Theming

This page describes how to style controls in MauiReactor

In .NET MAUI application, one, usually, creates control styles in a bunch of XAML files in the Resources folder.

For example, the following XAML styles the Label with a custom text color and font family.

<Style TargetType="Label">
    <Setter Property="TextColor" Value="{DynamicResource Primary}" />
    <Setter Property="FontFamily" Value="OpenSansRegular" />
</Style>

MauiReactor supports XAML styling as well, you just need to reference your XAML files when setting up the MauiReactor application as shown below:

Since version 3, MauiReactor has had a different way of handling XAML resources, which can be seen here.

builder
    .UseMauiReactorApp<HomePage>(app =>
    {
        app.AddResource("Resources/Styles/DefaultTheme.xaml");
    })

Starting from version 2.0.34, MauiReactor also allows control styling using C#.

To create your theme, you have to define a class deriving from the MauiReactor Theme class and override the OnApply method.

class AppTheme : Theme
{
   protected override void OnApply()
   {
   ...
   }
}

You have to register the theme in the app definition in your program.cs file as shown below:

var builder = MauiApp.CreateBuilder();
builder
    .UseMauiReactorApp<MainPage>(app =>
    {
        app.UseTheme<AppTheme>();
    })

For example, the following theme class defines a few default styles for the Label and Button controls.

class AppTheme : Theme
{
    public static Color Primary = Color.FromArgb("#512BD4");
    public static Color PrimaryDark = Color.FromArgb("#ac99ea");
    public static Color PrimaryDarkText = Color.FromArgb("#242424");
    public static Color Secondary = Color.FromArgb("#DFD8F7");
    public static Color SecondaryDarkText = Color.FromArgb("#9880e5");
    public static Color Tertiary = Color.FromArgb("#2B0B98");
    public static Color White = Color.FromArgb("White");
    public static Color Black = Color.FromArgb("Black");
    public static Color Magenta = Color.FromArgb("#D600AA");
    public static Color MidnightBlue = Color.FromArgb("#190649");
    public static Color OffBlack = Color.FromArgb("#1f1f1f");
    public static Color Gray100 = Color.FromArgb("#E1E1E1");
    public static Color Gray200 = Color.FromArgb("#C8C8C8");
    public static Color Gray300 = Color.FromArgb("#ACACAC");
    public static Color Gray400 = Color.FromArgb("#919191");
    public static Color Gray500 = Color.FromArgb("#6E6E6E");
    public static Color Gray600 = Color.FromArgb("#404040");
    public static Color Gray900 = Color.FromArgb("#212121");
    public static Color Gray950 = Color.FromArgb("#141414");

    public static SolidColorBrush PrimaryBrush = new(Primary);
    public static SolidColorBrush SecondaryBrush = new(Secondary);
    public static SolidColorBrush TertiaryBrush = new(Tertiary);
    public static SolidColorBrush WhiteBrush = new(White);
    public static SolidColorBrush BlackBrush = new(Black);
    public static SolidColorBrush Gray100Brush = new(Gray100);
    public static SolidColorBrush Gray200Brush = new(Gray200);
    public static SolidColorBrush Gray300Brush = new(Gray300);
    public static SolidColorBrush Gray400Brush = new(Gray400);
    public static SolidColorBrush Gray500Brush = new(Gray500);
    public static SolidColorBrush Gray600Brush = new(Gray600);
    public static SolidColorBrush Gray900Brush = new(Gray900);
    public static SolidColorBrush Gray950Brush = new(Gray950);

    private static bool LightTheme => Application.Current?.UserAppTheme == Microsoft.Maui.ApplicationModel.AppTheme.Light;

    protected override void OnApply()
    {
        ButtonStyles.Default = _ => _
            .TextColor(LightTheme ? White : PrimaryDarkText)
            .FontFamily("OpenSansRegular")
            .BackgroundColor(LightTheme ? Primary : PrimaryDark)
            .FontSize(14)
            .BorderWidth(0)
            .CornerRadius(8)
            .Padding(14,10)
            .MinimumHeightRequest(44)
            .MinimumWidthRequest(44)
            .VisualState("CommonStates", "Disabled", MauiControls.Button.TextColorProperty, LightTheme ? Gray950 : Gray200)
            .VisualState("CommonStates", "Disabled", MauiControls.Button.BackgroundColorProperty, LightTheme ? Gray200 : Gray600)
            ;

        LabelStyles.Default = _ => _
            .TextColor(LightTheme ? Black : White)
            .FontFamily("OpenSansRegular")
            .FontSize(14)
            .VisualState("CommonStates", "Disabled", MauiControls.Label.TextColorProperty, LightTheme ? Gray300 : Gray600)
            ;

    }
}

All the MauiReactor controls can be styled using the class named after the control name (i.e. LabelStyles, ButtonStyles, ViewStyles, etc).

Theming fully supports hot reload: style changes are reflected in the running application.

You can also use "selectors" (like in CSS) to define additional styles for each control. A selector is a unique string attached to the style.

For example, I can define a different style for the label as shown below:

LabelStyles.Themes["Title"] = _ => _
    .FontSize(20);

You can select the style using the ThemeKey property:

Label()
   .ThemeKey("Title");

Given that selectors should be unique, a common approach is to create a const string property to use in the style definition and with the ThemeKey property.

For example:

public const string Title = nameof(Title);

LabelStyles.Themes[Title] = _ => _
        .FontSize(20);
        
Label()
   .ThemeKey(AppTheme.Title);

Theming also works with custom third-party controls that are scaffolded as described here.

Dark theme support

The theming feature allows you to define different styles for the Dark and Light theme.

For example, consider the following app theme definition:

class AppTheme : Theme
{
    public static void ToggleCurrentAppTheme()
    {
        if (MauiControls.Application.Current != null)
        {
            MauiControls.Application.Current.UserAppTheme = IsDarkTheme ? Microsoft.Maui.ApplicationModel.AppTheme.Light : Microsoft.Maui.ApplicationModel.AppTheme.Dark;
        }
    }

    public static Color DarkBackground { get; } = Color.FromArgb("#FF17171C");
    public static Color DarkText { get; } = Color.FromArgb("#FFFFFFFF");
    public static Color LightBackground { get; } = Color.FromArgb("#FFF1F2F3");
    public static Color LightText { get; } = Color.FromArgb("#FF000000");

    protected override void OnApply()
    {
        ContentPageStyles.Default = _ => _
            .BackgroundColor(IsDarkTheme ? DarkBackground : LightBackground);

        LabelStyles.Default = _ => _
            .TextColor(IsDarkTheme ? DarkText : LightText);
    }
}

MauiReactor automatically responds to user or system theme change requests and accordingly calls the OnApply overload to allow you to change styles for the Dark and Light theme.

For example:

public override VisualNode Render()
 => ContentPage(
        VStack(
            Label($"Current Theme: {Theme.CurrentAppTheme} "),

            Button("Toggle", ()=>AppTheme.ToggleCurrentAppTheme())
            )
        .Spacing(10)
        .Center()
    );

The above code builds this app page:

Dark theme sample app