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Deploy Cross-Platform Applications UI 1st Edition Shaun Lawrence
Deploy Cross-Platform Applications UI 1st Edition Shaun Lawrence
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Introducing
.NET MAUI
Build and Deploy
Cross-platform Applications
Using C# and .NET
Multi-platform App UI
Shaun Lawrence
Introducing .NET MAUI: Build and Deploy Cross-platform Applications
Using C# and .NET Multi-platform App UI
Shaun Lawrence
St Ives, UK
Acknowledgments�����������������������������������������������������������������������������xix
Introduction���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������xxi
iii
Table of Contents
iv
Table of Contents
v
Table of Contents
VerticalStackLayout�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������132
Data Binding�����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������135
Binding��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������136
Applying the Remaining Bindings����������������������������������������������������������������140
MultiBinding������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������141
Command����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������144
Compiled Bindings���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������147
Shell������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������148
ShellContent������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������149
Navigation���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������150
Flyout�����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������154
Tabs�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������160
Search���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������160
Taking Your Application for a Spin���������������������������������������������������������������������161
Summary����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������163
Source Code������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������164
Extra Assignment����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������164
vii
Table of Contents
Chapter 7: Accessibility��������������������������������������������������������������������199
What Is Accessibility?���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������199
Why Make Your Applications Accessible?���������������������������������������������������������200
What to Consider When Making Your Applications Accessible��������������������������200
How to Make Your Application Accessible��������������������������������������������������������201
Screen Reader Support�������������������������������������������������������������������������������201
Suitable Contrast�����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������208
Dynamic Text Sizing�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������210
Testing Your Application’s Accessibility�������������������������������������������������������������215
Android��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������215
iOS���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������215
macOS���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������216
Windows������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������216
Accessibility Checklist��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������216
Summary����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������218
Source Code������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������219
Extra Assignment����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������219
viii
Table of Contents
ix
Table of Contents
x
Table of Contents
xi
Table of Contents
xii
Table of Contents
Index�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������437
xiv
About the Author
Shaun Lawrence is an experienced software
engineer who has been specializing in building
mobile and desktop applications for the past
15 years. He is a recognized Microsoft MVP in
Development Technologies; his work helps
the community learn and build with Xamarin
Forms, the predecessor to .NET MAUI. His
recent discovery of the value he can add by
sharing his experience with others has thrust
him on to the path of wanting to find any way possible to continue to do so.
Shaun actively maintains several open-source projects within the .NET
community. A key project for the scope of this book is the .NET MAUI
Community Toolkit where he predominantly focuses on building good
quality documentation for developers to consume. Shaun lives in the
United Kingdom with his wife, two children, and their dog.
Shaun can be found on Twitter @Bijington, on his blog at
https://blog.bijington.com, or on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/
shaun-lawrence-53a0099/.
xv
About the Technical Reviewer
Gerald Versluis is a Senior Software Engineer
at Microsoft working on .NET MAUI. Since
2009 Gerald has been working on a variety
of projects, ranging from front end to back
end and anything in between that involves
Azure, ASP.NET, and all kinds of other .NET
technologies. At some point he fell in love with
cross-platform and mobile development with
Xamarin. Since then he has become an active
community member, writing, tweeting, and presenting about all things
tech. Gerald can be found on Twitter @jfversluis, blogging at https://
blog.verslu.is, or on his YouTube channel at https://youtube.com/
@jfversluis.
xvii
Acknowledgments
I have a number of people that I would like to thank for their assistance.
Firstly, Dan: Your assistance in both reviewing my content and also
talking through each of my worries and ideas definitely encouraged me
to write.
Secondly, Gerald: You have been fundamental from start to finish. You
encouraged me to accept this project, helped me with decisions, reviewed
the content, and provided fantastic guidance throughout!
Thirdly, the team at Apress: From Joan for initially reaching out to me
in order to present this opportunity, to the rest of the team of Jill, Gryffin,
and Laura for answering all of my questions and guiding me through this
process.
Finally, my family—my wife, Levinia, daughters Zoey and Hollie, and
dog, Soco: Without your encouragement I would not have taken the leap to
embark upon this writing journey. I am so grateful for all your help and the
sacrifices made to help get me over the line.
xix
Introduction
Welcome to Introducing .NET MAUI.
