Auto Layout in Xamarin.iOS

Adding Constraints With iOS 9+ Layout Anchors

// Since the anchor system simply returns constraints, you still need to add them somewhere.
View.AddConstraints(
    new[] {
        someLabel.TopAnchor.ConstraintEqualTo(TopLayoutGuide.GetBottomAnchor()),
        anotherLabel.TopAnchor.ConstraintEqualTo(someLabel.BottomAnchor, 6),
        oneMoreLabel.TopAnchor.ConstraintEqualTo(anotherLabel.BottomAnchor, 6),
        oneMoreLabel.BottomAnchor.ConstraintGreaterThanOrEqualTo(BottomLayoutGuide.GetTopAnchor(), -10),
    }
);

Adding Constraints Using Visual Format Language (VFL)

// Using Visual Format Language requires a special look-up dictionary of names<->views.
var views = new NSDictionary(
    nameof(someLabel), someLabel,
    nameof(anotherLabel), anotherLabel,
    nameof(oneMoreLabel), oneMoreLabel
);
// It can also take a look-up dictionary for metrics (such as size values).
// Since we are hard-coding those values in this example, we can give it a `null` or empty dictionary.
var metrics = (NSDictionary)null;

// Add the vertical constraints to stack everything together.
// `V:` = vertical
// `|…|` = constrain to super view (`View` for this example)
// `-10-` = connection with a gap of 10 pixels (could also be a named parameter from the metrics dictionary)
// `-[viewName]-` = connection with a control by name looked up in views dictionary (using C# 6 `nameof` for refactoring support)
var verticalConstraints = NSLayoutConstraint.FromVisualFormat(
    $"V:|-20-[{nameof(someLabel)}]-6-[{nameof(anotherLabel)}]-6-[{nameof(oneMoreLabel)}]->=10-|",
    NSLayoutFormatOptions.AlignAllCenterX,
    metrics,
    views
);
View.AddConstraints(verticalConstraints);

You may find some constraint types, like aspect ratios (opens new window), cannot be conveyed in Visual Format Language (VFL) syntax and must call the appropriate methods directly.

Using Cirrious.FluentLayout

Using NuGet

Install-Package Cirrious.FluentLayout

An expanded example based on the starter example at the GitHub (opens new window) Page, a simple first name, last name labels and fields all stacked one on top of the other:

public override void ViewDidLoad()
{
    //create our labels and fields
    var firstNameLabel = new UILabel();
    var lastNameLabel = new UILabel();
    var firstNameField = new UITextField();
    var lastNameField = new UITextField();

    //add them to the View
    View.AddSubviews(firstNameLabel, lastNameLabel, firstNameField, lastNameField);
    
    //create constants that we can tweak if we do not like the final layout
    const int vSmallMargin = 5;
    const int vMargin = 20;
    const int hMargin = 10;

    //add our constraints
    View.SubviewsDoNotTranslateAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints();        
    View.AddConstraints(
        firstNameLabel.WithSameTop(View).Plus(vMargin),
        firstNameLabel.AtLeftOf(View).Plus(hMargin),
        firstNameLabel.WithSameWidthOf(View),

        firstNameField.WithSameWidth(firstNameLabel),
        firstNameField.WithSameLeft(firstNameLabel),
        firstNameField.Below(firstNameLabel).Plus(vSmallMargin),

        lastNameLabel.Below(firstNameField).Plus(vMargin),
        lastNameLabel.WithSameLeft(firstNameField),
        lastNameLabel.WithSameWidth(firstNameField),

        lastNameField.Below(lastNameLabel).Plus(vSmallMargin),
        lastNameField.WithSameWidth(lastNameLabel),
        lastNameField.WithSameLeft(lastNameLabel));
}

Adding Constraints with Masonry

Masonry is a library for objective-c but xamarin have created a binding for it and created it as a nuget package https://www.nuget.org/packages/Masonry/ (opens new window).

Nuget install

Install-Package Masonry

This centers a button 100 points below the centre point of the containing view and sets a width between 200 and 400 points

this.loginBtn.MakeConstraints(make =>
{
    make.Width.GreaterThanOrEqualTo(new NSNumber(200));
    make.Width.LessThanOrEqualTo(new NSNumber(400));
    make.Center.EqualTo(this.View).CenterOffset(new CGPoint(0, 100));
});

This sets a scaled image 100 points above the centre point of the containing view then sets the width to the width of the containing view with a muliplier of 0.5 which means 50% of the width. It then sets the height to the width multiplied by the aspect ratio which causes the image to scale but maintain its correct aspect ratio

this.logo.MakeConstraints(make =>
{
    make.Center.EqualTo(this.View).CenterOffset(new CGPoint(0, -100));
    make.Width.EqualTo(this.View).MultipliedBy(0.5f);
    make.Height.EqualTo(this.logo.Width()).MultipliedBy(0.71f);
});