Class

MobileUIControl

Description

Control is the base class for most mobile UI controls.

Properties

Name	Type	Read-Only
AccessibilityHint	String
AccessibilityLabel	String
ControlCount	Integer	✓
Enabled	Boolean
Height	Integer	✓
Left	Integer	✓
LockBottom	Boolean
LockLeft	Boolean
LockRight	Boolean
LockTop	Boolean
Name	String	✓
Parent	MobileUIControl	✓
TintColor	ColorGroup
Top	Integer	✓
Visible	Boolean
Width	Integer	✓

Methods

Name	Parameters	Returns
AddConstraint	constraint As iOSLayoutConstraint, name As String = ""
AddControl	child As MobileUIControl, isBeingAdded As Boolean = False
ClearFocus
Constraint	name As String	iOSLayoutConstraint
ControlAt	index As Integer	MobileUIControl
Controls		Iterable
Handle		Ptr
Refresh
RemoveConstraint	constraint As iOSLayoutConstraint
	name As String
RemoveControl	child As MobileUIControl
SetFocus

Events

Name	Parameters	Returns
Closing
DrawControlInLayoutEditor	g As Graphics
Opening

Constants

These constants are designed to be used with the MobileUIControl to show icons at the Navigator and Library.

For a LibraryIcon aim for 48x48, but note that these will scale depending on the Library settings. Currently we don't provide a way to specify all the acceptable sizes, i.e. 16x16, 32x32, 48x48. For a NavigatorIcon 16x16 is sufficient.

Name

Description

NavigatorIcon

This constant is used to override the icon of your control in the Navigator. Using the WebSDKIconConverter, place the Base64 icon data into the value of this constant.

LibraryIcon

This constant is used to override the icon of your control in the Library. Using the WebSDKIconConverter, place the Base64 icon data into the value of this constant.

Property descriptions

MobileUIControl.AccessibilityHint

AccessibilityHint As String

The accessibility hint is a longer description that is read aloud when VoiceOver is enabled.
Me.AccessibilityHint = "Click to calculate the value and display the next screen."
Important

This property is not currently supported for Android.

MobileUIControl.AccessibilityLabel

AccessibilityLabel As String

The accessibility label of of a control is a short name that is read aloud when VoiceOver is enabled.
Me.AccessibilityLabel = "Calculate the value."

MobileUIControl.ControlCount

ControlCount As Integer

The number of child controls in the control.

This property is read-only.

Important

This property is supported for iOS only.

MobileUIControl.Enabled

Enabled As Boolean

Indicates whether the control is enabled or disabled.

Disable the button:
Button1.Enabled = False

MobileUIControl.Height

Height As Integer

The height of the control.

This property is read-only on iOS.

MobileUIControl.Left

Left As Integer

The left position of the control.

This property is read-only on iOS.

MobileUIControl.LockBottom

LockBottom As Boolean

Determines whether the bottom edge of the control should stay at a set distance from the bottom edge of the parent control, if there is one, or the owning screen.

Important

This property is not currently supported for iOS. Use constraints instead.

This property can be set in the control's Inspector. The following example sets it in code.
Me.LockBottom = True

MobileUIControl.LockLeft

LockLeft As Boolean

Determines whether the left edge of the control should stay at a set distance from the left edge of the parent control, if there is one, or the owning screen.

LockLeft and Locktop default to True when you add a new control to a screen. Existing controls will be altered only if LockRight and/or LockBottom are not set. LockLeft has no effect unless LockRight is True.

Important

This property is not currently supported for iOS. Use constraints instead.

This property can be set in the control's Inspector. The following example sets it in code.
Me.LockLeft = True

MobileUIControl.LockRight

LockRight As Boolean

Determines whether the right edge of the control should stay at a set distance from the right edge of the parent control, if there is one, or the owning screen.

Important

This property is not currently supported for iOS. Use constraints instead.

This property can be set in the control's Inspector. The following example sets it in code.
Me.LockRight = True

MobileUIControl.LockTop

LockTop As Boolean

Determines whether the top edge of the control should stay at a set distance from the top edge of the parent control, if there is one, or the owning screen.

LockTop and LockLeft default to True when you add a control to a screen. Existing controls will be altered only if LockRight and/or LockBottom are not set. LockTop has no effect unless LockBottom is True.

Important

This property is not currently supported for iOS. Use constraints instead.

This property can be set in the control's Inspector. The following example sets it in code.
Me.LockTop = True

MobileUIControl.Name

Name As String

The name of the control.

This property is read-only.

MobileUIControl.Parent

Parent As MobileUIControl

The parent (sometimes called a "Super") class of the control.

This property is read-only.

MobileUIControl.TintColor

TintColor As ColorGroup

Changes a control's tint color.

Important

This is supported for iOS only.

On iOS, the following controls support TintColor:

Enum

Description

ProgressBar

The area indicating the value of the control will be drawn in the TintColor.

Slider

The area indicating the value of the control will be drawn in the TintColor.

TextArea

The cursor and text highlight color will be drawn in the TintColor.

TextField

The cursor and text highlight color will be drawn in the TintColor.

MobileUIControl.Top

Top As Integer

The top position of the control.

This property is read-only on iOS.

MobileUIControl.Visible

Visible As Boolean

Indicates whether the control is visible.

Make a button invisible:
Button1.Visible = False

MobileUIControl.Width

Width As Integer

The width of the control.

This property is read-only on iOS.

Method descriptions

MobileUIControl.AddConstraint

AddConstraint(constraint As iOSLayoutConstraint, name As String = "")

Adds a constraint to the control. The optional name parameter can be used to remove a constraint that was added via code.