This book is for developers who are new to .NET MAUI and cross-platform
development. You should have basic knowledge of C# but require no prior
knowledge of using .NET MAUI. The content ranges from beginner through
to more advanced topics and is therefore tailored to meet a wide range of
experiences.
This book provides an in-depth explanation of each key concept in
.NET MAUI, and you will use these concepts in practical examples while
building a cross-platform application. The content has been designed
to primarily flow with the building of this application; however, there
is a secondary theme that involves grouping as many related concepts
as possible. The idea behind this is to both learn as you go and also to
have content that closely resembles reference information, which makes
returning to this book as easy as possible.
All code examples in this book, unless otherwise stated, are applied
directly to the application you are building. Once key concepts have been
established, the book will offer improvements or alternatives to simplify
your life as you build production-worthy applications. The book does not
rely upon these simplifications as part of the practical examples and the
reason for this is simple: I strongly believe that you need to understand the
concepts before you start to use them.
Finally, all chapters that involve adding code into the application
project contain a link to the resulting source code. This is to show the final
product and for you to use as a comparison if anything goes wrong during
your building of the application.
xxi
CHAPTER 1
Introduction to .NET
MAUI
In this chapter, you will gain an understanding of what exactly .NET
MAUI is, how it differs from other frameworks, and what it offers you as a
developer wishing to build a cross-platform application that can run on
both mobile and desktop environments. I will also cover the reasons why
you should consider it for your next project by weighing the possibilities
and limitations of the framework as well as the rich array of tooling
options.
.NET MAUI provides a single API that allows developers to write once
and run anywhere. When building a .NET MAUI application, you write
code that interacts with this single cross-platform API and .NET MAUI
provides the bridge between your code and the platform-specific layer.
If you take a look inside the prism in Figure 1-1, you can start to
understand the components that .NET MAUI both uses and offers.
Figure 1-2 shows how an Android application is compiled.
4
Chapter 1 Introduction to .NET MAUI
Figure 1-3 shows how the code bypasses the .NET MAUI APIs and
interacts directly with the .NET for Android APIs.
5
Chapter 1 Introduction to .NET MAUI
6
Chapter 1 Introduction to .NET MAUI
to take the pragmatic approach of taking a step back and evaluating all
the pain points that existed for themselves as maintainers and (more
importantly) for us as developers using the framework.
Not only do we therefore gain improvements from the Xamarin
framework as part of this evolution, but we also get all the goodies that
come with .NET such as powerful built-in dependency injection, better
performance, and other topics that I will touch on throughout this book.
This makes me believe that this mature cross-platform framework has
finally become a first-class citizen of the .NET and Microsoft ecosystems. I
guess the clue is in the first part of its new name.
On the topic of its name, .NET MAUI implies that it is a UI framework,
and while this is true, this is not all that the framework has to offer.
Through the .NET and the .NET MAUI platform APIs, we are provided with
ways of achieving common application tasks such as file access, accessing
media from the device gallery, using the accelerometer, and more. The
.NET MAUI platform APIs were previously known as Xamarin Essentials,
so if you are coming in with some Xamarin Forms experience, they
should feel familiar. I will touch on much more of this functionality as you
progress through this book.
7
Chapter 1 Introduction to .NET MAUI
when the common API provided by .NET MAUI may be limited down to
the least amount of crossover between each platform and doesn’t provide
everything we need. It is worth noting that your application will render
differently on each platform as it utilizes the platform specific controls and
therefore their look and feel.
Other frameworks such as Flutter opt to render their own types directly
rather than mapping across to the implementations provided by each
platform. These frameworks provide a common look and feel across each
platform. This is a hotly contested topic but I personally believe that making
applications fit in with the platform they are running on is a big benefit.
Supported Platforms
.NET MAUI provides official support for all of the following platforms:
• Windows desktop
** MacCatalyst allows native Mac apps to be built and share code with
iPad apps. This is an Apple technology that allows developers to shared code
between Mac and iPad. For further reference, go to the Apple documentation
at https://developer.apple.com/mac-catalyst/.
