Capture User Input In Xamarin Android App And Validate It

Introduction

Xamarin is a platform to develop cross-platform and multi-platform apps (like Windows phone, Android, iOS). In Xamarin, the code sharing concept is used. In Xamarin Studio, Visual Studio is also available.

Step 1

Create a new blank Android App using Visual Studio.

Step 2

In your project solution, there is a Main.axml file. Now, open this file in designer view. Drag and drop one email field to take an email input. Plain text is required to take Web URL from the user also. Drag two TextViews to show the result and take one button.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:orientation="vertical"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent">
<EditText
android:layout_marginLeft="20dp"
android:inputType="textEmailAddress"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:id="@+id/txtUserValue"
android:hint="Enter Email Id"
android:layout_marginRight="0.0dp" />
<EditText
android:layout_marginLeft="20dp"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:id="@+id/txtWebURL"
android:layout_marginRight="0.0dp"
android:hint="Enter Web URL" />
<TextView
android:layout_marginLeft="20dp"
android:text=""
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:id="@+id/txtResult" />
<TextView
android:layout_marginLeft="20dp"
android:text=""
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:id="@+id/txtWebResult" />
<Button
android:text="Button"
android:layout_width="273.5dp"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_marginLeft="40dp"
android:id="@+id/btnSubmit" />
</LinearLayout>

Step 3

Now, in MainActivity.cs file, get references to the EditText and the TextView. I am going to write the code to check if input is valid or not. I am going to explain how to validate an Email address and Web URL.

We can also validate other things like Domain Name, Top Level Domain, IP Address, Phone, Numbers etc.

Write the code, mentioned below to MainActivity.cs.

namespace Validate_User_Input_Xamarin
{
[Activity(Label = "Capture User Input", MainLauncher = true, Icon = "@drawable/icon")]
public class MainActivity : Activity
{
protected override void OnCreate(Bundle bundle)
{
base.OnCreate(bundle);
SetContentView(Resource.Layout.Main);
Button submit = FindViewById<Button>(Resource.Id.btnSubmit);
submit.Click += delegate
{
// copy the user entered text into variable
var userEmail = FindViewById<EditText>(Resource.Id.txtUserValue);
string userValue = userEmail.Text.ToString();
var showResult = FindViewById<TextView>(Resource.Id.txtResult);
var emailResult = isValidEmail(userValue);
if(userValue == "")
{
showResult.Text = "Please enter email id";
}
else
{
if (emailResult == true)
{
showResult.Text = "Great...Email id is valid";
}
else
{
showResult.Text = "Wrong email id. Try again";
}
}
var userWebURL = FindViewById<EditText>(Resource.Id.txtWebURL);
string userWeb = userWebURL.Text.ToString();
var showWebResult = FindViewById<TextView>(Resource.Id.txtWebResult);
var webResult = isValidURL(userWeb);
if (userWeb == "")
{
showWebResult.Text = "Please enter URL";
}
else
{
if (webResult == true)
{
showWebResult.Text = "Great...URL is valid";
}
else
{
showWebResult.Text = "Wrong URL. Try again";
}
}
};
}
// check user entered email id is valid or not
public bool isValidEmail(string email)
{
return Android.Util.Patterns.EmailAddress.Matcher(email).Matches();
}
// check user entered URL is valid or not
public bool isValidURL(string url)
{
return Android.Util.Patterns.WebUrl.Matcher(url).Matches();
}
}
}

Step 4

Now, run the Application on emulator followed by the screenshot, mentioned below.

If we click on the button without entering any values, then we will see the screenshot, mentioned below.

If we enter wrong values, then we will see the screenshot, mentioned below.

If we enter correct values, then we will see the screenshot, mentioned below..

Summary

This article will help the fresher candidates on how to capture the user input in Xamarin Android app and validate it.

4 Comments

Join the conversation! Your thoughts help the community grow.

Louise Eggleton8y ago
This is great as a demo, but the validation logic really needs to be separated out into its own module or use a library like Fluent Validation. In production I would never have all that validation logic mixed in with the Main Activity.
Rupesh Kahane10y ago
Thank you so much to Bhavik Patel and Abhijeet Chavan also...
Abhijeet Chavan10y ago
Good one. well explained..
Bhavik Patel10y ago
Very useful article! nicely explained.