Windows Phone - change layout on orientation change

Question

I am building a Windows Phone 8 application that uses a Pivot control to display data for a given date for different users. Each PivotItem holds a different user.

Currently my application only supports Portrait orientation but I want to build in support for Landscape orientation as well. In doing so, I would like each PivotItem to no longer only show data for one date, but for a full week, hereby changing the layout significantly.

My first approach was to navigate to a new page with the new layout, however during some research for this, I learned that maybe the right/best approach would be to change the DataTemplate. I assume that should be on the Pivot control ItemTemplate.

This, however, I have not been able to get my head around and make work. My question is therefore what is the best approach for changing the layout when the orientation changes – navigating to a new page or changing the DataTemplate – and if it is to change the template of the Pivot control, how should that be done?

EDIT - Code for current Pivot control

<phone:Pivot x:Name="PivotPlatform" Title="DEMO" ItemsSource="{Binding PivotItems}" FontSize="13.333" >
   <phone:Pivot.HeaderTemplate>
       <DataTemplate>
           <TextBlock Text="{Binding Title}"/>
       </DataTemplate>
   </phone:Pivot.HeaderTemplate>
   <phone:Pivot.ItemTemplate>
       <DataTemplate>
           <!-- Controls omitted -->
       </DataTemplate>
   </phone:Pivot.ItemTemplate>
</phone:Pivot><?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

I am thinking that all I need to do is to extract the DataTemplate with the omitted controls, and then "just" specify the desired DataTemplate depending on the orientation. However, I can seem to find the right syntax for that

Answer 1

In the page resources define both of the templates

<phone:PhoneApplicationPage.Resources>
    <DataTemplate x:Key="DataTemplate1">
        <!--DEFINE TEMPLATE HERE-->
    </DataTemplate>
    <DataTemplate x:Key="DataTemplate2">
        <!--DEFINE TEMPLATE HERE-->
    </DataTemplate>
</phone:PhoneApplicationPage.Resources>

Then define the Pivot like this:

    <phone:Pivot x:Name="PivotPlatform"
                 Title="DEMO"
                 FontSize="13.333"
                 ItemsSource="{Binding PivotItems}">
        <phone:Pivot.HeaderTemplate>
            <DataTemplate>
                <TextBlock Text="{Binding Title}" />
            </DataTemplate>
        </phone:Pivot.HeaderTemplate>
    </phone:Pivot>

Handle the orientation changed event

<phone:PhoneApplicationPage ....
                        OrientationChanged="PhoneApplicationPage_OrientationChanged"
                        ....>

by setting the datatemplate programmatically

private void PhoneApplicationPage_OrientationChanged(object sender, OrientationChangedEventArgs e)
{
    if (e.Orientation == PageOrientation.PortraitDown || e.Orientation == PageOrientation.PortraitUp)
    {
        PivotPlatform.ItemTemplate = this.Resources["DataTemplate1"] as DataTemplate;
    }
    else
    {
        PivotPlatform.ItemTemplate = this.Resources["DataTemplate2"] as DataTemplate;
    }
}

That should work!

Answer 2

You can create your new template for Pivot item in Page resources then handle layoutchange event:

void MainPage_OrientationChanged(object sender, OrientationChangedEventArgs e){if (e.Orientation == PageOrientation.LandscapeLeft || e.Orientation == PageOrientation.LandscapeRight)
{
}
else 
{
}}