.NET MAUI Controls

🎛 What Are MAUI Controls?

.NET MAUI Controls — the building blocks of your app’s user interface.

Controls (also called views) are reusable UI elements in .NET MAUI that let users interact with your app. They range from simple text labels to complex data views. Each control is a class that defines appearance, behavior, and interaction.

🔑 Key Categories of MAUI Controls

📄 Text & Display

Label – Displays read-only text.

Entry – Single-line text input.

Editor – Multi-line text input.

SearchBar – Input with search semantics.

Span / FormattedString – Rich text formatting.

🎛 Input & Interaction

Button – Clickable action.

Switch – Toggle between on/off.

Slider – Select numeric value by sliding.

Stepper – Increment/decrement numeric values.

CheckBox – Boolean selection.

RadioButton – Grouped single-choice selection.

📦 Containers & Layouts

StackLayout, Grid, FlexLayout, AbsoluteLayout, BindableLayout – Organize child controls.

ScrollView – Enables scrolling.

📊 Data & Collections

CollectionView – Flexible, performant list control.

ListView (legacy, replaced by CollectionView).

BindableLayout – Bind collections to any layout.

Picker – Dropdown selection.

TableView – Structured form-like display.

🎨 Graphics & Media

Image – Display images.

GraphicsView – Custom drawing with Microsoft.Maui.Graphics.

MediaElement – Play audio/video.

📅 Date & Time

DatePicker – Select a date.

TimePicker – Select a time.

🌐 Navigation & Pages

NavigationPage – Stack-based navigation.

TabbedPage – Tabbed navigation.

FlyoutPage – Side menu navigation.

⚙️ Advanced Controls

WebView – Render web content.

Map – Display maps (via Microsoft.Maui.Controls.Maps).

ActivityIndicator – Show loading state.

ProgressBar – Show progress.

✅ Why Use MAUI Controls?

Cross-platform consistency: Same control works on Android, iOS, macOS, and Windows.

Customization: Style with XAML, CSS, or C#.

Data binding: Connect controls to your ViewModel for MVVM patterns.

Extensibility: Create custom controls or extend existing ones.

📌 Common Use Cases

Forms: Use Entry, Editor, Picker, DatePicker, CheckBox.

Dashboards: Combine CollectionView, ProgressBar, Charts.

Media apps: Use Image, MediaElement, GraphicsView.

Navigation apps: Use Map, FlyoutPage, TabbedPage.

✨ In short: MAUI Controls are the essential UI elements that make your app interactive and cross-platform. You mix and match them inside layouts to build everything from simple forms to complex dashboards.