This constraint is used by child controls that have been added to this control.

Important

This is supported for iOS only.

MobileUIControl.AddControl

AddControl(child As MobileUIControl, isBeingAdded As Boolean = False)

Adds a child control to the control. When the value of isBeingAdded is True, the Opening event is triggered for the child control being added.

Important

This is supported for iOS only.

MobileUIControl.ClearFocus

ClearFocus

Removes the focus from the control.
TextField1.ClearFocus

MobileUIControl.Constraint

Constraint(name As String) As iOSLayoutConstraint

Gets a reference to a named constraint so that you can modify its settings in code.

Important

This is supported for iOS only.

Change an existing (and named) constraint of a control on the Screen:
' "TAWidth" is a width constraint for a TextField that has been given
' a name in the auto-layout Inspector properties.
Var c As iOSLayoutConstraint = Self.Constraint("TAWidth")
c.Offset = 200

MobileUIControl.ControlAt

ControlAt(index As Integer) As MobileUIControl

Gets the child control at the specified index.

Important

This is supported for iOS only.

MobileUIControl.Controls

Controls As Iterable

Allows you to iterate through all the controls that have been added to this control.

Important

This is supported for iOS only.

MobileUIControl.Handle

Handle As Ptr

The handle to the underlying native OS control.

MobileUIControl.Refresh

Refresh

Marks the control so that it will be redrawn during the next event loop.

Call Refresh to force a Canvas to redraw itself:
Canvas1.Refresh

MobileUIControl.RemoveConstraint

RemoveConstraint(constraint As iOSLayoutConstraint)

Removes a constraint from the control.

Important

This is supported for iOS only.

RemoveConstraint(name As String)

Removes the constraint with the name passed from the Screen.

Important

This is supported for iOS only.

MobileUIControl.RemoveControl

RemoveControl(child As MobileUIControl)

Removes the control from the control.

Important

This is supported for iOS only.

MobileUIControl.SetFocus

SetFocus

Sets the focus to the control.
TextField1.SetFocus

Event descriptions

MobileUIControl.Closing

Closing

Called when the control's layout is closing.

MobileUIControl.DrawControlInLayoutEditor

DrawControlInLayoutEditor(g As Graphics)

This event allows you to draw a preview of your control in the Layout Editor, similar to how the control will look like in at runtime. As this code will run as a script in the IDE, if it doesn't compile for any reason, you will see what happened in the Messages pane.

This event fires whenever your control needs to be drawn in the Layout Editor.

There is no need to re-open the project or restart the IDE, in order to see changes you make to the code in this event.

For more information of how this works, see Drawing Your Control.

MobileUIControl.Opening

Opening

Called when the control's layout is opening.

This is where you typically put initialization code.

This example in the Opening event of a label sets its text to "Hello":
Me.Text = "Hello"

Drawing Your Control

Mobile Controls in 2026r1 and above have the ability to draw themselves in the layout editor using the same techniques that you might use to draw a control in the Paint event of a canvas. We developed a specialized XojoScript API 2 compatible Graphics context which allows you to draw just as you would in the Paint event of a canvas object. The diﬀerence here is that you also have access to the Properties and Constants of your class.

For the purposes of drawing controls in the Layout Editor, you will need to implement the DrawControlInLayoutEditor event (you should implement it even if you're not using it, just so your end-users don't see the event). You can put just about any API 2 graphics drawing code into this event and have it render in the Layout editor. If the code you have placed in the event can't compile or runs into a runtime issue, an amber warning icon will be drawn on your control and the errors will be sent to the Messages panel.

Here's an example of how you would draw a red oval within the bounds of the control:

g.DrawingColor = &cFF0000
g.DrawOval(0, 0, g.Width, g.Height)

In addition to the standard drawing controls, there are also some methods for accessing the properties and constants in your control.

Property Methods

BooleanProperty(Name as String) as Boolean

Gets the current value of a Boolean property of your control.

ColorProperty(name As String) As Color

Gets the current value of a Color property of your control.

DoubleProperty(name As String) As Double

Gets the current value of a Double property of your control.

IntegerProperty(name As String) As Integer

Gets the current value of an Integer property of your control.

PictureProperty(name As String) As Picture

Gets the current value of a Picture property of your control.

StringProperty(name As String) As String

Gets the current value of a String property of your control.

Constant Methods

ConstantValue(name As String) As String

Gets the value of a constant in your control as a String.

You can use the ConstantValue of a string stored in a constant, such as "kDescription".:
Var s As String = ConstantValue("kDescription")
g.DrawText(s, 25, 25)

PictureConstant(name As String) As Picture

Gets the value of a constant in your control as a Picture.

You can use PictureConstant with the Base64 value (without the type header) of a picture stored in a constant, such as "kIcon":
Var icon As Picture = PictureConstant("kIcon")
g.DrawPicture(icon, 0, 0)

Color Methods

ColorGroup.NamedColor(name As String) As Color

When running on a platform that supports named colors (only macOS at the time of this writing), this method returns the named OS.

Note

Color names are case sensitive, so the macOS secondary label color should be "secondaryLabelColor".

TextColor As Color

Returns the current text color of the platform that the IDE is running on.

FillColor As Color

Returns the current fill color of the platform that the IDE is running on.

IsDarkMode As Boolean

Returns True if the system is running in dark mode (only macOS at the time of this writing).

Font Methods

FontCount As Integer

Returns the number of fonts available on the system.

FontAt(index As Integer) As String

Returns the name of the font at the specified index.

Notes

You cannot instantiate MobileUIControl directly.

MobileUIControl cannot be subclassed on Android.

Compatibility

Project Types	Mobile
Operating Systems	All