Tizen Wearable CircularUI

• Introduction
• Controls
• Prerequisite
• How to use CircularUI
• Sample and Test application using CircularUI
• Tip and Tech

Introduction

The Tizen Wearable CircularUI project is a set of helpful extensions of the Xamarin Forms framework.
The aim of the Tizen Wearable CircularUI project is an open source software to motivate and help software developer to create Tizen Wearable app(Xamarin.Forms app) more easily and efficiently.
The binaries are available via NuGet (package name Tizen.Wearable.CircularUI)

Xamarin Forms provides cross-platform APIs, but this project are only worked on the Samsung Gear device that support Tizen .NET.

Controls

The Tizen Wearable CircularUI project provides UI controls that fit on a circular screen and interact with hardware features provided on a Samsung wearables such as bezel rotation.

• CircleDateTimeSelector : A picker control to select date or time that fits in the circular screen. Unlike Xamarin.Forms.DatePicker or Xamarin.Forms.TimePicker, it can be shown on the page without popup.
• CircleImage : An image control that crops an image in a circle shape.
• CircleProgressBarSurfaceItem : A progress control that fits in the circular screen. This control can be only used in the CircleSurfaceView.
• CircleSliderSurfaceItem : A slider control that responds to the bezel action and fits in the circular screen.
• CircleStackLayout : A container to layout children linear in the circular area.
• CircleSurfaceEffectBehavior : A behavior that allows you to insert views that require CircleSurface.
• CircleSurfaceItem : An item class to represent the items in the CircleSurface.
• CircleSurfaceView : A view that can have several CircleSurfaceItems, not a page.
• CircleToolbarItem : An item class that can show a toolbar item fitting in the circular screen.
• ColorMenuItem : An item class that allows you to set the background color of the button used in the popup control.
• ContentButton : A button control that allows you to customize the view to show.
• ContextPopupEffectBehavior : A behavior to show a small popup which has one or two buttons. This can be added to any Xamarin.Forms.View.
• FlatViewCell : A cell that turns off the default effect(fish-eye effect) applied in wearable profile.
• GoogleMapView : A view to display google javascript map.
• InformationPopup : A popup that includes a control showing progress and one button on the bottom of the circular screen.
• MediaPlayer : A class that provides the essential components to play the media contents.
• MediaView : A view to display a video on the screen.
• PopupEntry : An entry that opens popup for editing text of the entry.
• TwoButtonPage : A page that has two buttons. One is on the left, and the other is on the right side of the circular screen.
• TwoButtonPopup : A popup that has two buttons. One is on the left, and the other is on the right side of the circular screen.
• Toast : A popup for simple feedback.
  

Tizen Wearable CircularUI project also provides extended Xamarin.Forms controls. These controls basically look same as what it is in Xamarin.Forms, but provide additional features just for Tizen wearables. The developers would want to use the following controls only when they specifically need to use the provided features in each controls.

:information_source: In the case of WatchApplication(Watchface App), to use the controls below, you must use it with a class that implements ICircleSurfaceProvider (e.g., CircleSurfaceView) or CircleSurfaceEffectBehavior.

• BezelInteractionPage : A subclass of Xamarin.Forms.ContentPage that allows you to set which view gets the bezel rotation event.
• CircleListView : A subclass of Xamarin.Forms.ListView that allows you to change the bar color of the ListView.
• CircleScrollView : A subclass of Xamarin.Forms.ScrollView that allows you to change the bar color of the ScollView.
• CircleStepper : A subclass of Xamarin.Forms.Stepper that provides additional properties to set visible elements on Tizen wearable.
• CircularShell : A subclass of Xamarin.Forms.Shell that provides more extended properties for Flyout. When the Flyout is opened, the application will not be terminated even if an user press the back button.
  

Deprecated APIs

Following controls are obsolete as of Tizen.CircularUI version 1.5.0.
However, they can be substituted with Xamarin.Forms controls. Below shows how they can be substituted based on Xamarin.Forms 4.6.0 Service Release 2 (4.6.0.800) or higher.

