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Hands-On Mobile Development with .NET Core
Hands-On Mobile Development with .NET Core

Hands-On Mobile Development with .NET Core: Build cross-platform mobile applications with Xamarin, Visual Studio 2019, and .NET Core 3

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Hands-On Mobile Development with .NET Core

Getting Started with .NET Core

.NET Core (previously known as .NET vNext) is the general umbrella term used for Microsoft's cross-platform toolset that aims to solve the shortcomings of centralized/machine-wide frameworks (NET framework) by creating a portable, platform agnostic, modular runtime and framework. This decentralized and modular development platform allows developers to create applications for multiple platforms using the common .NET base class libraries (NET standard), as well as various runtimes and application models, depending on the target platforms. This chapter will give you a brief introduction to .NET Core while explaining different tiers of .NET Core infrastructure. Languages and runtimes, as well as extensions that can be used together with .NET Core will be discussed and analyzed.

The combination of.NET Core, .NET Standard, and Xamarin is the...

Cross-platform development

The term cross-platform application development refers to the process of creating a software application that can run on multiple operating systems. In this book, we will not try to answer the question of why, but how – more specifically, will try to create a cross-platform application using the toolset provided by Microsoft and .NET Core.

Before we start talking about .NET Core, let's take a look at the process of developing an application for multiple platforms. Faced with the cross-platform requirement, the product team can choose multiple paths that will lead the developers through different application life cycles.

Throughout this book, we will have hypothetical user stories defined for various scenarios. We will start with an overall user story that underlines the importance of .NET Core:

"I, as a product owner, would...

Introduction to .NET Core

In order to understand the roots of and motivation for let us start with a quote:

"Software producers who maximize their product's potential for useful combination with other software, while at the same time minimizing any restrictions upon its further re-combination, will be the survivors within a software industry that is in the process of reorganizing itself around the network exchange of commodity data." 
-- David Stutz General Program Manager for Shared Source Common Language Infrastructure, Microsoft, 2004.

.NET Core dates back as early as 2001 when Shared Source Common Language Infrastructure (SSCLI) was shared sourced (not for commercial use) under the code name Rotor. This was the ECMA 335, that is, the Common Language Infrastructure (CLI) standard implementation. Rotor could be built on FreeBSD (version...

.NET Foundation

The .NET Foundation is an independent organization that supports open source development and collaboration within the .NET ecosystem. The .NET foundation supports the development of active projects within the ecosystem by evangelizing the technologies through organizing/sponsoring meetups and by active involvement in community-driven projects.

The .NET Foundation portfolio grew especially large due to the projects that were brought in by the acquisition of Xamarin.

Notable .NET Foundation projects

Some of the most notable projects that are generally used in modern .NET applications, as well as cross-platform mobile applications, are as follows:

  • .NET Core
  • ASP.NET Core
  • Roslyn
  • Reactive Extensions
  • Entity...

Developing with .NET Core

.NET Core applications can be developed with Visual Studio on the Windows platform and Visual Studio for Mac (inheriting from Xamarin Studio) on macOS. Visual Studio Code (an open source project) and Rider (JetBrain's development IDE) provide support for both of these platforms, as well as Unix-based systems. While these platforms provide the desired user-friendly development UI, technically, .NET core applications can be written with a simple text editor and compiled using the .NET Core command-line toolset:

As we mentioned previously, the only intrinsic runtime in the .NET Core CLI is the .NET Core runtime, which is primarily used for creating console applications with access to the complete base class library.

Without further ado, let's create our first cross-platform application with the CLI tools and see how it behaves on multiple target...

Summary

The .NET ecosystem is growing at an exponential velocity with the new, open-source oriented approach being adopted by Microsoft. Various runtimes and frameworks are part of community-driven projects that cover bigger portions of the original .NET framework which was, ironically, destined to be part of Windows itself.

Using the .NET Core infrastructure and the provided runtimes, developers can, nowadays, develop applications for mobile platforms such as iOS, Android, and UWP, as well as micro runtimes such as Windows IoT Core, Raspbian, and Tizen. Setting device-specific runtimes aside, Azure and web development can also be accomplished using .NET Core.

In the remainder of this book, we will be implementing a Xamarin.Forms application using the Mono runtime and creating a web infrastructure composed of Serverless (Logic Apps and Functions) components, as well as ASP...

