Arguably the most fundamental block in any Rock Mobile application, this block could be described as a necessity, used to render Lava and XAML within your shell, as provided in the "Content" block setting. If you are unfamiliar with XAML, please refer to the official Microsoft documentation. If you are unfamiliar with Lava, please check out the Rock Lava Reference.

Block Settings

Dynamic Content

This setting is incredibly handy. When enabled, it ensures that fresh content is pulled from the server each time the page loads—essentially "refreshing" the content on every initialization.

If your content is static and doesn’t change often, you can safely leave this set to No. In that case, any updates will require a Deploy to reflect in the app. Behind the scenes, this content gets bundled into the shell that's downloaded when the app launches. While Lava will still be processed, the CurrentPerson context won't be available.

Using Lava

After the content, the second block setting to discuss is the "Enabled Lava Commands". If you have a Lava command within your Content, it is important to make sure to check the applicable settings here. It is also just as vital to make sure that you check the "Process Lava on Server" setting within the 'Block Properties > Mobile Settings', as seen here:

Entity Context

With just a few settings, you can wire up entity context to the Content block making it even more powerful! Maybe you want to create a profile page for people based on Search results. Instead of running Lava in the content to pull the needed data, let the block set the person context for you.

Using the Context Entity Type setting in the block, you can select any of the available entities.

Next, you'll need to set the context parameter for the page. This is how the block will know where to find the context identifier. This setting is found by editing the Page (not the block) and expanding the Advanced Settings section. Based on the entity type you chose, you should see a setting labeled {{ Entity }} Parameter Name. Add a parameter key that makes sense for your data.

Now that you've set the block entity type and page context parameter, be sure to Save and Deploy. The final step is to simply link to your page and pass the appropriate context via the key you set. Going back to the example of the person profile page, you might end up with something like this:

<VerticalStackLayout>
    ...
    <Button Text="Profile"
        StyleClass="btn, btn-primary"
        Command="{Binding PushPage}"
        CommandParameter="3446dcac-0078-4ba4-a19a-65ce8b7fb776?Guid={{ Person.Guid }}" />
</VerticalStackLayout>

Within your Content block, you can check that the context isn't null and begin accessing the entity. If context wasn't set correctly, consider a graceful fallback to another page via Redirect.

<VerticalStackLayout>

    //- If context isn't set, fall back to page and display error message
    {% if Context == null %}
        <Rock:Redirect PageGuid="82370b8d-0fea-4454-8ad7-7e7c950e3345"
            QueryString="Message={{ 'Unable to find person' | UrlEncode }}" />
    {% endif %}
    
    //- Context has been set
    <Label Text="{{ Context.Person.NickName | Escape }}" />
    
</VerticalStackLayout>