8
Chapter 1 Introduction to .NET MAUI
Code Sharing
A fundamental goal of all cross-platform frameworks is to enable
developers to focus on achieving their main goals by reducing the effort
required to support multiple platforms. This is achieved by sharing
common code across all platforms. Where I believe .NET MAUI excels over
alternative frameworks is in the first four characters of its name; Microsoft
has pushed hard to produce a single .NET that can run anywhere.
Being a full stack developer myself, I typically need to work on web-
based back ends as well as mobile applications, .NET allows me to write
code that can be compiled into a single library. This library can then be
shared between the web and client applications, further increasing the
code sharing possibilities and ultimately reducing the maintenance effort.
I have given talks based on a mobile game (www.superwordsearch.
com) I built using Xamarin.Forms, where I boasted that we were able to
write 96% of our code in our shared project. I have not yet converted this
across to .NET MAUI; however, initial investigations show that this number
will only increase.
There are further possibilities for sharing code between web and client,
such as the use of .NET MAUI Blazor, which provides the use of web-based
technologies inside a .NET MAUI application. While I won’t be covering
.NET MAUI Blazor in detail in this book, Microsoft does provide some
really great documentation and guides on what it is and how to build your
first application with the technology at https://learn.microsoft.com/
aspnet/core/blazor/hybrid/tutorials/maui.
9
Chapter 1 Introduction to .NET MAUI
Developer Freedom
.NET MAUI offers many ways to build the same thing. Where Xamarin.
Forms was largely designed to support a specific application architecture
(such as MVVM, which I will talk all about in Chapter 4), .NET MAUI is
different. One key benefit of the rewrite by the team at Microsoft is it now
allows the use of other architectures such as MVU (Chapter 4). This allows
us as developers to build applications that suit our preferences, from
different architectural styles to different ways of building UIs and even
different ways of styling an application.
Community
Xamarin has always had a wonderful community. From bloggers to open-
source maintainers, there is a vast amount of information and useful
packages available to help any developer build a great mobile application.
One thing that has really struck me is the number of Microsoft employees
who are part of this community; they are clearly passionate about the
technology and dedicate their own free time to contributing to this
community. The evolution to .NET MAUI brings this community with it.
10
Chapter 1 Introduction to .NET MAUI
Performance
.NET MAUI applications are compiled into native packages for each of the
supported platforms, which means that they can be built to perform well.
Android has always been the slowest platform when dealing with
Xamarin.Forms and the team at Microsoft has been working hard and
showing off the improvements. The team has provided some really great
resources in the form of blog posts covering the progress that has been
made to bring the start-up times of Android applications to well below
one second. These posts cover metrics plus tips on how to make your
applications really fly.
• https://devblogs.microsoft.com/dotnet/
performance-improvements-in-dotnet-maui/
• https://devblogs.microsoft.com/dotnet/dotnet-7-
performance-improvements-in-dotnet-maui/
11
Chapter 1 Introduction to .NET MAUI
• SyncFusion
www.syncfusion.com/maui-controls
www.telerik.com/maui-ui
• DevExpress
www.devexpress.com/maui/
12
Chapter 1 Introduction to .NET MAUI
13
Chapter 1 Introduction to .NET MAUI
14
Chapter 1 Introduction to .NET MAUI
Visual Studio
Visual Studio is available for both Windows and macOS, but while these
operating systems are both officially supported, it is worth noting that the
Visual Studio products are separate and themselves not cross-platform.
This means that functionality and levels of support differ between the two.
Note that the Windows and macOS versions come with three different
pricing options, but I would like to draw your attention to the Community
edition, which is free for use by small teams and for educational purposes.
In fact, everything in this book can be achieved using the free Community
edition.
• Android
• iOS *
• Windows
15
Chapter 1 Introduction to .NET MAUI
• Android
• iOS
• macOS
Rider
JetBrains Rider is an impressive cross-platform IDE that can run on
Windows, macOS, and Linux. JetBrains has a history of producing great
tools to help developers achieve their goals. One highlight is ReSharper,
which assists with inspecting and analyzing code. With Rider the
functionality provided by ReSharper is built in.
