Prism/e2e/Maui/PrismMauiDemo/NativeAotValidation.md

Local NativeAOT binding validation

This is a page in the existing MAUI demo, not a separate smoke application. From Root Page, open NativeAOT binding lab. It uses named Prism navigation and the app's real container. The binding controls intentionally use ordinary {Binding} rather than compiled bindings to exercise generated member preservation.

UI checks

1. Open the lab and choose Run binding checks. The status must read PASS: 15 rendered binding checks.
2. The checks read the actual page title, navigation-bar attached property, labels, visibility, and realized collection templates. They cover initial values; inherited INPC title/visibility changes; replacing the context and detaching the old model; null and restored context; and collection item changes, additions, and removals. The context inherits from an independent INPC base, not BindableBase.
3. Choose Navigate to named detail. A new lab page must open with initial context and Arrived through Prism navigation. Run its checks, then Back. The first page and its restored context must return. Repeat the navigation.
4. Exercise the manual update, replace/restore, null, visibility, and collection buttons. Home returns to the existing demo menu, even with the navigation bar hidden.

NativeAOT qualification

Set PrismNativeAotValidation=true on a Release Android/iOS app build. The app project maps this opt-in to PublishAot=true and UseInterpreter=false. Do not pass PublishAot globally: that also reaches referenced libraries. The opt-in does not set PublishAot on libraries. Ordinary sample builds keep DryIoc. Validation builds select the real Prism.Container.Microsoft adapter; the central package configuration pins Containers 10.0.94-pre, including Abstractions and its shared generator in referenced source libraries. Restore from a configured Prism package feed that contains this published version. No version override or local container build is needed for this baseline. PrismNativeAotContainerVersion remains available for deliberate matching local Microsoft/Abstractions package builds; see the optional instructions below. Do not use stand-in containers or copy implementation types into the demo.

For a supported iOS device toolchain, publish the existing app from the repo root:

dotnet publish e2e/Maui/PrismMauiDemo/PrismMauiDemo.csproj \
  -c Release -f net10.0-ios -r ios-arm64 \
  -p:PrismNativeAotValidation=true

The MAUI NativeAOT requirements require compiled bindings. This lab deliberately tests ordinary bindings with Prism's preserved metadata; it is an experimental regression test, not a claim that metadata preservation removes framework limitations. Report any framework failure rather than replacing these controls with compiled bindings.

Select an Android TFM/RID only after verifying that the installed platform/MAUI SDK supports NativeAOT for it. Do not substitute an ordinary Android AOT build.

Run on a connected Mac/device with the required SDK, workloads, platform tools, and a verified NativeAOT-compatible real container configuration. A successful Debug build, source check, or run on a different runtime does not qualify this scenario. Record the exact SDK, TFM, RID, container package/version, linker/AOT warnings, and device results. Do not suppress warnings to obtain a pass.

Mobile publish/device execution has not been validated in the cloud workspace. No mobile CI jobs or workflow changes are part of this local validation work.

Build the real local container packages

Optional: only needed when testing further unpublished container changes.

Use a full checkout of PrismLibrary/Prism.Containers on the intended source commit (the published baseline is merge f3e51fbb), with the SDKs required by that checkout's normal supported target frameworks. Do not manufacture netstandard targets or replace the container with a shim. From that checkout, choose one local-only prerelease version for both existing projects:

export PRISM_CONTAINER_VERSION=10.0.95-bindingfixlocal
export PRISM_CONTAINER_FEED="$HOME/prism-native-aot-packages"
dotnet pack src/Prism.Container.Abstractions/Prism.Container.Abstractions.csproj \
  -c Release -p:DISABLE_GITVERSIONING=true \
  -p:PackageVersion="$PRISM_CONTAINER_VERSION" -o "$PRISM_CONTAINER_FEED"
dotnet pack src/Prism.Container.Microsoft/Prism.Container.Microsoft.csproj \
  -c Release -p:DISABLE_GITVERSIONING=true \
  -p:PackageVersion="$PRISM_CONTAINER_VERSION" -o "$PRISM_CONTAINER_FEED"

These are unpublished local packages. Pack the projects' normal supported TFMs: a net10-only package was sufficient for the cloud core/generator unit tests, but is not sufficient for an unrestricted multi-target application restore. In the Prism checkout, add -p:RestoreAdditionalProjectSources="$PRISM_CONTAINER_FEED" and -p:PrismNativeAotContainerVersion="$PRISM_CONTAINER_VERSION" to the mobile publish command above. Both native-validation applications reference the container-neutral Prism framework directly; no DryIoc adapter is selected or required by that validation path. The complete mobile package build/restore and device run remain to be verified on the supported local toolchain.

The nested action checks bind Context.ActionButton.Text, .Icon, and .Command and computed HasActionButton/HasTitle flags. They inspect actual controls after nested notifications, replacement/detachment, null and restoration, then invoke the command obtained from the bound control and check the rendered title. The nested action derives from BindableBase without an application-side attribute; the context still tests the independent-INPC path. Generated property preservation alone is not proof that Uno generated accessors for every independent INPC type.

The publish commands deliberately use the physical-device ios-arm64 RID. Do not infer simulator NativeAOT support from general platform documentation; check the exact installed SDK's support before selecting another RID. An earlier native publish, a later non-native simulator login, or an existing generated metadata file cannot qualify the current source changes. Capture a fresh native publish and these rendered checks on that exact resulting binary.