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Xamarin 4.x Cross-Platform Application Development
Xamarin 4.x Cross-Platform Application Development

Xamarin 4.x Cross-Platform Application Development: Develop powerful cross-platform applications with Xamarin , Third Edition

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Xamarin 4.x Cross-Platform Application Development

Chapter 2. Hello, Platforms!

If you are familiar with developing applications using Visual Studio on Windows, then using Xamarin Studio should be very straightforward. Xamarin uses the same concept of a solution containing one or more projects, and it has created several new project types for iOS and Android applications. There are also several project templates to jump-start your development of common applications.

Xamarin Studio supports several out-of-the-box project types, including standard .NET class libraries and console applications. You cannot natively develop Windows applications on a Mac with Xamarin Studio, but you can certainly develop the shared code portion of your application in Xamarin Studio. We'll focus on sharing code in the later chapters, but keep in mind that Xamarin enables you to share a common C# backend between most platforms that support C#.

In this chapter, we will cover:

  • Creating a simple calculator application for iOS
  • Apple's MVC pattern
  • Xcode...

Building your first iOS application

Launch Xamarin Studio and start a new solution. Just like in Visual Studio, there are lots of project types that can be created from the New Solution dialog. Xamarin Studio, formerly MonoDevelop, supports the development of many different types of projects such as C# applications targeting the Mono runtime or .NET Core, NUnit test projects, and even other languages besides C#, such as VB or C++.

Xamarin Studio supports the following project types for iOS:

  • Single View App: This is the basic project type that sets up an iOS storyboard along with a single view and controller.
  • Master Detail App: a project type containing a list of items that you can tap to view details about. On iPhone/iPod it will use multiple controls taking up the full screen area and the iOS UISplitViewController on iPad.
  • Tabbed App: This is a project type that automatically sets up a UITabViewController for applications with a tab layout.
  • Page-Based App: This project type automatically sets...

Understanding Apple's MVC pattern

Before getting too far with iOS development, it is really important to get a foundation on Apple's design pattern for developing on iOS. You might have used the Model View Controller (MVC) pattern with other technologies such as ASP.NET, but Apple implements this paradigm in a slightly different way. Apples core set of APIs for developing UIs for iOS applications is called UIKit. Xamarin applications can take full advantage of UIKit by directly using these APIs from C#. UIKit is heavily based on the MVC design pattern.

The MVC design pattern includes the following:

  • Model: This is the backend business logic driving the application. This can be any code that, for example, makes web requests to a server or saves data to a local SQLite database.
  • View: This is the actual user interface seen on the screen. In iOS terms, this is any class that derives from UIView. Examples are toolbars, buttons, and anything else the user would see on the screen and interact...

Using the iOS designer

Since our plain white application is quite boring, let's modify the view layer of our application with some controls. To do this, we will modify the MainStoryboard.storyboard file in your project in Xamarin Studio or Visual Studio. Optionally, you can open the storyboard file in Xcode, which was previously the method of editing storyboard files before the Xamarin.iOS designer. Using Xcode could still be useful if there is a feature in iOS storyboards which isn't available in the Xamarin designer, or if you need to edit an older iOS format such as XIB files. However, Xcode is not quite as good of an experience, since custom controls in Xcode render as plain, white squares. Xamarin's designer actually runs your drawing code in custom controls, so that you get an accurate view of what your application will look like at runtime.

Let's add some controls to our app by performing the following steps:

  1. Open the project you created earlier in this chapter...

Building your first Android application

Setting up an Android application in Xamarin Studio is just as easy as it is for iOS and is very similar to the experience in Visual Studio. Xamarin Studio includes several project templates that are specific for Android to jump-start your development.

Xamarin Studio includes the following project templates:

  • Android App: A standard Android application that targets the newest Android SDKs installed on your machine.
  • Wear App: A project targeting Android Wear, for smartwatch devices.
  • WebView App: A project template for a hybrid app using HTML for certain parts. Support for Razor templating is available.
  • Class Library: A class library that can only be referenced by Android application projects.
  • Bindings Library: A project for setting up a Java library to be called from C#.
  • UI Test App: an NUnit test project for running UI tests either locally or on Xamarin Test Cloud.
  • Unit Test App: This is a special Android application project that can run NUnit tests.

Launch...

