fluentui-blazor — GitHub Copilot skill: what it does, install

---
name: fluentui-blazor
description: >
  Guide for using the Microsoft Fluent UI Blazor component library
  (Microsoft.FluentUI.AspNetCore.Components NuGet package) in Blazor applications.
  Use this when the user is building a Blazor app with Fluent UI components,
  setting up the library, using FluentUI components like FluentButton, FluentDataGrid,
  FluentDialog, FluentToast, FluentNavMenu, FluentTextField, FluentSelect,
  FluentAutocomplete, FluentDesignTheme, or any component prefixed with "Fluent".
  Also use when troubleshooting missing providers, JS interop issues, or theming.
---

# Fluent UI Blazor — Consumer Usage Guide

This skill teaches how to correctly use the **Microsoft.FluentUI.AspNetCore.Components** (version 4) NuGet package in Blazor applications.

## Critical Rules

### 1. No manual `<script>` or `<link>` tags needed

The library auto-loads all CSS and JS via Blazor's static web assets and JS initializers. **Never tell users to add `<script>` or `<link>` tags for the core library.**

### 2. Providers are mandatory for service-based components

These provider components **MUST** be added to the root layout (e.g. `MainLayout.razor`) for their corresponding services to work. Without them, service calls **fail silently** (no error, no UI).

```razor
<FluentToastProvider />
<FluentDialogProvider />
<FluentMessageBarProvider />
<FluentTooltipProvider />
<FluentKeyCodeProvider />
```

### 3. Service registration in Program.cs

```csharp
builder.Services.AddFluentUIComponents();

// Or with configuration:
builder.Services.AddFluentUIComponents(options =>
{
    options.UseTooltipServiceProvider = true;  // default: true
    options.ServiceLifetime = ServiceLifetime.Scoped; // default
});
```

**ServiceLifetime rules:**
- `ServiceLifetime.Scoped` — for Blazor Server / Interactive (default)
- `ServiceLifetime.Singleton` — for Blazor WebAssembly standalone
- `ServiceLifetime.Transient` — **throws `NotSupportedException`**

### 4. Icons require a separate NuGet package

```
dotnet add package Microsoft.FluentUI.AspNetCore.Components.Icons
```

Usage with a `@using` alias:

```razor
@using Icons = Microsoft.FluentUI.AspNetCore.Components.Icons

<FluentIcon Value="@(Icons.Regular.Size24.Save)" />
<FluentIcon Value="@(Icons.Filled.Size20.Delete)" Color="@Color.Error" />
```

Pattern: `Icons.[Variant].[Size].[Name]`
- Variants: `Regular`, `Filled`
- Sizes: `Size12`, `Size16`, `Size20`, `Size24`, `Size28`, `Size32`, `Size48`

Custom image: `Icon.FromImageUrl("/path/to/image.png")`

**Never use string-based icon names** — icons are strongly-typed classes.

### 5. List component binding model

`FluentSelect<TOption>`, `FluentCombobox<TOption>`, `FluentListbox<TOption>`, and `FluentAutocomplete<TOption>` do NOT work like `<InputSelect>`. They use:

- `Items` — the data source (`IEnumerable<TOption>`)
- `OptionText` — `Func<TOption, string?>` to extract display text
- `OptionValue` — `Func<TOption, string?>` to extract the value string
- `SelectedOption` / `SelectedOptionChanged` — for single selection binding
- `SelectedOptions` / `SelectedOptionsChanged` — for multi-selection binding

```razor
<FluentSelect Items="@countries"
              OptionText="@(c => c.Name)"
              OptionValue="@(c => c.Code)"
              @bind-SelectedOption="@selectedCountry"
              Label="Country" />
```

**NOT** like this (wrong pattern):
```razor
@* WRONG — do not use InputSelect pattern *@
<FluentSelect @bind-Value="@selectedValue">
    <option value="1">One</option>
</FluentSelect>
```

