Mobile Cross-Platform App Development in C# with Xamarin
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The document outlines Xamarin's approach to building cross-platform mobile applications using C#, highlighting the efficiency of using a shared codebase compared to siloed methods. It emphasizes Xamarin's comprehensive API access and native performance across iOS, Android, and Windows platforms, along with its integration with Visual Studio. Additionally, the document provides an overview of the various Xamarin products, pricing options, and resources for developers seeking to enhance their skills in cross-platform development.
Mobile Cross-Platform App Development in C# with Xamarin
- 1. Nick Landry Microsoft Senior Technical Evangelist nick.landry@microsoft.com Blog: AgeofMobility.com @ActiveNick Building Mobile Cross-Platform Apps for iOS, Android & Windows Devices with C# (and Xamarin & Visual Studio)
- 5. Silo Approach: Build the Same Apps Multiple Times
- 6. The Siloed approach: Build native apps multiple times Multiple teams and multiple code bases are expensive and slow + + - ✗
- 7. Write Once, Run Anywhere Approach Lowest Common Denominator Browser Fragmentation • App Generation. • Web Browser in a Native Wrapper + Platform APIs.
- 8. The write-once-run-anywhere approach HTML Hybrid scenarios (Semi-native apps) like PhoneGap (i.e. Cordova) ✗
- 9. Xamarin’s Unique Approach Shared C# codebase • 100% native API access • High performance iOS C# UI Windows C# UIAndroid C# UI Shared C# Mobile C# Server Linux/Mono CoreCLRAzure Shared C# Client/Server
- 10. C# and Xamarin’s unique approach The best of all worlds
- 12. How Does Xamarin Run C# on iOS or Android?
- 13. Xamarin History Over a Decade of Enterprise Production Use 2000 Ximian Founded 2001 Mono Started 2003 Ximian Acquired by Novell 2009 First iOS product (now Xamarin.iOS) launches 2011 Xamarin Founded First Release of Xamarin.Android 2012 First release of Xamarin.Mac Launch Partner Program 2013 Xamarin 2.0 Component Store Evolve 2013 Xamarin Test Cloud Microsoft Partnership Reach 200,000 Developer Mark 500,000+ Developers 100+ Partners 100+ Components
- 15. Windows APIs Microsoft.Phone Microsoft.Networking Windows.Storage Windows.Foundation Microsoft.Devices System.Data System.Windows System.Numerics System.Core System.ServiceModel System.Net System System.IO System.Linq System.Xml
- 16. iOS – 100% API Coverage MapKit UIKit iBeacon CoreGraphics CoreMotion System.Data System.Windows System.Numerics System.Core System.ServiceModel System.Net System System.IO System.Linq System.Xml
- 17. Android – 100% API Coverage Text-to-speech ActionBar Printing Framework Renderscript NFC System.Data System.Windows System.Numerics System.Core System.ServiceModel System.Net System System.IO System.Linq System.Xml
- 18. Demo: Building a Basic Native Cross-Platform App in C#
- 19. All 3 characteristics are required for a truly native app Xamarin is native in all 3 ways Native User Interface Apps are built with standard, native user interface controls for easy and familiar interactions Apps have access to the full spectrum of functionality exposed by the underlying platform and device Apps leverage platform-specific hardware acceleration, and are compiled as native binaries, not interpreted at runtime. High-fidelity API Access Native Performance
- 20. Xamarin exposes 100% of the native APIs for iOS, Android and Windows
- 21. Anything you can do in Objective-C or Java can be done in C# with Xamarin using Visual Studio
- 22. Native Performance Xamarin.iOS does full Ahead Of Time (AOT) compilation to produce an ARM binary for Apple’s App Store. Xamarin.Android takes advantage of Just In Time (JIT) compilation on the Android device.
- 23. Always Up-to-Date Full support for: Google Glass, Android Wear, Amazon Fire TV
- 25. Xamarin: How much? Starter Edition (free) Indie Edition ($299) Business Edition ($999) Enterprise Edition ($1899) Integration with Visual Studio in Business Edition & above
- 27. Xamarin.Mac Xamarin Studio Xamarin Test Cloud Component Store Xamarin.iOS Xamarin.Android Xamarin for Visual Studio .NET Mobility Scanner
- 28. Development Environment Xamarin Studio PC or Mac Visual Studio Plugin VS 2010/2012/2013
- 35. Xamarin + Xamarin.Forms With Xamarin.Forms: more code-sharing, native controls Traditional Xamarin approach Shared UI Code
- 36. Xamarin + Xamarin.Forms Shared UI Code
- 37. What’s Included in Xamarin.Forms Shared UI Code
- 38. How Xamarin.Forms works Shared App Logic in C# At runtime, each Xamarin.Forms page and its controls are mapped to platform-specific native user interface elements iOS C# UI Android C# UI Shared App Logic Windows C# UI Use a single API to generate native, platform- specific user interfaces
- 39. Xamarin.Forms: Build Native User Interfaces Using Shared Code Shared App Logic in C# Xamarin.Forms comes with over 40 common controls, pages and layouts to make app UI creation fast and easy Even basic animations are supported Xamarin.Forms is Fully Extensible: • Subclass included controls and customize behavior • Define and add your own controls, layouts, pages and cells • Expose your own platform-specific controls in Xamarin.Forms pages
- 40. Demo: Sharing UI Code with Xamarin.Forms
- 41. Use Decide Screen-by-Screen Xamarin.Forms is great for forms-based screens. You can mix Xamarin.Forms with the full power of Xamarin.iOS and Xamarin.Android in the same app for complete control over your app’s look and feel. Xamarin.Forms: Mix-and-Match Screen-by-Screen, Element-by-Element Call Platform APIs via Shared Services Need platform-specifc functionality within a Xamarin.Forms page, such as querying the accelerometer? We’ve included services that quickly and easily abstract platform-specific API calls to keep you writing as much shared code as possible. Embed Custom Views Anywhere Not only are Xamarin.Forms pages mixable with custom screens, you can embed custom views built directly against Xamarin.iOS and Xamarin.Android into Xamarin.Forms pages.
