Xamarin XAML: calling a Shell page with a parameter - xaml

Question

Suppose you have the following AppShell.xaml:
<TabBar>
<ShellContent Title="Page1" ContentTemplate="{DataTemplate local:Page1}" />
<ShellContent Title="Page2" ContentTemplate="{DataTemplate local:Page2}">
</TabBar>
Also suppose Page2 is identical to Page1 except for one property, which can be easily parameterized.
So I'd like to be able to do this:
<TabBar>
<ShellContent Title="Page1" ContentTemplate="{DataTemplate local:Page1}" />
<ShellContent Title="Page2" ContentTemplate="{DataTemplate local:Page1}"
ContentTemplateParameter="somevalue">
</TabBar>
Problem is, there is no such thing as ContentTemplateParameter. So is there a way to achieve this functionality? The critical part here is that I need to call it from an App-level Tab bar, not from one page to another.
P.S. See my solution below.

Answer 1

Answering my own question; I have come up with a solution.
Assign one of the links a route name:
<TabBar>
<ShellContent Title="Page1" ContentTemplate="{DataTemplate local:Page1}" />
<ShellContent Title="Page2" ContentTemplate="{DataTemplate local:Page1}"
Route ="somevalue">
</TabBar>
Then in Page1's constructor you can check whether that name was in the route:
if(Shell.Current.CurrentItem.CurrentItem.Route.Contains("somevalue")) {
// do something
} else {
// do something else
}