JetBrains offers Rider for free but only for educational use and open-
source projects.
16
Chapter 1 Introduction to .NET MAUI
Summary
Throughout the course of this book, you will primarily be using Visual
Studio (Windows) as the tool to build your application. I will refer to Visual
Studio for Mac in the later parts when I cover how to deploy and test
macOS applications.
In this chapter, you have learned the following:
17
CHAPTER 2
macOS
There are several tools that you must install on macOS to allow support for
building Mac Catalyst applications and to provide the ability to build iOS
applications from a Windows environment.
20
Chapter 2 Building Our First application
21
Chapter 2 Building Our First application
Xcode
Xcode is Apple’s IDE for building applications for iOS and macOS. You
don’t need to use Xcode directly, but Visual Studio needs it in order to
compile your iOS and macOS applications.
Thankfully this install is straightforward despite it being a rather large
download.
1. Open the App Store application.
22
Chapter 2 Building Our First application
23
Chapter 2 Building Our First application
Remote Access
The final step to set up the macOS environment is to enable remote login
so that Visual Studio (Windows) can communicate to the Mac to build and
run iOS and macOS applications.
24
Chapter 2 Building Our First application
25
Chapter 2 Building Our First application
26
Chapter 2 Building Our First application
Windows
Visual Studio
First, you must install Visual Studio 2022. These steps will guide you
through getting it ready to build .NET MAUI applications:
27
Chapter 2 Building Our First application
28
Chapter 2 Building Our First application
29
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
but we are told, “Labour not to be rich: cease from thine own
wisdom” (Prov. xxiii. 4). One of the various duties of parents towards
their children is to take good care that they learn a trade, and “he
who does not teach his son a trade,” say our Sages, “is as guilty as if
he directly taught him to rob” (Babyl. Talm. Kiddushin, p. 29a).
Our moral and religious training is based on the Word of God, on the
Torah, and the study of the Torah, חלמוד תורה, is an essential
element in Jewish education. The term Torah is to be understood in
no narrow sense, but as including the written and the oral Law, all
the books of the Holy Writings, and such works as have from time to
time been composed for the purpose of facilitating and promoting the
study of the Torah. The importance of this duty has been recognised
from ancient times, and Jewish congregations, before building a
synagogue, made provision for the religious education of the young
and for the study of the Law, by establishing schools and colleges
(בית ספרor בי רבand בית המדרש).
The study of the Law and the regular and punctual attendance at the
Beth-hammidrash belong to those religious acts which “bear fruit
here on earth and procure bliss in the future life” (ibid.). Our Sages
exhort us in various sayings to devote ourselves earnestly to the
study of the Torah. The object of this study is, in the first instance, to
enable us to live in accordance with His Commandments; secondly,
to purify our thoughts by turning them from common, ordinary things
to higher and loftier subjects; for while we are reading the Divine
messages and reflecting on them, we move in a purer atmosphere
and must be inspired with holy and noble thoughts.
The aim and end of all our moral training must be to keep our mind
pure from evil thoughts, to make our heart the seat of noble and lofty
desires; to accustom our tongue to the utterance of that which is
good and true, and to lead a pure, honourable, and godly life. If we
succeed, we establish our well-being during our life on earth, and
secure Divine blessing for our soul in the future world.
[Contents]
The voice that comes from within, from our own heart and
conscience, is the best reminder of God’s Presence and Will. But it
does not always sound with sufficient force to make itself heard, and
we, weak mortals, have the weakness of forgetting even most
important duties, unless we are reminded of them from time to time.
The Divine Law has therefore set up signs as outward reminders.
Such are the commandments of ציצת“fringe,” תפלין“ornaments,” and
מזוזה“door-post symbol.” [329]
ציצת“Fringe” or “Tassel.”
“Thou shalt make thee fringes upon the four corners of thy vesture,
wherewith thou coverest thyself” (Deut. xxii. 12). The object of this
commandment is described as follows:—“It shall be unto you for a
fringe, that ye may look upon it, and remember all the
commandments of the Lord, and do them, and that ye seek not after
your own heart and your own eyes, after which ye use to go astray:
that ye may remember and do all my commandments, and be holy
unto your God” (Num. xv. 39, 40).
תפלין19 “Ornaments.”
The(1.)
first paragraph (קדשExod. xiii. 1–10) teaches
[332]that we must, in various ways, express our belief in
God as the King and Ruler of the universe. Two laws are
contained in this paragraph which are to serve this object
—the sanctification of the first-born to the service of the
Lord, and the celebration of the Feast of Unleavened
Cakes.
The(2.)
second paragraph (והיה כי יביאךExod. xiii. 11–16)
reminds us of the wonderful way in which God delivered
our forefathers from Egyptian bondage. Remembering
this deliverance, we are strengthened in our faith in God
in days of trouble, for His ways are not ours, and when
we do not see any prospect of relief God may be
preparing help for us.
The(3.)
third paragraph (שמעDeut. vi. 4–9) proclaims the
Unity of God, and teaches us to love God and obey Him
out of love.
The(4.)
fourth paragraph (והיה אם שמעDeut. xi. 13–20)
teaches that Providence deals with men according to
their merits, according as each deserves reward or
punishment.
The tefillin are put on in the following way:—(1.) Tefillah shel rosh.
The case is placed in front, just over the forehead in the middle, and
the knot of the straps (קשר) on the back of the head over the middle
of the neck; the remainder of the two straps hang down in front, one
on each side. (2.) Tefillah shel yad. The case containing the
parchment is placed on the inner side of the left upper arm, near the
elbow; the knot is kept near it, and the strap is twisted seven times
round the arm and three times round the middle finger; there are,
however, different customs with regard to this latter practice.
Tefillah shel yad is put on first, being mentioned first in the Divine
precept. The reverse order is observed in taking off the tefillin.
Originally the tefillin were worn all day long, 22 but at present they are
worn only during the morning prayer. [334]
מזּוזהDoor-post Symbol.
Besides the signs mentioned above, there are two other signs of the
covenant between God and Israel.
“The holiness of the tefillin is great, for so long as the tefillin are upon the head and
the arm of a man, he is humble and God-fearing, keeps away from levity and idle
talk, does not conceive evil thoughts, but turns his heart exclusively to words of
truth and justice. We ought therefore to wear them all day long; this would be the
proper way. It is said of Rab, the pupil of Rabbi Jehudah, the Holy, that he was
never seen otherwise than with torah or tsitsith or tefillin.
“Although we ought to wear tefillin all day long, it is our special duty to wear them
during prayer. Our Sages said, ‘He who [337]reads Shema without tefillin rejects,
as it were, his evidence concerning the Almighty as false’ ” (ibid., Hilchoth tefillin iv.
26).
“We should be particular with regard to the mezuzah, which is a duty incumbent
uninterruptedly on every one. Whenever we enter or leave the house our eye
meets with the name of God; we remember His love, and rousing ourselves from
our torpitude, we are led to regret our foolish devotion to the vanities of the time,
and recognise that nothing remains for ever except the knowledge of the Rock of
the universe. We shall then at once devote ourselves to know Him, and walk in the
way of uprightness. Our ancient Sages said, ‘He who has tefillin upon his head
and upon his arm, tsitsith on his garment, and mezuzah on his door, he is safe
from sin, since he has many reminders of his duties, and these are the angels that
protect him from going astray; and to him the following verse applies: “An angel of
the Lord encampeth round those who fear Him” ’ ” (ibid., Hilchoth mezuzah vi. 13).
3. There occurs in the Midrash (Sifre on Deut. xi. 18), in reference to tsitsith and
tefillin, the following passage: “Also when in exile deck yourselves with mitsvoth, in
order that on your return to your own land the Divine precepts should not seem to
you new and unknown.” This passage has been misinterpreted as if the author of
that passage were of opinion that precepts like tsitsith and tefillin did originally not
apply to those who are outside the Holy Land. The meaning is rather this: Although
a large portion of the laws is not in force outside Palestine, yet continue to wear
these reminders in exile, in order that by this act your attention may constantly be
turned to the whole Torah, to those precepts which are in force at present as well
as to those which are not. Thus all the precepts will be familiar to you, and when
the time comes in which the observance of all the laws will again be possible, none
of the laws will appear to you new and strange.
