We've tried to make XAF an extensible/highly customizable business application platform. Developers can customize or replace nearly all built-in application UI elements or behaviors. To help those of you who require this level of customization, we've created dozens of examples in our support database and within our documentation. Additionally, numerous extensions created by members of the XAF community are available.
Please remember that XAF ships with full source code - you can research, debug and modify the framework as needed. The availability of source code is not an incidental benefit. It helps reduce the risks associated with vendor lock-in. It also helps those who wish to extend the platform as needs dictate.
If you've not yet used XAF, feel free to review this comparison to see how XAF stacks up in the marketplace.
In this post, I'll highlight recent updates to mobile-related help topics and documentation related to UI customization. If you are familiar with XAF 's WinForms and ASP.NET development processes, many things will look familiar. For future updates, be sure to bookmark the following help topic: Ways to Customize a Mobile Application.
How to customize existing UI elements
XAF Mobile applications use DevExtreme widgets and provide a set of wrappers that allow you to customize a widget from your C# or VB.NET code. Take a moment to review the following topics:
- Access Mobile Editor Settings
- Access List Control Properties
- How to: Customize Action Controls
- How to: Customize a Built-in Property Editor
- How to: Customize Tabs Generation in a Mobile Detail View
- XAF Mobile Wrappers for DevExtreme Widgets
How to use a custom control that is not integrated by default
Do you want to extend a Mobile application with your own, fancy DevExtreme or some third-party widget? The following help articles should help you get started:
- How to: Add an XAF Mobile Custom Module
- How to: Use a DevExtreme Chart in a Mobile Application
- How to use a Signature Pad in XAF Mobile
- How to: Add a Button to a Detail View Using Custom View Item
- How to show a hyper link (URL, email, etc.) for a business class property
- XAF Mobile Report Viewer
How to implement client-side logic
The following topics demonstrate how to write and register your custom JavaScript using the ActionBaseExtensions.RegisterClientScriptOnExecute, MobileApplication’s RegisterClientScriptXXX and MobileWindowTemplate’s RegisterClientScriptXXX APIs:
- How to: Implement Client-Side Logic in Mobile Applications
- How to change the default data service URL in XAF Mobile applications at runtime
- How to: Change a Mobile UI Language at Runtime
How to access mobile device functions
To learn more about adding PhoneGap Plugins to your Mobile application, refer to the following help topics:
- How to: Use a Custom Plugin in a Mobile Application
- MobileApplication.CustomizePhoneGapConfig
- MobileApplication.AdditionalPhoneGapPlugins
- How to use a Barcode Scanner in XAF Mobile
- How to send push notifications to the XAF Mobile application using Azure Notifications Hub
- How to use a Background Geolocation in XAF Mobile
Miscellaneous
These customizations will also interest any XAF Mobile developer sooner or later:
- XAF Mobile (Beta) Tutorial
- Mobile Application Life Cycle
- How to: Change an Application Logo and Info
- How to: Display a Detail View Directly in Edit Mode in ASP.NET and Mobile Applications
- Resources in Mobile Applications
- Localization Module Overview
- XAF Mobile Authentication Overview
- Deployment Recommendations for ASP.NET and Mobile Applications
Your feedback counts
We would love your thoughts on these help topics materials and would love to learn more about customizations you've made to XAF Mobile UI.
Logify
Before I let you go, just a quick question - are you guys using 24/7 app monitoring services such as Logify? Our support team plans on using Logify with some of our enterprise customers and we'd love to know what you guys think of 24/7 app monitoring. Check out the How to replace XAF exception handling with Logify article to learn more about the XAF integration. Please note that we are using this exact approach for our online Web and Mobile demos (available at https://www.devexpress.com/Support/Demos/#xaf).