Xamarin.Forms DatePicker Date Format

Question

With Xamarin Forms it's possible to set the date format in a DataPicker in Xaml or in code as in the example below:

datepickerInstance.Format = "MMM yyyy"; 

or

datepickerInstance.Format = "yyyy";

The format is fine for the value in the TextEntry but the Picker Wheel itself still shows the full date ie January 14 2015. Is this easy to change using the 'out of the box date picker' or do I have to write a Custom Renderer? So for example if I set the format to 'yyyy' I would just see a list of years in the Picker Wheel.

Answer 1

Is this easy to change using the 'out of the box date picker' or do I have to write a Custom Renderer? So for example if I set the format to 'yyyy' I would just see a list of years in the Picker Wheel.

This would be fairly hard to make. You would need a custom renderer, but the story doesn't end up there. The problem is that there is no iOS or Android native control that would do what you request, so you would have to parse the date format and make your own pickers. For the year picker you could use a simple Picker that you would fill with year numbers, for full date you could use date picker, but for some cases you would have to go for a very custom and complex solution.