Radial gradient paints the designated area with a radial gradient. Which allows the blending of two or more colors across a circle. You can also decide the center of the gradient using the Center property. As well as the radius of the gradient using the Radius property. Just like the linear gradient brush, the properties of the radial gradient brush are also bindable! Here is an example of the XAML code used to create a radial gradient:

<Frame BorderColor="LightGray"
       HasShadow="True"
       CornerRadius="12"
       HeightRequest="120"
       WidthRequest="120">
    <Frame.Background>
        <RadialGradientBrush Center="0.5,0.5"
                             Radius="0.5">
            <GradientStop Color="Red"
                          Offset="0.1"/>
            <GradientStop Color="DarkBlue"
                          Offset="1.0"/>
        </RadialGradientBrush>
    </Frame.Background>
</Frame>

The above XAML creates the corresponding radial gradient, seen below:

Brushes and gradients allow your full creative abilities to be released through Xamarin.Forms! For more information, take a look at the brushes and gradients docs here.

Drag & Drop

Now, drag and drop items in your applications with Xamarin.Forms 4.8! By using drag and drop, move an item from one location to another in the application, or even to a different application!

There are a few steps to go through when enabling drag and drop in an application:

1. Add a DragGestureRecognizer object to its GestureRecognizers collection.

2. Build a data package. For image and text controls, Xamarin.Forms automatically will make the data package for you! For other content you will need to construct your own data package.

3. Enable drop on an item by adding a DropGestureRecognizer object to its GestureRecognizers collection. Then setting the DropGestureRecognizer.AllowDrop property to True.

4. If needed, set the DropGestureRecognizer.DragOver event to indicate the type of operation that should be performed.

5. If needed, process the data package to receive the dropped content. Xamarin.Forms automatically processes the data package for images and text. However, for other content you will need to process the data package yourself.

Drag & drop is a great new gesture implemented in Xamarin.Forms to give you even more ways to interact with your application! Please note that this is shipping experimentally and you must enable the DragAndDrop_Experimental flag. For more information about Drag & drop, see the docs here!

Flyout Backdrop Color

The introduction of the flyout backdrop color makes the shell is even more customizable! Changing the the flyout backdrop color changes the color of the overlay that covers the page of your application when opening the flyout backdrop.

This new feature works by using another new feature. In order to set the flyout backdrop color, set the Shell.FlyoutBackdrop property to a Brush.

One amazing part of this feature is that it actually works with another new features: brushes & gradients! Once enabling the brushes feature, define a solid, gradient, or radial brush. Then assign it to the Shell.FlyoutBackdrop property. An example of the XAML that defines and assigns the brush to the flyout is displayed below:

<Shell ...>
    <FlyoutItem ...>
      <Shell.FlyoutBackdrop>
          <LinearGradientBrush StartPoint="0,0"
                               EndPoint="1,1">
              <GradientStop Color="#8A2387"
                            Offset="0.1" />
              <GradientStop Color="#E94057"
                            Offset="0.6" />
              <GradientStop Color="#F27121"
                            Offset="1.0" />
          </LinearGradientBrush>
      </Shell.FlyoutBackdrop>
      ...
    </FlyoutItem>
    ...
</Shell>

By combining brushes and the flyout backdrop, you now have more control over the design of your flyouts! To learn more, look at the flyout docs.

Featured Contributor

Xamarin.Forms has dozens of contributors constantly working to ensure a great experience. The Xamarin team wants to highlight individuals in our community who have constantly contributed to the success of Xamarin.Forms. Today we are highlighting Pedro!