Getting Started with Xamarin App Development

Editor's Notes

• #3: SCRIPT When mobile devices first came out, companies had to jump in with gusto. And they did so with what we call the siloed , platform-specific approach. They hired specific teams to build apps for one platform. Objective C for iPHone. Java developers for Android. Etc. The benefit is that your app is very tailored to the platform that your users are engaging with it. And that’s what users want. The downside is there is a lot of redundant work that occurs. You have three teams effectively building the same product for a different audience. It’s a very slow way to innovate and update. For every bug you find, you have to fix it three times. What came from this was another approach to development: the hybrid or web approach. This is where you’re using Web technologies and putting a mobile wrapper around it. The benefit is that you save money. You can use your current Web teams. However, the performance of these applications is sub par at best. Mark Zuckerburg is famous for saying that betting too heavily on HTML 5 was one of the worst business decisions Facebook made. It’s unfortunate that a lot of organizations went this direction and this resulted in poor adoption rates and wasted investments.
• #4: Up to 70% shared code with Xamarin.Platform and up to 100% shared code with Xamarin.Forms
• #5: 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
• #6: Mobile is transformative because mobile apps are context-aware – and context-aware apps require full access to native device capabilities Mobile users - consumers and employees alike - are more likely to abandon apps that show poor performance or non-standard UI, navigation and controls because it slows them down and forces them to re-learn things they already know Xamarin takes .NET to the next level and extends it to iOS and Android Xamarin apps are 100% C# and 100% of Android + iOS platform APIs are exposed With Xamarin, everything you can do with Objective-C or Java, you can do with .NET Xamarin apps are 100% native apps, indistinguishable from platform-native apps created with Android Studio, Eclipse or Xcode Xamarin also includes powerful iOS and Android UI designers that enable you to create beautiful user experiences for Windows, iOS and Android in a visual designer with drag-and-drop simplicity Xamarin enables developers to use the same languages, libraries, and tools for all major mobile platforms, unlocking the extraordinary productivity of .NET for any iOS and Android while using existing skills and enabling effortless sharing of code among platforms With Xamarin, you can build native apps once and run them everywhere – giving developers the most productive and powerful platform for creating native cross-platform applications The cross-platform native approach combines the benefits of both worlds - you get the native user experience for each individual platform, and you also eliminate rework and increase organizational innovation and responsiveness by delivering more apps faster
• #7: Every project starts with an idea - and a plan how to turn this idea into reality – a new product or app feature. Developers track and manage work in a dynamic backlog that is constantly updated. Once an iteration starts, developers turn great ideas into features. For this, they need shared services – for example source control - that enable them to collaborate as a team, write and test code and build functionality. Whenever a developer checks in new code to the source control repository, a build is automatically triggered and after each successful build, automated integration and build verification tests run. After the build has been successfully verified, it is automatically deployed to Xamarin Test Cloud and app testing commences – manual or automated UI testing on different devices, form factors and platforms. The next step involves user beta testing – selected users and groups get access to the app, install and use it on their devices and provide valuable feedback that the development team actions. Once a predefined quality bar has been reached, the app is deployed to the respective app stores and users and customer can install and use this app or update to the newest version. Once installed, app telemetry data and performance and usage merics are monitored so that the development team can learn from real user interactions and evolve and improve the app in the next iteration – bugs and issues flow directly into the project backlog where they can be triaged and actioned appropriately. Crash analytics helps developers identify app issues or bugs and enable fast root cause analysis and push out a fix or app update quickly.
• #8: By using Microsoft’s mobile DevOps solution, customers will have the CONFIDENCE that they’re shipping apps that function how they INTENDED, and that users will LOVE. They can ship faster, and continuously update their apps to ensure that the best version of there is always out there They can be sure that each feature will work because they are continuously testing and monitoring. They can be sure that their app will work for all devices in their user base with cross-platform support, and they can be sure that developers are comfortable with what they’re shipping. With mobile DevOps, teams get more time to focus on what’s most important to keeping users engaged – more innovation, more new features.
• #10: If you have ever developed for a Windows Platform before these .NET namespaces might look familiar. However, if we go to a new platform such as Windows Phone or Store we have a new SDK to use and a new set of namespaces.
• #11: You can think of iOS and Android development the same with Xamarin. You can see we have all of our .NET namespaces and libraries, but Xamarin give us 100% api coverage of each iOS API in it’s SDK that we access view C#.
• #12: The same is true for Android as well.
• #14: There is no compromise on performance. Xamarin apps look and feel native because they are native.
• #15: Xamarin Forms is a new set of APIs allowing you to quickly and easily write shared User Interface code that is still rendered natively on each platform, while still providing direct access to the underlying SDKs if you need it.
• #16: We see here the Xamarin approach we talked about earlier This enables you to be highly productive, share code, but build out UI on each platform and access platform APIs With Xamarin.Forms you now have a nice Shared UI Code layer, but still access to platform APIs You can start from native, pick a few screens, or start with forms, and replace with native later
• #17: Xamarin.Forms is much more that just a framework and includes everything you need to get up and running to build out full native applications. If you are used to MVVM type of development you will feel right at home.
