Disable ToolbarItem Xamarin.Forms

Question

I have the following in my page:

<ContentPage.ToolbarItems>
    <ToolbarItem Text="Run" Command="{Binding RunCommand}" />
</ContentPage.ToolbarItems>

The command starts an async task. I am trying to disable the control as long as the async task is still running by binding it to a boolean property as follows:

<ContentPage.ToolbarItems>
    <ToolbarItem Text="Run" Command="{Binding RunCommand}" IsEnabled="{Binding MyBoolProperty}" />
</ContentPage.ToolbarItems>

My issue is that there doesn't seem to be a "IsEnabled" property for ToolbarItem. Is there a way to achieve what I am trying to do using Xamarin.Forms?

Note, I tried replacing "ToolbarItem" with a "Button" and failed miserably: "Object type Xamarin.Forms.Button cannot be converted to target type: Xamarin.Forms.ToolbarItem". — LostBalloon
depending on the expected length of your operation if you run it on the UI thread the button remains in pressed state. it's an ugly hack and you shouldn't use it for network access since that can lock your app up for a very long period — Sten Petrov
Perhaps the source was updated, but now there is a IsEnabled property. Though, I can't still change the value once set. — testing

LostBalloon LostBalloon · Accepted Answer · 2015-01-28T17:24:10

After the help of William and Xamarin support, I was finally able to find how functionality works.

It is a bit counter intuitive as we expect to Enable/Disable the button (ToolbarItem), but we actually have to manage the state of the command that is bound to the button. Once we understand this pattern, it makes sense.

The Command object of type ICommand, has a CanExecute property (thank you William for pointing it out) Now you don't want to access/use it directly unless it is for actually checking if the command can be executed or not.

Wherever you see fit in your code, to change the state of the command, you need to add the following line:

((Command)_myCommand).ChangeCanExecute();

This line will force the CanExecute property to be re-evaluated for the specified command.

I personally decided to add it where I track the inactivity as it made sense in my application.

public bool Inactive { 
    get { 
        return _inactive;
    } 
    set {
        if (_inactive != value) {
            _inactive = value;
            ((Command)_myCommand).ChangeCanExecute();
            OnPropertyChanged ();
        }
    }
}

In the View, there are no changes to be noted:

<ToolbarItem Text="Run" Command="{Binding MyCommand}" />

Now when you create the Command object is where the big work will be done. We usually use the single argument constructor as it is generally enough and it is where we define what our command does. Interestingly enough, there is a 2 parameter constructor as well where you can provide the function/action that determines the value of the CanExecute property.

_myCommand = new Command (async () => {
                                          Inactive = false;
                                          await Run();
                                          Inactive = true;
                                      },
                                      () => {
                                          return Inactive;
                                      });


public ICommand MyCommand {
    get { 
        return _myCommand;
    }
}

Edit: I know you that technically changing the value of Inactive should happen in Run(), but for demonstration purposes...

Disable ToolbarItem Xamarin.Forms

4 Answers

The result:

Side notes:

Disable ToolbarItem Xamarin.Forms

4 Answers

The result:

To gray out disabled Toolbar items:

Side notes: