Shell | Source Generation

Shiny Shell includes source generators that eliminate route registration boilerplate and create strongly-typed navigation extensions. Decorate your ViewModels with attributes and the generators handle the rest.

ShellMap Attribute

Apply [ShellMap<TPage>] to a ViewModel to register it with a page and route.

[ShellMap<DetailPage>("detail")]
public class DetailViewModel
{
}

Parameter	Type	Description
route	string	The Shell route name for this page
registerRoute	bool	Whether to register the route with Shell (default: true). Set to false for pages already defined in AppShell.xaml

// Root page defined in AppShell.xaml — don't re-register the route
[ShellMap<MainPage>("main", registerRoute: false)]
public class MainViewModel
{
}

ShellProperty Attribute

Mark ViewModel properties with [ShellProperty] to include them in the generated navigation extension methods.

[ShellMap<DetailPage>("detail")]
public class DetailViewModel
{
    [ShellProperty]
    public int Id { get; set; }

    [ShellProperty]
    public string Name { get; set; }
}

The generator creates a strongly-typed extension method with parameters matching each [ShellProperty]:

// Generated — you call this instead of manual NavigateTo
await navigator.NavigateToDetail(id: 42, name: "Allan");

What Gets Generated

The source generators produce three files:

Routes.g.cs

A static class with const string fields for every route.

public static class Routes
{
    public const string Detail = "detail";
    public const string Main = "main";
    public const string Modal = "modal";
}

NavigationExtensions.g.cs

Strongly-typed extension methods on INavigator for each ViewModel with [ShellProperty] attributes.

public static class NavigationExtensions
{
    public static Task NavigateToDetail(this INavigator navigator, int id, string name)
    {
        return navigator.NavigateTo<DetailViewModel>(x =>
        {
            x.Id = id;
            x.Name = name;
        });
    }
}

NavigationBuilderExtensions.g.cs

A DI registration method that replaces all manual .Add<TPage, TViewModel>() calls.

internal static class __ShinyMauiNavigationRegistry
{
    [global::System.Runtime.CompilerServices.ModuleInitializerAttribute]
    public static void Initialize()
    {
        global::Shiny.Infrastructure.ShinyMauiShellRegistry.RegisterCallback(builder =>
        {
            builder.Add<DetailPage, DetailViewModel>(Routes.Detail);
            builder.Add<MainPage, MainViewModel>(Routes.Main, registerRoute: false);
            builder.Add<ModalPage, ModalViewModel>(Routes.Modal);
        });
    }
}

Before & After

Without source generation

// MauiProgram.cs — manual registration
builder
    .UseShinyShell(x => x
        .Add<MainPage, MainViewModel>(registerRoute: false)
        .Add<DetailPage, DetailViewModel>("detail")
        .Add<ModalPage, ModalViewModel>("modal")
    );

// Navigation — string-based, error-prone
await navigator.NavigateTo("detail", ("Id", 42), ("Name", "Allan"));

With source generation

// MauiProgram.cs — one line
builder.UseShinyShell(x => x.AddGeneratedMaps());

// Navigation — strongly typed, compile-time checked
await navigator.NavigateToDetail(id: 42, name: "Allan");

Using AddGeneratedMaps

Replace your manual route registrations with the generated method in MauiProgram.cs:

public static MauiApp CreateMauiApp()
{
    var builder = MauiApp.CreateBuilder();
    builder
        .UseMauiApp<App>()
        .UseShinyShell(x => x.AddGeneratedMaps())
        .ConfigureFonts(fonts =>
        {
            fonts.AddFont("OpenSans-Regular.ttf", "OpenSansRegular");
            fonts.AddFont("OpenSans-Semibold.ttf", "OpenSansSemibold");
        });

    return builder.Build();
}

All [ShellMap] decorated ViewModels are automatically registered — no manual .Add() calls needed.