• #18: First you have a set of pages for each screen of your application There are things like Content, and MasterDetail which gives you a nice flyout With a tabbed view you get the correct look on each platform iOS on bottom, Android on top, and on WP you have a Pivot control Inside of a page are layouts A lot of options from something simple like a stack panel to complex and powerful grids
• #19: You have more than 40 controls, layouts, and pages to mix and match from. These are all of the controls you have out of the box, you can of course create your own. What is unique is you get the native control and have access to it. Consider an Entry Field On iOS it is mapped to UITextField Android it is EditText Windows Phone it is a TextBox
• #20: Xamarin is your complete mobile solution. Xamarin Platform is usually what you hear about which is building native iOS, Android, Mac, and Windows Apps all in C# However Xamarin offers a wide range of products for developers to go mobile including Test Cloud, Hockey App, and a way to learn all of mobile with University.
• #21: Well there are several challenges that we must overcome as mobile developers including….
• #22: First let’s take a look at the shear number of configurations there are between iOS and Android. As iOS progresses this number is only set to increase, and on Android it is already a HUGE number of configurations to even think about testing. iOS: 7, 7.1, 8, 8.1, 8.2
• #23: OpenSignal is a global app that publishes an annual report on Android device fragmentation based on the distinct Android device types that download their app. This is their August 2015 data, with an astonishing 24,000 device types using their app, up by 60% from just last year. Different device operating systems, form factors, screen sizes, resolutions, chip sets, and manufacturer modifications make it difficult to know that your app will work well on all devices
• #24: Looking at just a few of the screen sizes of Samsung devices you couldn’t even fit all of them on the screen, so how do you handle this problem?
• #25: The fragmentation isn’t just in the devices, but as we start to build on our applications you soon found out they are ever increasingly complex.
• #26: With a simple command you can simulate all of your users interactions to build out a great test suite that can be run over and over again.
• #27: This is where Xamarin.UITest comes in to help with this shift. Xamarin.UITest is a framework that ties in directly to the Nunit testing framework to write the UI tests. You can even run them directly against a simulator for free to do regression tests on your applications. Freely available for testing on a Simulator*
• #28: Take test scripts and test again thousands of physical devices! All Xamarin subscribers get free device time! Check store.xamarin.com for details.
• #29: Approaches to Mobile Testing
• #30: Anything Else! App Insights Google Analytics Flurry
• #32: Get started today with free 30 day trial of Xamarin at xamarin.com
• #36: The Xamarin Profiler enables developer to dive deep into their mobile apps to analyze and finely tune every last bit of performance. It has several key features. Available for Xamarin Business Edition Subscribers
• #37: Instruments: Allocations Time Profiler Call Tree: Browse functions easily Option to invert and separate by threads
• #38: Sampling: See where your app is spending the most time. Memory Snapshots: See how memory is used at different points in time.
• #39: Alaska Airlines is mobile-only, cloud-first Key Points: Alaska Airlines is a huge Xamarin and Microsoft champion. They have a vision to be mobile-only, and we’re helping them – and their 15,000+ employees, 80% are mobile – from flight attendants to pilots to maintenance crews - get there. They’ve released two employee-facing apps -- but have 30+ apps in the pipeline. They’re using the Xamarin and Microsoft DevOps stack (Visual Studio Team Services, VS, Xamarin, Azure, etc) to migrate previously web-based apps and activities to mobile Their "Hopper” app is a new way for employees to experience their stand-by travel privileges, available on iOS, Android, and Windows, including SSO, boarding pass scanning, gate updates, weather, and more – and incorporates native features like TouchID. The app allows employees to take advantage of their employee benefits – easily, from anywhere. This is just one example of how Alaska – and leading companies – are treating their employees like their customers, resulting in more engaged, happier, and more effective staff members…and happier customers.
• #40: Talking Points: Cinemark is the 3rd largest theater chain in North America, with over 500 locations and 5,000+ screens. They pride themselves on a state-of-the-art digital experience for customers, and, with their mobile apps, they’re building loyal, repeat customers. After developing their initial app with PhoneGap and Sencha Touch, they turned to Xamarin to get the user experience and developer experience they were missing with HTML5 solutions. The team was able to use their in-house skills and systems to create the high quality, immersive apps – for Android, iOS, and Windows – suitable for a media-rich cinema company. Using one codebase allows them to get new features to market quickly, and, with 100% access to APIs and native functionality, their developers are limitless, tapping into native mobile-unique functionality, including: locating nearby theaters, securely purchasing tickets, skipping the ticketing lines and using mobile passbook to gain entry to shows. Users can also share movie times and locations with friends via social media. With Xamarin Test Cloud, they can verify any new features work as expected before getting them into the hands of their customers. Once in the theater, patrons can enter “Cinemode,” silencing their phones during their movie – and receive points toward free tickets and other theater benefits. They’ve also introduced their “Connections” loyalty program, allowing them to cater rewards and offers to specific customers.