UITableView doesn't display at all

I see no reason why my TableView won't display, but it doesn't. The GetCell method in the UITableViewSource never gets called, so obviously that is part of the problem, but for the life of me I cannot figure out why. I thought it may be because the view is set off the screen, but no matter what I do with the frame. nothing ever appears. I followed the post here when constructing the table view, so I believe I got it right, but obviously I'm missing something and nothing I've read online has shed any light on the issue. My code:

    public override void ViewDidLoad()
    {
        base.ViewDidLoad();
        ServicePointManager.SecurityProtocol = SecurityProtocolType.Tls12;
        var height = this.NavigationController.NavigationBar.Bounds.Height;
        var width = this.NavigationController.NavigationBar.Bounds.Width;
        UIImageView banner = new UIImageView();
        banner.Image = UIImage.FromResource(null, "MYTEST_APP.Resources.drawable.Banner2.jpg");
        banner.Frame = new RectangleF(0, 0, (float)width, 73);
        banner.ContentMode = UIViewContentMode.ScaleAspectFit;
        UILabel lblTitle = new UILabel();
        lblTitle.Text = theSelectedTeam + " " + "Chat Room";
        UITableView tblMessages = new UITableView();
        tblMessages.Frame = new RectangleF(0f, 0f, (float)width, 400f);
        tblMessages.Source = new MessageSource(GetMessages()); // Returns a List<string> of previous messages, currently there are 9 message strings that are retreived, so there is data
        UITextField txtSendingTextMessage = new UITextField(new CGRect(0, width, width, 100));
        txtSendingTextMessage.Placeholder = "Enter Message To Send Here";

        UIButton btnSendText = new UIButton();
        CGRect ScreenBounds = UIScreen.MainScreen.Bounds;
        float buttonWidth = (float)ScreenBounds.Width / 4;
        btnSendText.Frame = new RectangleF(0f, 0f, buttonWidth, 50f);
        btnSendText.SetTitleColor(UIColor.Black, UIControlState.Normal);
        btnSendText.SetTitle("Send Text", UIControlState.Normal);
        btnSendText.BackgroundColor = UIKit.UIColor.FromRGB(255, 215, 0);

        View.Add(banner);
        View.Add(lblTitle);
        View.Add(tblMessages);
        View.Add(txtSendingTextMessage);
        View.Add(btnSendText);

        View.SubviewsDoNotTranslateAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints();

        View.AddConstraints(
            banner.AtTopOf(View, 100),
            banner.AtRightOf(View, 0),
            banner.AtLeftOf(View, 0),
            lblTitle.Below(banner, 5),
            lblTitle.WithSameCenterX(banner),
            tblMessages.Below(lblTitle, 10),
            tblMessages.WithSameCenterX(lblTitle),
            txtSendingTextMessage.Below(tblMessages, 10),
            txtSendingTextMessage.WithSameCenterX(tblMessages),
            btnSendText.Below(txtSendingTextMessage, 10),
            btnSendText.WithSameCenterX(txtSendingTextMessage)
        );


        tblMessages.ReloadData(); // just is case
    }

The TableViewSource Code:

public class MessageSource : UITableViewSource
{

    List<string> TableItems;
    string CellIdentifier = "TableCell";

    public MessageSource(List<string> items)
    {
        TableItems = items;
    }

    public override nint RowsInSection(UITableView tableview, nint section)
    {
        return TableItems.Count;
    }

    public override UITableViewCell GetCell(UITableView tableView, NSIndexPath indexPath)
    {
        UITableViewCell cell = tableView.DequeueReusableCell(CellIdentifier);
        string item = TableItems[indexPath.Row];

        //if there are no cells to reuse, create a new one
        if (cell == null)
        {
            cell = new UITableViewCell(UITableViewCellStyle.Default, CellIdentifier);
        }

        cell.TextLabel.Text = item;

        return cell;
    }
}

I seems that when one uses Cirrious.FluentLayouts like I do and then executes View.SubviewsDoNotTranslateAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints(); the tableview gets sized to zero, consequently its not visible. I simplified my code as such:

    public override async void ViewDidLoad()
    {
        base.ViewDidLoad();
        ServicePointManager.SecurityProtocol = SecurityProtocolType.Tls12;
        var height = UIScreen.MainScreen.Bounds.Height;
        var width = UIScreen.MainScreen.Bounds.Width; 
        UIImageView banner = new UIImageView();
        banner.Image = UIImage.FromResource(null, "MY_TESTAPP.Resources.drawable.Banner2.jpg");
        banner.Frame = new RectangleF(0, 0, (float)width, 73);
        banner.ContentMode = UIViewContentMode.ScaleAspectFit;
        UILabel lblTitle = new UILabel();
        lblTitle.Text = theSelectedTeam + " " + "Chat Room";
        MyMessages = GetMessages();
        tblMessages.LayoutIfNeeded();
        source.Data = MyMessages;
        tblMessages.Source = source;

        UITextField txtSendingTextMessage = new UITextField(new CGRect(0, width, width, 100));
        txtSendingTextMessage.Placeholder = "Enter Message To Send Here";

        UIButton btnSendText = new UIButton();
        CGRect ScreenBounds = UIScreen.MainScreen.Bounds;
        float buttonWidth = (float)ScreenBounds.Width / 4;
        btnSendText.Frame = new RectangleF(0f, 0f, buttonWidth, 50f);
        btnSendText.SetTitleColor(UIColor.Black, UIControlState.Normal);
        btnSendText.SetTitle("Send Text", UIControlState.Normal);
        btnSendText.BackgroundColor = UIKit.UIColor.FromRGB(255, 215, 0);

        View.Add(banner);
        View.Add(lblTitle);
        View.Add(tblMessages);
        View.Add(txtSendingTextMessage);
        View.Add(btnSendText);

        View.SubviewsDoNotTranslateAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints();

        View.AddConstraints(
            banner.AtTopOf(View, 50),
            banner.AtRightOf(View, 0),
            banner.AtLeftOf(View, 0),
            lblTitle.Below(banner, 5),
            lblTitle.WithSameCenterX(banner),
            tblMessages.Below(lblTitle, 10),
            tblMessages.AtLeftOf(View),
            tblMessages.WithSameWidth(View),
            tblMessages.Height().EqualTo(height/2),
            txtSendingTextMessage.Below(tblMessages, 10),
            txtSendingTextMessage.WithSameCenterX(tblMessages),
            btnSendText.Below(txtSendingTextMessage, 10),
            btnSendText.WithSameCenterX(txtSendingTextMessage)
        );
    }

The line of code that made all the difference is tblMessages.Height().EqualTo(height/2). And of course there's no documentation anywhere that lets one know, not even in the Cirrious.FluentLayouts documentation. Sigh, so frustrating. In any event, the post HERE set me on the correct path.