XAML Namespace Recommended Prefixes in Xamarin.Forms

The XmlnsPrefixAttribute class can be used by control authors to specify a recommended prefix to associate with a XAML namespace, for XAML usage. The prefix is useful when supporting object tree serialization to XAML, or when interacting with a design environment that has XAML editing features. For example:

  • XAML text editors could use the XmlnsPrefixAttribute as a hint for an initial XAML namespace xmlns mapping.
  • XAML design environments could use the XmlnsPrefixAttribute to add mappings to the XAML when dragging objects out of a toolbox and onto a visual design surface.

Recommended namespace prefixes should be defined at the assembly level with the XmlnsPrefixAttribute constructor, which takes two arguments: a string that specifies the identifier of a XAML namespace, and a string that specifies a recommended prefix:

[assembly: XmlnsPrefix("http://xamarin.com/schemas/2014/forms", "xf")]

Prefixes should use short strings, because the prefix is typically applied to all serialized elements that come from the XAML namespace. Therefore, the prefix string length can have a noticeable effect on the size of the serialized XAML output.

Note

More than one XmlnsPrefixAttribute can be applied to an assembly. For example, if you have an assembly that defines types for more than one XAML namespace, you could define different prefix values for each XAML namespace.