Xamarin XAML: calling a Shell page with a parameter

Question

Suppose you have the following AppShell.xaml:

<TabBar>
<ShellContent Title="Page1" ContentTemplate="{DataTemplate local:Page1}" />
<ShellContent Title="Page2" ContentTemplate="{DataTemplate local:Page2}">
</TabBar>

Also suppose Page2 is identical to Page1 except for one property, which can be easily parameterized. So I'd like to be able to do this:

<TabBar>
<ShellContent Title="Page1" ContentTemplate="{DataTemplate local:Page1}" />
<ShellContent Title="Page2" ContentTemplate="{DataTemplate local:Page1}" 
ContentTemplateParameter="somevalue">
</TabBar>

Problem is, there is no such thing as ContentTemplateParameter. So is there a way to achieve this functionality? The critical part here is that I need to call it from an App-level Tab bar, not from one page to another.

P.S. See my solution below.

Answer 1

Answering my own question; I have come up with a solution.

1. Assign one of the links a route name:

<TabBar>
<ShellContent Title="Page1" ContentTemplate="{DataTemplate local:Page1}" />
<ShellContent Title="Page2" ContentTemplate="{DataTemplate local:Page1}" 
Route ="somevalue">
</TabBar>

2. Then in Page1's constructor you can check whether that name was in the route:

if(Shell.Current.CurrentItem.CurrentItem.Route.Contains("somevalue")) {
   // do something
} else { 
   // do something else
}