Getting Started with Xamarin Calendar (SfCalendar)

13 Sep 20236 minutes to read

This section explains how to implement simple holiday indicator application which allows user to select working days using Xamarin Calendar (SfCalendar) control.

Assembly deployment

After installing Essential Studio for Xamarin, you can find all the required assemblies in the installation folders, {Syncfusion Essential Studio Installed location} \Essential Studio\{Version #}\Xamarin\lib.

E.g.: C:\Program Files (x86) \Syncfusion\Essential Studio\19.1.0.54\Xamarin\lib

NOTE

Assemblies can be found in unzipped package location(Documents/Syncfusion/{Version #}/Xamarin/lib) in Mac.

Adding SfCalendar reference

You can add SfCalendar reference using one of the following methods:

Method 1: Adding SfCalendar reference from nuget.org

Syncfusion Xamarin components are available in nuget.org. To add SfCalendar to your project, open the NuGet package manager in Visual Studio, search for Syncfusion.Xamarin.SfCalendar, and then install it.

Adding SfCalendar reference from NuGet

NOTE

Install the same version of SfCalendar NuGet in all the projects.

Method 2: Adding SfCalendar reference from toolbox

Syncfusion also provides Xamarin Toolbox. Using this toolbox, you can drag the SfCalendar control to the XAML page. It will automatically install the required NuGet packages and add the namespace to the page. To install Syncfusion Xamarin Toolbox, refer to Toolbox.

Method 3: Adding SfCalendar assemblies manually from the installed location

If you prefer to manually reference the assemblies instead referencing from NuGet, add the following assemblies in respective projects.

Location: {Installed location}/{version}/Xamarin/lib

PCL	Syncfusion.SfCalendar.XForms.dll Syncfusion.Core.XForms.dll Syncfusion.Licensing.dll
Android	Syncfusion.SfCalendar.XForms.Android.dll Syncfusion.SfCalendar.XForms.dll Syncfusion.Core.XForms.dll Syncfusion.Core.XForms.Android.dll Syncfusion.Licensing.dll
iOS	Syncfusion.SfCalendar.XForms.iOS.dll Syncfusion.SfCalendar.XForms.dll Syncfusion.Core.XForms.dll Syncfusion.Core.XForms.iOS.dll Syncfusion.Licensing.dll
UWP	Syncfusion.SfCalendar.XForms.UWP.dll Syncfusion.SfCalendar.XForms.dll Syncfusion.Core.XForms.dll Syncfusion.Core.XForms.UWP.dll Syncfusion.Licensing.dll

NOTE

To know more about obtaining our components, refer to these links for Mac and Windows.

IMPORTANT

Starting with v16.2.0.x, if you reference Syncfusion assemblies from the trial setup or from the NuGet feed, you also have to include a license key in your projects. Please refer to Syncfusion license key to know about registering Syncfusion license key in your Xamarin application to use our components.

Launching the SfCalendar on each platform

To use SfCalendar inside an application, each platform application must initialize the SfCalendar renderer. This initialization step varies from platform to platform and is discussed in the following sections.

Android and UWP

The Android and UWP launches the SfCalendar without any initialization and is enough to only initialize the Xamarin.Forms Framework to launch the application

NOTE

If you are adding the references from toolbox, this step is not needed.

iOS

To launch SfCalendar in iOS, need to create an instance of SfCalendarRenderer in FinishedLaunching overridden method of AppDelegate class in iOS Project as shown below.

using Syncfusion.SfCalendar.XForms.iOS;

public override bool FinishedLaunching(UIApplication app, NSDictionary options)
{
	global::Xamarin.Forms.Forms.Init();
	SfCalendarRenderer.Init();
	LoadApplication(new App());
	return base.FinishedLaunching(app, options);
}

ReleaseMode issue in UWP platform

There is a known Framework issue in UWP platform. The custom controls will not render when deployed the application in Release Mode.

The above problem can be resolved by initializing the SfCalendar assemblies in App.xaml.cs in UWP project as like in below code snippet.

// In App.xaml.cs

protected override void OnLaunched(LaunchActivatedEventArgs e)
{
	rootFrame.NavigationFailed += OnNavigationFailed;	
	// you'll need to add `using System.Reflection;`
	List<Assembly> assembliesToInclude = new List<Assembly>();
	//Now, add all the assemblies your app uses
	assembliesToInclude.Add(typeof(SfCalendarRenderer).GetTypeInfo().Assembly);
	// replaces Xamarin.Forms.Forms.Init(e);        
	Xamarin.Forms.Forms.Init(e, assembliesToInclude);  
}

Supported platforms

Android
iOS
Windows (UWP)

Create a Simple SfCalendar

The SfCalendar control is configured entirely in C# code or by using XAML markup. The following steps explain on how to create a SfCalendar and configure its elements,

Adding namespace for the added assemblies.

XAML
C#
xmlns:syncfusion="clr-namespace:Syncfusion.SfCalendar.XForms;assembly=Syncfusion.SfCalendar.XForms"
using Syncfusion.SfCalendar.XForms;

Now add the SfCalendar control with a required optimal name by using the included namespace.

XAML
C#
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<ContentPage xmlns="http://xamarin.com/schemas/2014/forms" xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2009/xaml"
xmlns:local="clr-namespace:GettingStarted" 
xmlns:syncfusion="clr-namespace:Syncfusion.SfCalendar.XForms;assembly=Syncfusion.SfCalendar.XForms"
x:Class="GettingStarted.CalendarPage">
<ContentPage.Content>
 <syncfusion:SfCalendar x:Name="calendar" />	
</ContentPage.Content>
</ContentPage>
using Syncfusion.SfCalendar.XForms;
using Xamarin.Forms;
  
namespace GettingStarted
{
public partial class CalendarPage : ContentPage
{
	public CalendarPage()
	{
		InitializeComponent();
		SfCalendar calendar = new SfCalendar();
		this.Content = calendar;
	}
}
}

Set Blackout Dates

SfCalendar control provides option to black out the desired date which is in disabled state among the visible dates. Here, holidays are blacked out in the form which cannot be selected by the user. To black out the holiday, add them into BlackoutDates list.

SfCalendar  calendar = new SfCalendar();
List<DateTime> black_dates = new List<DateTime>();
for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++)
{
	DateTime date = new DateTime(2018,4,1+i);
	black_dates.Add(date);
}
calendar.BlackoutDates = black_dates;

Enable Multiple Selection

SfCalendar control allows user to select one or more dates at a time among the non black out dates.

To enable it set MultiSelection option in SelectionMode enumeration property.

XAML
C#
<syncfusion:SfCalendar x:Name="calendar" SelectionMode="MultiSelection" />
SfCalendar calendar = new SfCalendar();
calendar.SelectionMode=SelectionMode.MultiSelection;

Restrict Dates

SfCalendar allows to select dates that falls between certain range of dates. Here, restrict user to select dates only in current year.

NOTE

To specify the range, set start date and end date to MinDate and MaxDate properties respectively.

SfCalendar  calendar = new SfCalendar();
calendar.MinDate = new DateTime(2019,9,1);
calendar.MaxDate = new DateTime(2019,9,30);
this.Content = calendar;

You can download the entire source code of this demo for Xamarin.Forms from
here CalendarGettingStarted