Xamarin iOS - How to get StackLayout to auto size to nested contents? - xaml

Question

I have the following XAML :
<StackLayout>
<Grid IsVisible="{Binding isVisible}" VerticalOptions="FillAndExpand" HorizontalOptions="FillAndExpand">
<behaviors:Expander x:Name="MainExpander" CollapseAnimationLength="500" IsExpanded="false" >
<behaviors:Expander.Header>
<Grid HorizontalOptions="FillAndExpand">
<Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<ColumnDefinition Width="100"/>
<ColumnDefinition Width="10"/>
</Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<Frame HeightRequest="40" WidthRequest="40" CornerRadius="20" HorizontalOptions="Start" VerticalOptions="Center" Margin="20" Padding="0" BackgroundColor="Maroon">
<Label Text="{Binding student_initial}" TextColor="White" HorizontalOptions="Center" VerticalOptions="Center" HorizontalTextAlignment="Center" VerticalTextAlignment="Center" />
</Frame>
<StackLayout Grid.Column="2" HorizontalOptions="StartAndExpand" VerticalOptions="Center" Margin="20">
<Label x:Name="StudentName" Text="{Binding student_fullname}"></Label>
<Label x:Name="StudentID" IsVisible="false" Text="{Binding student_unique_id}"></Label>
</StackLayout>
</Grid>
</behaviors:Expander.Header>
<Grid RowSpacing="0" HorizontalOptions="FillAndExpand" HeightRequest="240" VerticalOptions="FillAndExpand">
<Grid.RowDefinitions>
<RowDefinition Height="*"/>
<RowDefinition Height="*"/>
<RowDefinition Height="*"/>
</Grid.RowDefinitions>
<Button Grid.Row="0" Text="Messages" Clicked="Button_Clicked"></Button>
<Button x:Name="btnTopUp" Grid.Row="1" Text="Quick Topup" Clicked="Button_Clicked" IsVisible="{Binding topup_product_id, Converter={StaticResource IsNotNullOrEmptyConverter}}"></Button>
<Button Grid.Row="2" Text="Payments" Clicked="Button_Clicked"></Button>
</Grid>
<!--TODO: Look at adding a balance for childrens topups?-->
</behaviors:Expander>
</Grid>
</StackLayout>
I am trying to hide and show the grid as follows :
<Grid IsVisible="{Binding isVisible}" ...
The issue is that nothing shows as it looks like the StackLayout is unable to work out how high it needs to be. I can't explicitly set the height property as it depends if the expander is expanded or not. Is there a way to make the stack layout height auto size ? Thank you.

Answer 1

Replace StackLayout with Grid , set its HorizontalOptions and VerticalOptions as Start .
<Grid BackgroundColor="Red" HorizontalOptions="Start" VerticalOptions="Start">
<Grid IsVisible="false" ...
See the following screen shot in all of the scenarios (red color represents the root Grid)
Gird invisible
Grid visible (none-expanded)
Grid visible (expanded)