### 6. FluentAutocomplete specifics

- Use `ValueText` (NOT `Value` — it's obsolete) for the search input text
- `OnOptionsSearch` is the required callback to filter options
- Default is `Multiple="true"`

```razor
<FluentAutocomplete TOption="Person"
                    OnOptionsSearch="@OnSearch"
                    OptionText="@(p => p.FullName)"
                    @bind-SelectedOptions="@selectedPeople"
                    Label="Search people" />

@code {
    private void OnSearch(OptionsSearchEventArgs<Person> args)
    {
        args.Items = allPeople.Where(p =>
            p.FullName.Contains(args.Text, StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase));
    }
}
```

### 7. Dialog service pattern

**Do NOT toggle visibility of `<FluentDialog>` tags.** The service pattern is:

1. Create a content component implementing `IDialogContentComponent<TData>`:

```csharp
public partial class EditPersonDialog : IDialogContentComponent<Person>
{
    [Parameter] public Person Content { get; set; } = default!;

    [CascadingParameter] public FluentDialog Dialog { get; set; } = default!;

    private async Task SaveAsync()
    {
        await Dialog.CloseAsync(Content);
    }

    private async Task CancelAsync()
    {
        await Dialog.CancelAsync();
    }
}
```

2. Show the dialog via `IDialogService`:

```csharp
[Inject] private IDialogService DialogService { get; set; } = default!;

private async Task ShowEditDialog()
{
    var dialog = await DialogService.ShowDialogAsync<EditPersonDialog, Person>(
        person,
        new DialogParameters
        {
            Title = "Edit Person",
            PrimaryAction = "Save",
            SecondaryAction = "Cancel",
            Width = "500px",
            PreventDismissOnOverlayClick = true,
        });

    var result = await dialog.Result;
    if (!result.Cancelled)
    {
        var updatedPerson = result.Data as Person;
    }
}
```

For convenience dialogs:
```csharp
await DialogService.ShowConfirmationAsync("Are you sure?", "Yes", "No");
await DialogService.ShowSuccessAsync("Done!");
await DialogService.ShowErrorAsync("Something went wrong.");
```

### 8. Toast notifications

```csharp
[Inject] private IToastService ToastService { get; set; } = default!;

ToastService.ShowSuccess("Item saved successfully");
ToastService.ShowError("Failed to save");
ToastService.ShowWarning("Check your input");
ToastService.ShowInfo("New update available");
```

`FluentToastProvider` parameters: `Position` (default `TopRight`), `Timeout` (default 7000ms), `MaxToastCount` (default 4).

### 9. Design tokens and themes work only after render

Design tokens rely on JS interop. **Never set them in `OnInitialized`** — use `OnAfterRenderAsync`.

```razor
<FluentDesignTheme Mode="DesignThemeModes.System"
                   OfficeColor="OfficeColor.Teams"
                   StorageName="mytheme" />
```

### 10. FluentEditForm vs EditForm

`FluentEditForm` is only needed inside `FluentWizard` steps (per-step validation). For regular forms, use standard `EditForm` with Fluent form components:

```razor
<EditForm Model="@model" OnValidSubmit="HandleSubmit">
    <DataAnnotationsValidator />
    <FluentTextField @bind-Value="@model.Name" Label="Name" Required />
    <FluentSelect Items="@options"
                  OptionText="@(o => o.Label)"
                  @bind-SelectedOption="@model.Category"
                  Label="Category" />
    <FluentValidationSummary />
    <FluentButton Type="ButtonType.Submit" Appearance="Appearance.Accent">Save</FluentButton>
</EditForm>
```

Use `FluentValidationMessage` and `FluentValidationSummary` instead of standard Blazor validation components for Fluent styling.

## Reference files

For detailed guidance on specific topics, see:

- [Setup and configuration](references/SETUP.md)
- [Layout and navigation](references/LAYOUT-AND-NAVIGATION.md)
- [Data grid](references/DATAGRID.md)
- [Theming](references/THEMING.md)