enter Amount
Checkbox Editor	"Checkbox ” + LabelText	Checkbox Registered
Masked Editor	“Enter ” + LabelText	Enter Contact

Keyboard

SfDataForm provides support to move focus to editors using keyboard interaction.

NOTE
Keyboard interaction is applicable only for UWP platform.

Key or Key combinations	Description
Tab	Moves focus to the next editor from currently focused editor.
Shift + Tab	Moves focus to the previous editor from currently focused editor.

Customize key functionalities

To perform custom actions apart from the functions listed in the above table for keyboard keypress actions, implement your custom actions in the MoveToNextFocusableEditor and MoveToPreviousFocusableEditor overrides of custom layout manager class derived from the DataFormLayoutManager class and assign it to the SfDataForm.LayoutManager property.

The Tab, DownArrow, and RightArrow key pressed actions will call MoveToNextFocusableEditor. For Shift + Tab, LeftArrow, and UpArrow key pressed actions, MoveToPreviousFocusableEditor will be called. Keyboard behaviors can be restricted in override methods by returning false.

C#

dataForm.LayoutManager = new DataFormLayoutManagerExt(dataForm);
public class DataFormLayoutManagerExt : DataFormLayoutManager
{
    public DataFormLayoutManagerExt(SfDataForm dataForm) : base(dataForm)
    {

    }
    public override bool MoveToNextFocusableEditor(DataFormItem dataFormItem)
    {
        //Your logics here
        return true;
    }
    public override bool MoveToPreviousFocusableEditor(DataFormItem dataFormItem)
    {
        //You can restrict keyboard interactions by returning false
        return false;
    }
}

NOTE
The MoveToNextFocusableEditor can be applied to Android, iOS, and UWP platforms and will be called to Android and iOS platforms when pressing the tab key on the mobile keyboard. The MoveToPreviousFocusableEditor can be applied only to the UWP platform.