Migrate data from the Xamarin.Forms app properties dictionary to .NET MAUI preferences

Xamarin.Forms has a Properties dictionary that can be used to store data, and which is accessed using the Application.Current.Properties property. This dictionary uses a string key and stores an object value. The values in the dictionary are saved to the device when an app is paused or shut down, and loaded when an app is restarted or returns from the background. For more information about the properties dictionary, see Properties dictionary.

When migrating a Xamarin.Forms app that stores data in the app properties dictionary to .NET MAUI, you should migrate this data to .NET MAUI preferences. This can be accomplished with the LegacyApplication class, and helper classes, which is presented in this article. This class enables your .NET MAUI app on Android, iOS, and Windows, to read data from the app properties dictionary that was created with a previous Xamarin.Forms version of your app. For more information about .NET MAUI preferences, see Preferences.

Access legacy app properties data

The following code shows the LegacyApplication class, which provides access to the app properties data created by your Xamarin.Forms app:

namespace MigrationHelpers;

public class LegacyApplication
{
    readonly PropertiesDeserializer deserializer;
    Task<IDictionary<string, object>>? propertiesTask;

    static LegacyApplication? current;
    public static LegacyApplication? Current
    {
        get
        {
            current ??= (LegacyApplication)Activator.CreateInstance(typeof(LegacyApplication));
            return current;
        }
    }

    public LegacyApplication()
    {
        deserializer = new PropertiesDeserializer();
    }

    public IDictionary<string, object> Properties
    {
        get
        {
            propertiesTask ??= GetPropertiesAsync();
            return propertiesTask.Result;
        }
    }

    async Task<IDictionary<string, object>> GetPropertiesAsync()
    {
        IDictionary<string, object> properties = await deserializer.DeserializePropertiesAsync().ConfigureAwait(false);
        properties ??= new Dictionary<string, object>(4);
        return properties;
    }
}

Android

On Android, the LegacyApplication class uses the PropertiesDeserializer class to deserialize data from the app properties dictionary file. The following code shows the PropertiesDeserializer class:

using System.Diagnostics;
using System.IO.IsolatedStorage;
using System.Runtime.Serialization;
using System.Xml;

namespace MigrationHelpers;

public class PropertiesDeserializer
{
    const string PropertyStoreFile = "PropertyStore.forms";

    public Task<IDictionary<string, object>> DeserializePropertiesAsync()
    {
        // Deserialize property dictionary to local storage
        return Task.Run(() =>
        {
            using (IsolatedStorageFile store = IsolatedStorageFile.GetUserStoreForApplication())
            {
                if (!store.FileExists(PropertyStoreFile))
                    return null;

                using (IsolatedStorageFileStream stream = store.OpenFile(PropertyStoreFile, FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read))
                using (XmlDictionaryReader reader = XmlDictionaryReader.CreateBinaryReader(stream, XmlDictionaryReaderQuotas.Max))
                {
                    if (stream.Length == 0)
                        return null;

                    try
                    {
                        var dcs = new DataContractSerializer(typeof(Dictionary<string, object>));
                        return (IDictionary<string, object>)dcs.ReadObject(reader);
                    }
                    catch (Exception e)
                    {
                        Debug.WriteLine("Could not deserialize properties: " + e.Message);
                        Console.WriteLine($"PropertyStore Exception while reading Application properties: {e}");
                    }
                }
            }
            return null;
        });
    }
}

iOS

On iOS, the LegacyApplication class uses the PropertiesDeserializer class to deserialize data from the app properties dictionary file. The following code shows the PropertiesDeserializer class:

using System.Diagnostics;
using System.IO.IsolatedStorage;
using System.Runtime.Serialization;
using System.Xml;

namespace MigrationHelpers;

public class PropertiesDeserializer
{
    const string PropertyStoreFile = "PropertyStore.forms";

    public Task<IDictionary<string, object>> DeserializePropertiesAsync()
    {
        // Deserialize property dictionary to local storage
        return Task.Run(() =>
        {
            using (var store = IsolatedStorageFile.GetUserStoreForApplication())
            using (var stream = store.OpenFile(PropertyStoreFile, System.IO.FileMode.OpenOrCreate))
            using (var reader = XmlDictionaryReader.CreateBinaryReader(stream, XmlDictionaryReaderQuotas.Max))
            {
                if (stream.Length == 0)
                    return null;

                try
                {
                    var dcs = new DataContractSerializer(typeof(Dictionary<string, object>));
                    return (IDictionary<string, object>)dcs.ReadObject(reader);
                }
                catch (Exception e)
                {
                    Debug.WriteLine("Could not deserialize properties: " + e.Message);
                    Console.WriteLine($"PropertyStore Exception while reading Application properties: {e}");
                }
            }
            return null;
        });
    }
}

Windows

On Windows, the LegacyApplication class uses the PropertiesDeserializer class to deserialize data from the app properties dictionary file. The following code shows the PropertiesDeserializer class:

using System.Diagnostics;
using System.Runtime.Serialization;
using Windows.Storage;

namespace MigrationHelpers;

public class PropertiesDeserializer
{
    const string PropertyStoreFile = "PropertyStore.forms";

    public async Task<IDictionary<string, object>> DeserializePropertiesAsync()
    {
        try
        {
            StorageFile file = await ApplicationData.Current.RoamingFolder.GetFileAsync(PropertyStoreFile).DontSync();
            using (Stream stream = (await file.OpenReadAsync().DontSync()).AsStreamForRead())
            {
                if (stream.Length == 0)
                    return new Dictionary<string, object>(4);

                try
                {
                    var serializer = new DataContractSerializer(typeof(IDictionary<string, object>));
                    return (IDictionary<string, object>)serializer.ReadObject(stream);
                }
                catch (Exception e)
                {
                    Debug.WriteLine("Could not deserialize properties: " + e.Message);
                    Console.WriteLine($"PropertyStore Exception while reading Application properties: {e}");
                }
                return null;
            }
        }
        catch (FileNotFoundException)
        {
            return new Dictionary<string, object>(4);
        }
    }
}

This Windows version of the PropertiesDeserializer class requires the DontSync extension method. The following code shows this extension method:

using System.Runtime.CompilerServices;
using Windows.Foundation;

namespace MigrationHelpers;

internal static class Extensions
{
    public static ConfiguredTaskAwaitable<T> DontSync<T>(this IAsyncOperation<T> self)
    {
        return self.AsTask().ConfigureAwait(false);
    }
}

Consume legacy app property data

The LegacyApplication class can be used to consume data from the app properties dictionary, on Android, iOS, and Windows, that was created with a previous Xamarin.Forms version of your app:

#if ANDROID || IOS || WINDOWS
using MigrationHelpers;
...

int id;
if (LegacyApplication.Current.Properties.ContainsKey("id"))
{
    id = (int)LegacyApplication.Current.Properties["id"];
    Preferences.Set("id", id);
}
#endif

This example shows using the LegacyApplication class to read a value from the app properties dictionary, and then write the value to .NET MAUI preferences.