ChatView | Markdown & Input Bar

ChatView’s input bar can show a markdown composition toolbar and render a markdown subset in bubbles — all self-contained, with no dependency on the *.Controls.Markdown add-on package.

The Composition Toolbar

The toolbar is gated by ChatSessionInfo.BodyPermissions. A button appears only for a granted flag; MessageBodyPermissions.None shows a plain-text input with no toolbar.

[Flags]
public enum MessageBodyPermissions
{
    None = 0,
    Links = 1, Bold = 2, Italics = 4, Underline = 8, Strikethrough = 16, Codeblocks = 32,
    All = Links | Bold | Italics | Underline | Strikethrough | Codeblocks
}

public ChatSessionInfo BuildInfo() => new(
    /* ... */
    BodyPermissions: MessageBodyPermissions.Bold | MessageBodyPermissions.Italics | MessageBodyPermissions.Links,
    /* ... */
);

Flag	Button	Wraps selection with
Bold	B	**bold**
Italics	I	*italic*
Underline	U	underline markers
Strikethrough	S	~~strike~~
Codeblocks	</>	`code`
Links	🔗	prompts for URL + text → [text](url)

Each button wraps the current selection with the matching delimiter, or inserts a placeholder when nothing is selected. The Link button prompts for a URL and display text. The outgoing Body is markdown.

Inline Rendering in Bubbles

The bubble renderer honors the same subset for display — **bold**, *italic*, ~~strike~~, `code`, underline, and [text](url) (plus auto-linking of bare URLs). This is a self-contained minimal renderer built into the control; it is intentionally lighter than the full MarkdownView. If you need rich/extended markdown in bubbles, use a custom message template and render it yourself.

Input Bar Properties

Property	Type	Default	Description
IsInputBarVisible	bool	true	Show/hide the input bar — set false for read-only chats
PlaceholderText	string	"Type a message..."	Input placeholder
SendButtonText	string	"Send"	Send button label
SendButtonBackgroundColor	Color/string	#007AFF	Send button background (MAUI)
SendButtonTextColor	Color/string	White	Send button text (MAUI)
InputBarBackgroundColor	Color/string	#F5F5F5	Input bar background (MAUI)
InputBarBorderColor	Color?	theme	Outline of the rounded composer (MAUI)
AdjustForKeyboard	bool	true	iOS keyboard padding — leave it on inside a FloatingPanel; at the panel’s top detent it is the only thing lifting the composer clear of the keyboard (MAUI)

<shiny:ChatView Provider="{Binding Provider}"
                SessionId="{Binding SessionId}"
                PlaceholderText="Message the team…"
                SendButtonText="Go"
                SendButtonBackgroundColor="#34C759"
                InputBarBackgroundColor="#FAFAFA"
                InputBarBorderColor="#CCCCCC" />

The input bar is enabled by CanSendMessages and disabled automatically while the connection is not Connected (see Typing & Connection). The send itself is optimistic — see Messages & Paging.

Programmatic input (MAUI)

Member	Description
EntryText (property)	Get/set the input field text
SubmitEntry()	Programmatically submit the current input

These are handy for custom input actions such as inserting a snippet or backfilling speech-to-text.

The input bar itself is a standalone control (ChatEntryView / ChatEntry) that ChatView hosts for you — see The Composer for its own properties, how to replace it, and how to use it outside a chat.

Read-Only / No Toolbar

<!-- read-only feed: no input bar at all -->
<shiny:ChatView Provider="{Binding Provider}"
                SessionId="{Binding SessionId}"
                IsInputBarVisible="False" />

For a plain-text composer (input bar shown, no formatting buttons), return BodyPermissions: MessageBodyPermissions.None from your session’s Info.

Next Steps

• Images & Attachments — the attach affordance and ImageViewer
• Custom Actions — add input-bar actions like speech-to-text
• Permissions — MessageBodyPermissions and CanSendMessages