Why can we not manually add Android Views to the hierarchy in Android code? Cannot debug existing problem ...

[jonmdev]

Description

I am still trying to figure out why Android Labels are sizing, ,clipping and wrapping wrong in Maui as discussed here:

• Labels (TextViews) in Android are bigger than they should be. Values returned by Label.Measure() are wrong. This is causing Maui Labels to clip and wrap abnormally. Any fix or help? #21474
• [Android] Entire words omitted & letters truncated from Label display #17884
• Label.Measure() in Android returns very different results from native Android.Text.StaticLayout() measurement method, causing abnormal Label clipping and wrapping behavior #18328

I have now found that even if you manually create a MauiTextView like this, it is sized wrong compared to what is expected of StaticLayout or the equivalent .NET AppCompatTextView or TextView:

            //ADD "TEXT VIEW" MANUALLY IN ANDROID CODE TO ABSOLUTE LAYOUT
            abs.HandlerChanged += delegate {


#if ANDROID

                var absTrueView = abs.ToPlatform(abs.Handler.MauiContext) as LayoutViewGroup;
                
                MauiTextView text = new(absTrueView.Context);

                var scaledDensity = DeviceDisplay.Current.MainDisplayInfo.Density; //= 2.75 on Pixel 5 emulator
                float fontSize = 20;
                string testString = "HELLO HELLO HELLO HELLO HELLO HELLO HELLO HELLO HELLO";

                text.Text = testString;
                var fontManager = abs.Handler.MauiContext.Services.GetRequiredService<IFontManager>();
                var font = Microsoft.Maui.Font.OfSize("montserratextrabold", fontSize); 
                Android.Text.TextPaint textPaint = new();
                text.SetTypeface(font.ToTypeface(fontManager), 0);  
                text.TextSize = (float)(fontSize);
                text.LayoutParameters = new ViewGroup.LayoutParams(ViewGroup.LayoutParams.WrapContent, ViewGroup.LayoutParams.WrapContent);
                absTrueView.AddView(text);
                text.Measure(1000, 1000);

                Debug.WriteLine("CUSTOM MAUI TEXT MEASURED " + text.MeasuredHeight / scaledDensity + " w " + text.MeasuredWidth / scaledDensity);

#endif
            };

This returns the identical same wrong measurements as Maui's Label class which is exhibiting the glitching wrapping behavior. So the problem is certainly still there even with that code above for MauiTextView.

I would like to then add directly a plain Android.Widget.TextView or AndroidX.AppCompat.Widget.AppCompatTextView instead to see how they measure.

I expect these would measure correctly (since they measure fine in .NET Android).

However, I find I cannot add any Android class views directly to the hierarchy. There are no errors, but I won't get the size debug output properly and if I open the APK in Android Studio the hierarchy shows it was not added.

For example, if I change the above from

MauiTextView text = new(absTrueView.Context);

to:

AndroidX.AppCompat.Widget.AppCompatTextView text = new(absTrueView.Context);

or:

Android.Widget.TextView text = new(absTrueView.Context);

And try to parameterize them and add them the same, nothing gets added to the hierarchy and I cannot test the behavior.

I note this is similar for all Android objects. For example if I try to add:

Android.Widget.AbsoluteLayout newView = new(absTrueView.Context);

This also fails, while the Microsoft version succeeds:

LayoutViewGroup newView = new(absTrueView.Context);

Is this normal behavior? Why (or how) are we prevented from adding Android views directly to the hierarchy? Is something in Maui removing these after they are added? Like garbage collecting or pruning them?

If so, how can we stop this for test purposes? How can we figure out why the MauiTextView is not sizing the same as StaticLayout or the true Android classes AppCompatTextView or TextView?

Furthermore, what if anything might MauiTextView be doing wrong in the above code to not give the same result as AppCompatTextView or TextView in .NET Android code?

@jonathanpeppers ?

Thanks for any help.

Version with bug

8.0.3 GA

Is this a regression from previous behavior?

No, this is something new

Last version that worked well

Unknown/Other

Affected platforms

Android

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• Label.Measure() in Android returns very different results from native Android.Text.StaticLayout() measurement method, causing abnormal Label clipping and wrapping behavior (#18328), similarity score: 0.72

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[jonmdev]

Never mind. I am able to add the Android views (even if Maui is pruning them I can debug their size momentarily) but they are still sizing wrong. I still cannot figure out why.