Cross-Platform Mobile
Development with Xamarin
Wintellect Core Services
Consulting
Custom software application development and architecture
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On-Demand Training
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Xamarin 2-Day Virtual Course
April 11 – 12
Go to wintellect.com and click [ Training > Public
Schedule ] from the menu
Agenda
Mobile Landscape and Development Options
Xamarin Development Platform
Xamarin Application Architectural Options
Building Shared Application Components
Q&A
GitHub
github.com/classroomCode/xamarinWebinar
Mobile Landscape
Mobile Landscape
Native Android Development
Language
Java
Development Tool
Android Studio
Native iOS Development
Languages
Swift
Objective-C
Development Tools
Xcode
AppCode (JetBrains)
UWP Development
Languages
C#, VB, C++, JavaScript
Development Tools
Visual Studio
Cross-Platform Development
Web application
Hybrid HTML-based cross-platform frameworks
Apache Cordova / Adobe PhoneGap
Native cross-platform frameworks
Xamarin (C#)
React Native (JavaScript)
Appcelerator Titanium (JavaScript)
Qt (C++)
Cross-Platform Development (Pros)
Ability to more easily reuse code for multiple platforms
Leverage existing language/framework knowledge
Cross-Platform Development (Cons)
GUI components may still need to be coded multiple
times to obtain a platform-specific look and feel
Different platform design guidelines
May not have access to all native functionality
New native features may not be available right away
Performance and offline functionality
Xamarin Development Platform
Xamarin founded in 2011
Took over stewardship of Mono
Released Xamarin Studio in 2013
Acquired by Microsoft in 2016
Xamarin Platform Components
Xamarin platform
Makes it possible to build native Android, iOS, macOS, and
Windows applications with C# (and F#)
Xamarin.Forms
Cross-Platform UI toolkit
Xamarin Studio
Transitioning to Visual Studio and Visual Studio for Mac
Xamarin Test Cloud
Xamarin on iOS
Xamarin.iOS exposes Apple's Cocoa Touch frameworks
as namespaces you can reference from C#
Apple does not allow runtime code generation on iOS
C# is ahead-of-time (AOT) compiled to ARM assembly
language
Framework components are embedded into your
application
Apple's tools are required to run an iOS application
Xamarin on Android
Xamarin.Android exposes Google's Android SDK as
namespaces you can reference from C#
Android does not have the code generation limitations
as iOS
C# is compiled to IL and packaged with the Mono
runtime
Interactions with native types are accomplished via JNI
Xamarin on Windows
C# is compiled to IL and uses the built-in runtime
UWP has a .NET Native option which is similar to the
AOT compilation used for iOS
Sharing Code
"Business logic, database usage, network access, and
other common functions can be written once and re-
used on each platform, providing a foundation for
platform-specific user interfaces that look and perform
as native applications." - Xamarin Documentation
Sharing Code
To share code across native projects, you can use a …
Shared project
Portable class library (PCL)
.NET Standard library
PCLs are being phased out in favor of .NET Standard
libraries
Shared Projects
Code within a shared project is copied and compiled
into each platform-specific application
Shared Projects
Different techniques can be used to handle platform-
specific functionality when using a shard project
Conditional compilation
Class mirroring
Partial classes and methods
Conditional Compilation
Each platform-specific project can define compile-time
symbols
Can be used to specify if which code should be
included
Conditional Compilation
public static string DatabaseFile
{
get {
var filename = "data.db";
#if __IOS__
var docPath = Environment.GetFolderPath(SpecialFolder.Person);
var path = Path.Combine(docPath, "..", "Library", filename);
#elif __ANDROID__
var path = Path.Combine(Environment.GetFolderPath(
Environment.SpecialFolder.Personal, filename));
#endif
return path;
}
}
Partial Classes and Methods
By using the partial class feature of .NET, part of a class
can be defined in the shared project with another part
of the class defined in each platform-specific project
Partial methods can also be used to achieve something
similar to the template method design pattern
Portable Class Library (PCL)
When creating a PCL project, you select
a profile that specifies the target
platforms
The set of .NET APIs available to use is an
intersection of what is supported on
each platform
Many NuGet packages are distributed as
PCLs
Portable Class Library (PCL)
It is a common practice to use dependency injection
when sharing code via a PCL
Define an interface within the PCL
Code to that interface within the PCL
Each platform-specific project can provide the PCL with
an object that implements the required interface
.NET Standard Library
PCLs are being replaced by libraries that target .NET
Standard
.NET Standard is a set of APIs that all .NET platforms
have to implement
Unifies the .NET platform and prevents future
fragmentation
.NET Standard
.NET Standard
.NET Standard
Xamarin.Forms
Xamarin.Forms is a cross-platform UI framework
Separate platform-specific projects are still required but
the UI can now be defined in a single shared project
Provides a library of common controls that create native
controls at runtime
Supports the use of XAML for defining the UI
Implementation of the same standard used by WPF
Xamarin.Forms
Xamarin.Forms project contains a single instance of a
class that inherits from a class named Application
Provides lifecycle and navigation events
Application object created by the platform-specific
project
iOS: FinishedLaunching method in AppDelegate.cs
Android: OnCreate method in MainActivity.cs
Windows: OnLaunched method in App.xaml.cs
Xamarin.Forms
The UI of a Xamarin.Forms-based application consists of
a collection of pages
MainPage property of the Application object determines
the first page to be displayed
Several different subclasses of the Page class exist
ContentPage, NavigationPage, TabbedPage,
MasterDetailPage, CarouselPage
Xamarin.Forms
Content pages contain views
View can be a control or contain other controls
Each control has a renderer that produces the
appropriate native control at runtime
Xamarin.Forms
The Device class can be used to execute different code
or provide a different value at runtime based on the
underlying platform
Device.OnPlatform(
iOS: () => { ... },
Android: () => { ... },
WinPhone: () => { ... },
Default: () => { ... });
var greeting = Device.OnPlatform<string>(
iOS: "Hi", Android: "Yo", WinPhone: "Hello");
new Thickness(5, Device.OnPlatform(20, 0, 0), 5, 5);
Xamarin.Forms
Device.OnPlatform can also be used in XAML
<StackLayout.BackgroundColor>
<OnPlatform x:TypeArguments="Color"
iOS="Silver"
Android="Green"
WinPhone="Blue" />
</StackLayout.BackgroundColor>
Conclusion
Recording of this webinar
github.com/classroomCode/xamarinWebinar
Two-day instructor-led training (April 10-12)
[email protected] Q&A
