Xamarin Forms Picker SelectedItem Binding

Question

The Xamarin Forms doc Xamarin.Forms.Picker.SelectedItem says there is a public property SelectedItem for Picker. However, I get an error when I try to bind to it. The picker is not very useful if you have to manually handle the SelectedIndex property.

Tony

Answer 1

No need to manually handle the SelectedIndex. You can use the Picker's SelectedItem property. Just make sure your types are the same. For example, if your ItemsSource is bound to a property:

BookTitles List<string> { get; set; }

your SelectedItem has to be something like:

SelectedBookTitle string { get; set; }

Make sure to set the SelectedBookTitle value to show a title when the page is first shown. Do not forget to set Mode to TwoWay on the SelectedItem Binding. for example:

<Picker ItemsSource="{Binding BookTitles}" SelectedItem="{Binding 
SelectedBookTitle, Mode=TwoWay}" />

This will ensure the title is shown when the page is first displayed, and keeps the value of SelectedBookTitle equal on the Page and codebehind/viewmodel.

No need to use behaviours in this example.