IOS Simulator External Display

[pcramb]

I'm trying out MAUI for an IOS app that needs to use screen mirroring to an Apple TV. However, I can't seem to get anything to show up on an external display on the IOS simulator (I'm using a mac). Just wondering if someone could point me in the right direction to get content to the external display?

[Medeep99]

Hey, I dont know if this will work for you or not, but i tried it like this and its working correctly right now:

private UIScreen? _externalScreen;

private static bool DetectSecondaryDisplayiOS()
{
    return UIScreen.Screens.Length > 1;
}


private void OpenOnSecondaryDisplayiOS()
{
    if (_externalScreen == null)
        return;

    var windowScene = UIApplication.SharedApplication.ConnectedScenes
        .OfType<UIWindowScene>()
        .FirstOrDefault(s => s.Screen == _externalScreen);

    if (windowScene == null)
    {
        Task.Delay(300).ContinueWith(_ =>
        {
            MainThread.BeginInvokeOnMainThread(OpenOnSecondaryDisplayiOS);
        });
        return;
    }

    _iosExternalWindow = new UIWindow(windowScene)
    {
        Frame = windowScene.Screen.Bounds,
        BackgroundColor = UIColor.White
    };

    var page = new CustomerDisplayPage(_state);

    // Use the MAUI context already available in the app.
    var mauiContext = Application.Current!.Handler!.MauiContext!;
    var pageController = page.ToUIViewController(mauiContext);

    pageController.View.BackgroundColor = UIColor.White;

    _iosExternalWindow.RootViewController = pageController;
    _iosExternalWindow.Hidden = false;
    _iosExternalWindow.MakeKeyAndVisible();
}
private void RegisteriOSScreenNotifications()
{
    NSNotificationCenter.DefaultCenter.AddObserver(
        UIScreen.DidConnectNotification,
        (NSNotification notification) =>
        {
            _externalScreen = notification.Object as UIScreen;

            MainThread.BeginInvokeOnMainThread(async () =>
            {
                HasSecondaryDisplay = true;
                await OpenAsync();
            });
        });

    NSNotificationCenter.DefaultCenter.AddObserver(
        UIScreen.DidDisconnectNotification,
        (NSNotification notification) =>
        {
            MainThread.BeginInvokeOnMainThread(() =>
            {
                HasSecondaryDisplay = false;
                CloseIosWindow();
            });
        });
}

private void CloseIosWindow()
{
    if (_iosExternalWindow != null)
    {
        _iosExternalWindow.Hidden = true;
        _iosExternalWindow.RootViewController = null;
        _iosExternalWindow = null;
    }

    _externalScreen = null;
}

NOTE: The delay is just for my mind's peace. Also, in the simulator it is better to open the external display only after your app runs or loads the page/vm that calls the external page service. That seemed to work for me. I also tried using the notificationCenter to notify if there is an external display and directly pass that display to the _externalDisplay, but it did not work. That wouldve been a much better way of allocating the external display for use by the code.

Please suggest any improvements on the above code if you have bene doing this in another way.