- 42. Sharing Code
- 43. Shared Projects
- 44. NuGet
- 46. Choosing a Code Sharing Option
- 48. Component Store • Over 150 curated mobile components • Android • iOS • Windows • Free & Paid • Full IDE Integration • Xamarin Studio • Visual Studio
- 49. Automatically test your app on hundreds of mobile devices
- 51. Native Dev: Platform Tools or Xamarin? Platform Tools (Windows, iOS, Android) • Default native method to build apps • Free development tools & SDKs • Requires learning at least one language & SDK per platform (C#, Java, Objective-C) • Design, develop & maintain completely separate apps for each platform • More learning resources available • Books, web sites, blogs, training, StackOverflow, videos, larger community, etc. • Yet, iOS developers are (kinda) starting all over with Swift Xamarin / Mono • Reuse existing C# skills & source code (but you have to know C#) • Need to buy an additional tool: extra cost • Need to learn new tools & techniques • Still need to learn the specifics of each platform SDK, app architecture & lifecycle • Fewer third-party libraries available • Built-in GUI designer for iOS and Android • Xamarin.Forms provides native shared Uis, but there is no XAML designer (yet) • Vendor lock-in / dependency
- 52. Mobile Strategy Considerations Audience • General Consumer Market • Niche Consumer Market • Enterprise Users • BYOD Objectives • Marketing “Checklist” Apps • Brand “Reach” Apps • Weekend Warrior Apps • Apps for Profit • Mobile Revolution Apps Other Considerations • Mobile Population Coverage Target & Desired Reach • Expertise • Resources • Timeframe
- 54. github.com/ActiveNick/MyWeatherNUI github.com/ActiveNick/MyWeather github.com/ActiveNick/BingTranslateDemo github.com/ActiveNick/HelloWeather github.com/ActiveNick/AzureChatrforWindows github.com/jamesmontemagno/MyStocks.Forms github.com/jamesmontemagno/MyExpenses-Sync Session Demos
- 56. http://xamarin.com/download http://docs.xamarin.com http://evolve.Xamarin.com http://xamarin.com/university http://blog.xamarin.com http://motzcod.es http://weblogs.asp.net/wallym http://www.gregshackles.com Xamarin Resources
- 58. Xamarin Developer Certifications: Be part of an Elite Developer Community Students have the option to take a certification test and become Xamarin certified. Xamarin skills are increasingly in demand – certifications let the market know you represent top talent.
- 59. Online Microsoft training delivered by experts to help technologists continually learn Hundreds of courses for developers, IT Pros, students, entrepreneurs and enthusiasts 11 different languages More than 3M students registered Build your own Learning Plan All free! Cross-Platform Development with Xamarin & Visual Studio aka.ms/MVAxamarin http://www.microsoftvirtualacademy.com
- 60. Recommended Xamarin Books http://aka.ms/Xs5v48 Xamarin Mobile Application Development for Android (Mark Reynolds) http://aka.ms/Ndl0jn iOS Development with Xamarin Cookbook (Dimitris Tavlikos) http://aka.ms/S8akz1 Xamarin Cross-Platform Application Development (Jonathan Peppers) http://aka.ms/Sl5aj9
- 61. Recommended iOS Books http://iosfordotnetdevs.com Programming iOS 7, 4th Edition (Neuburg, O’Reilly) http://amzn.to/1el9Z7L iOS Programming: The Big Nerd Ranch Guide 4th Edition (Conway, Hillegass, Keur) http://amzn.to/1dIM999 Objective-C Programming: The Big Nerd Ranch Guide 2nd Edition (Hillegass, Ward) http://amzn.to/1kHJQaB
- 62. Recommended Android Books Android Programming: The Big Nerd Ranch Guide (Bill Phillips, Brian Hardy) http://amzn.to/1k7jeuK Programming Android: Java Programming for the New Generation of Mobile Devices (Mednieks, Dornin, et al.) http://amzn.to/1bdHA4W
- 63. Thank You! Slides are posted on Slideshare. Demos are on GitHub. Slideshare: www.slideshare.net/ActiveNick Blog: www.AgeofMobility.com Twitter: @ActiveNick Mobile Apps: www.bigbaldapps.com LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/activenick GitHub: github.com/ActiveNick Email: nick.landry@microsoft.com