Building your first iOS application


Launch Xamarin Studio and start a new solution. Just like in Visual Studio, there are lots of project types that can be created from the New Solution dialog. Xamarin Studio, formerly MonoDevelop, supports the development of many different types of projects such as C# applications targeting the Mono runtime or .NET Core, NUnit test projects, and even other languages besides C#, such as VB or C++.

Xamarin Studio supports the following project types for iOS:

  • Single View App: This is the basic project type that sets up an iOS storyboard along with a single view and controller.

  • Master Detail App: a project type containing a list of items that you can tap to view details about. On iPhone/iPod it will use multiple controls taking up the full screen area and the iOS UISplitViewController on iPad.

  • Tabbed App: This is a project type that automatically sets up a UITabViewController for applications with a tab layout.

  • Page-Based App: This project type automatically...

Understanding Apple's MVC pattern


Before getting too far with iOS development, it is really important to get a foundation on Apple's design pattern for developing on iOS. You might have used the Model View Controller (MVC) pattern with other technologies such as ASP.NET, but Apple implements this paradigm in a slightly different way. Apples core set of APIs for developing UIs for iOS applications is called UIKit. Xamarin applications can take full advantage of UIKit by directly using these APIs from C#. UIKit is heavily based on the MVC design pattern.

The MVC design pattern includes the following:

  • Model: This is the backend business logic driving the application. This can be any code that, for example, makes web requests to a server or saves data to a local SQLite database.

  • View: This is the actual user interface seen on the screen. In iOS terms, this is any class that derives from UIView. Examples are toolbars, buttons, and anything else the user would see on the screen and interact with...

Using the iOS designer


Since our plain white application is quite boring, let's modify the view layer of our application with some controls. To do this, we will modify the MainStoryboard.storyboard file in your project in Xamarin Studio or Visual Studio. Optionally, you can open the storyboard file in Xcode, which was previously the method of editing storyboard files before the Xamarin.iOS designer. Using Xcode could still be useful if there is a feature in iOS storyboards which isn't available in the Xamarin designer, or if you need to edit an older iOS format such as XIB files. However, Xcode is not quite as good of an experience, since custom controls in Xcode render as plain, white squares. Xamarin's designer actually runs your drawing code in custom controls, so that you get an accurate view of what your application will look like at runtime.

Let's add some controls to our app by performing the following steps:

  1. Open the project you created earlier in this chapter in Xamarin Studio.

  2. Double...

Left arrow icon Right arrow icon

Key benefits

  • Write native cross-platform applications with Xamarin
  • Design user interfaces that can be shared across Android, iOS, and Windows Phone using Xamarin.Forms
  • Practical cross-platform development strategies

Description

Xamarin is a leading cross-platform application development tool used by top companies such as Coca-Cola, Honeywell, and Alaska Airlines to build apps. Version 4 features significant updates to the platform including the release of Xamarin.Forms 2.0 and improvements have been made to the iOS and Android designers. Xamarin was acquired by Microsoft so it is now a part of the Visual Studio family. This book will show you how to build applications for iOS, Android, and Windows. You will be walked through the process of creating an application that comes complete with a back-end web service and native features such as GPS location, camera, push notifications, and other core features. Additionally, you’ll learn how to use external libraries with Xamarin and Xamarin.Forms to create user interfaces. This book also provides instructions for Visual Studio and Windows. This edition has been updated with new screenshots and detailed steps to provide you with a holistic overview of the new features in Xamarin 4.

Who is this book for?

If you are a developer with experience in C# and are just getting into mobile development, this is the book for you. This book will give you a head start with cross-platform development and will be the most useful to developers who have experience with desktop applications or the web.

What you will learn

  • Apple's MVC design pattern
  • The Android activity lifecycle
  • Share C# code across platforms and call native Objective-C or Java libraries from C#
  • Create a real web service back end in Windows Azure using SQL Azure as database storage
  • Set up third-party libraries such as NuGet and Objective Sharpie in many different ways, and port a desktop .NET library to Xamarin
  • Use Xamarin.Mobile for camera, contacts, and location
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Language : English
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Table of Contents

12 Chapters
1. Xamarin Setup Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
2. Hello, Platforms! Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
3. Code Sharing Between iOS and Android Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
4. XamSnap - A Cross-Platform App Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
5. XamSnap for iOS Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
6. XamSnap for Android Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
7. Deploying and Testing on Devices Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
8. Contacts, Camera, and Location Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
9. Web Services with Push Notifications Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
10. Third-Party Libraries Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
11. Xamarin.Forms Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
12. App Store Submission Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
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