4. There is, on the whole, no difference between men and women with regard to
the obedience due to the Divine commandments. All Jews are equally bound to
obey the Will of God expressed in the Law. This is absolutely the case with all
prohibitions (לא תעשה). In the case of positive commandments (מצות עשה) the
following rule has been laid down by our Sages: Women are exempt from the
performance of such religious duties as are restricted to a certain period of time
(מצות עשה שהזמן גרמא נשים פטורות). The object of the seeming anomaly is probably
this: the principal duty and the privilege of women is to manage the household, a
task that demands constant attention. Religious acts which are to be performed at
a certain time might involve an interference with such of their household duties as
demand immediate attention; e.g., nursing a patient, a task which generally falls to
the lot of the female section of the family. Jewish women, nevertheless, zealously
fulfil most of the duties from which the above rule exempts them. They thus are
most eager to obey the laws concerning shofar on New-year, lulab on Tabernacles,
and the like; and some of them are named as having conscientiously laid tefillin
(Mechilta on Exod. xiii. 9). [339]
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The daily work which has chiefly the well-being of the body as its aim
must be interrupted on certain days which the Almighty has
appointed for the promotion of man’s spiritual well-being. Sabbath
and Festivals are the days thus appointed, and are therefore called
מועדי יי“the seasons of the Lord,” and מקראי קדש“holy convocations.”
The blessing derived from the observance of Holy-days in the true
spirit is described by the prophet as follows: “If thou keep back thy
foot because of the sabbath, from doing thy business on my holy
day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable,
and shalt honour it, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own
business, nor speaking thine own words: then thou shalt delight
thyself in the Lord: and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places
of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob, thy father”
(Isa. lviii. 13, 14). To those who fail to observe the seasons of the
Lord in the true spirit, the prophet says in the name of the Almighty:
“Your new-moons and your festivals my soul hateth: they are a
trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them” (ibid. i. 14).
a. זכור“Remember.”
Kiddush.
Habhdalah הבדלה.
The origin of the introduction of the blessings for light and for spices
in the Habhdalah may be the following:—The principal meal of the
day used to be taken about sunset; light and burning incense were
essential elements of a festive meal. On Sabbath these could not be
had, and were therefore enjoyed immediately after the going out of
Sabbath. Although the custom of having incense after the meal has
long ceased, it has survived in the Habhdalah, and has, in course of
time, received another, a more poetical interpretation. The Sabbath
inspires us with cheerfulness, gives us, as it were, an additional soul
—ְנ ָׁש ָמ ה ְיֵת ָר ה—traces of which are left on the departure of Sabbath,
and are symbolised by the fragrance of the spices. For the use of the
special light there has likewise been suggested a second reason,
namely, that it is intended at the commencement [344]of the week to
remind us of the first product of Creation, which was light.
There are a few customs connected with the Habhdalah that may be
noticed here.
(1.) The wine, when poured into the cup, is allowed to flow over, as a
symbol of the overflowing Divine blessing which we wish and hope to
enjoy in the coming week.
(2.) Some dip their finger in wine and pass it over their eyes, in
allusion to the words of the Nineteenth Psalm (ver. 9), “The
commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.” The act
expresses the love of the Divine commandments (ִח ּבּוב ִמ ְצ ָוה).
(3.) Only male persons partake of the wine; they have more interest
in the Habhdalah as the signal for the resumption of ordinary work
and business.—The exclusion of women from the wine of Habhdalah
may also have its origin in the fact that Jewish women generally
abstained from taking wine, considering strong drink suitable only for
the male portion of mankind. They only partake of the wine of
Kiddush on account of its importance; to Habhdalah less importance
was ascribed.
(4.) On reaching the words בין אור לחשך, “between light and
darkness,” some hold their hands against the light, the fingers bent
inside, in illustration of the words which they utter, showing darkness
and shadow inside and light outside.—With the practice of these and
similar customs we must take good care that we should not combine
any superstitious motive, or join actions which are really
superstitious, and did not originate in Jewish thought and Jewish
traditions. [345]