• Check → Xamarin.Forms.CheckBox or Xamarin.Forms.Switch
  • DisplayStyle → Switch.Style + SwitchStyle(TizenSpecific)
  • Color → Switch.OnColor, Switch.ThumbColor, Switch.BackgroundColor
• CirclePage → Xamarin.Forms.ContentPage
  • ActionButton → Button + Button.Style(TizenSpecific) or ContentButton(CircularUI)
  • RotaryFocusObject → BezelInteractionPage(CircularUI) or Application.ActiveBezelInteractionElement(TizenSpecific)
  • CircleSurfaceItems → CircleSurfaceView.CircleSurfaceItems(CircularUI)
  • CircleToolbarItems → Page.ToolbarItems
• ActionButtonItem → Not Needed
• IndexPage → Xamarin.Forms.CarouselView + Xamarin.Forms.IndicatorView or Xamarin.Forms.CarouselPage
  • You can also simply use Xamarin.Forms.Shell with Xamarin.Forms.ShellSection.
• Radio → Xamarin.Forms.RadioButton
  • Value → RadioButton.Text
  • IsSelected → RadioButton.IsChecked
  • GroupName → RadioButton.GroupName
  • Color → RadioButton.BackgroundColor
  • Selected → RadioButton.CheckChanged
  • CircleSurfaceEffectBehavior → BezelInteractionPage(CircularUI)

Prerequisite

• Visual Studio 2017
• Visual Studio Tools for Tizen
  • How to install Visual Studio Tools for Tizen
• Installing Tizen Wearable emulator image (WEARABLE-4.0-Emulator or WEARABLE-5.0-Emulator)

How to use CircularUI

• QuickStart

• The API Reference is available on the web to browse.

• The API Guide is available on the web to browse.

Sample and Test application using CircularUI

	Screenshot	Description
WearableUIGallery		This application was created to check the basic behavior of CircularUI API. It contains all the controls of the CircularUI API, and the functions of each control consist of one TC or several TCs depending on the characteristics of the control. - Install guide : sdb install org.tizen.example.WearableUIGallery.Tizen.Wearable-1.0.0.tpk Source
SimpleTextWatchface		This application was created to check the default behavior of the Watchface API. - Install guide : sdb install org.tizen.example.SimpleTextWatchface-1.0.0.tpk - Test guide : 1) Touch and hold on Watchface of Main page 2) Move to left on watchface list and select SimpleTextWatchface icon 3) You can see `SimpleTextWatchface` on Watchface of Main page Source
XUIComponents		This application is similar to the UIComponents application using the native API. The functions of each control consist of several test cases depending on the characteristics of the control. - Install guide : sdb install org.tizen.example.UIComponents.Tizen.Wearable-1.0.0.tpk Source

Tip and Tech

• Localization : This guide describes how to support multiple languages.

• Recommendations for ItemHeight of ListView or CircleListView

  • According to the Galaxy Watch's UI Component guideline, we recommend that the height of each item (including headers or footers) can be used to occupy at least one third of the screen (at least 115~120). The default height for a list item is 130 pixel.

• Known issues of WatchApplication (Watchface App)

  • Since WatchFace app is a WatchAppication, not Xamarin.Form's FormsAppliaction, it is not guaranteed to create a CircleSuface, which is necessary to render cicle objects (such as CircleListView, CircleSlider, and so on) during initialization.
  • Therefore, it is recommended to use ICircleSurfaceProvider (e.g., CircleSurfaceView) or CircleSurfaceEffectBehavior together to render these circle objects properly in WatchFace app.
  • For the same reason, Watchface apps can't use Xamarin.Forms's ListView,ScrollView, and Stepper - which are internally require CircleSuface - directly. Please use CircleListView, CircleScrollView and CircleStepper with ICircleSurfaceProvider instead.