Passing a Command to a TextCell inside a DataTemplate in Xamarin.Forms

Question

I have a ListView, ItemsSource bound to the ViewModel, and the items are a custom class (containing the Name of the menu, the Icon, and a Type that is of a Page, which will be launched upon tapping the menu point).

I've discovered that it is possible to bind a Command to a TextCell, and I wish to do so. But as in my case, the list is not fixed, but generated, I am yet to find a solution.

ElementName in Binding does not work, nor does the xmlns:local definition.

Is there a way to use the Command binding, or should I just stick with the ListView.ItemTapped event?

Answer 1

Add an ICommand property to each item in the list:

public class ItemViewModel
{
    public string MenuName { get; set; }
    public string Icon { get; set; }
    public Type PageType { get; set; }
    public ICommand ItemTappedCommand { set; get; }
}

Create the view model list and setup the command to receive desired argument as parameter;

public List<ItemViewModel> CreateItemsViewModel(List<Item> items)
    {
        var list = new List<ItemViewModel>();
        foreach (var item in items)
            list.Add(new ItemViewModel()
            {
                MenuName = item.MenuName,
                Icon = item.Icon,
                PageType = item.PageType,
                ItemTappedCommand = new Command<Type>((type) =>
                {
                    OpenPageOfType(type);
                })
            });
        return list;
    }

In a XAML view, pass required value as command parameter;

<ListView ItemsSource="{Binding ItemsViewModel}" >
  <ListView.ItemTemplate>
    <DataTemplate>
      <TextCell Text="{Binding MenuName}"
          Command="{Binding ItemTappedCommand}"
          CommandParameter="{Binding PageType}" />
    </DataTemplate>
  </ListView.ItemTemplate>
</ListView>