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Key benefits

  • Understand .NET Core and its cross-platform development philosophy
  • Build Android, iOS, and Windows mobile applications with C#, .NET Core, and Azure Cloud Services
  • Employ artificial intelligence capabilities in your mobile applications with Azure AI

Description

.NET Core is the general umbrella term used for Microsoft’s cross-platform toolset. Xamarin, used for developing mobile applications, is one of the app model implementations for .NET Core infrastructure. In this book, you'll learn how to design, architect, and develop attractive, maintainable, and robust mobile applications for multiple platforms, including iOS, Android, and UWP, with the toolset provided by Microsoft using Xamarin, .NET Core, and Azure Cloud Services. This book will take you through various phases of application development using Xamarin, from environment setup, design, and architecture to publishing, with the help of real-world scenarios. Throughout the book, you'll learn how to develop mobile apps using Xamarin, Xamarin.Forms, and .NET Standard. You'll even be able to implement a web-based backend composed of microservices with .NET Core using various Azure services including, but not limited to, Azure App Services, Azure Active Directory, Notification Hub, Logic Apps, Azure Functions, and Cognitive Services. The book then guides you in creating data stores using popular database technologies such as Cosmos DB, SQL, and Realm. Finally, you will be able to set up an efficient and maintainable development pipeline to manage the application life cycle using Visual Studio App Center and Visual Studio Services.

Who is this book for?

This book is for mobile developers who want to develop efficient cross-platform mobile applications. Programming experience with C# along with an understanding of core elements and cross-platform application development with .NET is required.

What you will learn

  • Implement native applications on multiple mobile and desktop platforms
  • Understand and use various Azure services with .NET Core
  • Make use of architectural patterns designed for mobile and web applications
  • Grasp basic Cosmos DB concepts
  • Discover how different app models can be used to create an app service
  • Explore the Xamarin and Xamarin.Forms UI suite with .NET Core for building mobile applications

Product Details

Country selected
Publication date, Length, Edition, Language, ISBN-13
Publication date : May 31, 2019
Length: 504 pages
Edition : 1st
Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781789530926
Vendor :
Microsoft
Category :
Languages :

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Product feature icon Download this book in EPUB and PDF formats
Product feature icon Access this title in our online reader with advanced features
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Product Details

Publication date : May 31, 2019
Length: 504 pages
Edition : 1st
Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781789530926
Vendor :
Microsoft
Category :
Languages :

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Table of Contents

25 Chapters
Section 1: .NET Core and Cross-Platform Philosophy Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Getting Started with .NET Core Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Xamarin, Mono, and .NET Standard Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Universal Windows Platform Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Section 2: Xamarin and Xamarin.Forms Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Developing Mobile Applications with Xamarin Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
UI Development with Xamarin Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Customizing Xamarin.Forms Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Section 3: Azure Cloud Services Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Azure Services for Mobile Applications Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Creating a Datastore with Cosmos DB Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Creating Microservices Azure App Services Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Using .NET Core for Azure Serverless Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Section 4: Advanced Mobile Development Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Fluid Applications with Asynchronous Patterns Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Managing Application Data Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Engaging Users with Notifications and the Graph API Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Introducing Cognitive Services Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Section 5: Application Life Cycle Management Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Azure DevOps and Visual Studio App Center Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Application Telemetry with Application Insights Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Automated Testing Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Deploying Azure Modules Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
CI/CD with Azure DevOps Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Other Books You May Enjoy Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

Customer reviews

Rating distribution
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Half star icon Empty star icon 3.4
(5 Ratings)
5 star 60%
4 star 0%
3 star 0%
2 star 0%
1 star 40%
Peter Nilsen Nov 04, 2019
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
The book starts with giving a little bit of theory with simple "experiments". In the later chapters, a step by step implementation is outlined for a mobile application using Xamarin and the azure infrastructure with different resources mostly created using .net core.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Cliente Amazon Sep 06, 2019
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
Libro básico en el desarrollo, profundiza en algunos temas, pero no toca otros de desarrollo Xamarin Compensa con la integración de los servicios de Azure, en general buen libro.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Gregory Pilar Jun 22, 2019
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
Great overview for any experienced programmers who don't know Xamarin.Well written and informative, each chapter gives a nice overview of a topic, gets one started writing real code, but thankfully doesn't try to be exhaustive. Each technology's main features and concepts are covered enough to get started. Its amazing how much ground he covers. The book got rid of any worries I wasn't using the right technology for the right problem!
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Antonino Polizzi Dec 01, 2020
Full star icon Empty star icon Empty star icon Empty star icon Empty star icon 1
Libro terribile, impossibile seguire passo passo quello che viene detto, non solo perché di fa riferimento a informazioni obsolete, ma anche per il modo con il quale vengono trattati gli argomenti.Ne ho fatto il reso.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Frank Out Sep 17, 2019
Full star icon Empty star icon Empty star icon Empty star icon Empty star icon 1
This is a confusing book!Much details are given about the framework information which seemed almost word for word on what you can find on the MS website. To me this was a waste of space as this information is already there and in many cases not nessary when writting apps.The other part that is annoying is that your exerices are not clearly explained, this by no means is an advance book for developers so explaining where the code has to go and even what to name it would have been a great help for those that are trying to learn another espect of the Visual Studio IDE.It almost seems like there are missing pages as it doent explain the actual programming side of the lessons,My advice keep hunting find another book.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
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