Xamarin

A type of application development that creates applications for a specific platform or device

Native apps interact and/or take advantage of features and resources that are generally available for its parent platform

Uses platform-specific and proprietary tools for app development

What are the Native App Development Platforms for Mobile Devices ?

s the XCode IDE, as well as the iOS Software Development Kit (iOS SDK) that uses the Objective-C and Swift programming languages.

has its aptly-named Android Studio as its native platform, along with the Android SDK that uses the Java programming language

use Visual Studio IDE for native app development, along with Windows APIs that use the C# programming language

This is a type of application development that creates applications that work, or are compatible with, multiple platforms and devices�

It compliments a growing trend, called Bring Your Own Device (BYOD), where apps are capable of running on multiple devices.�

What BYOD stands for?

Cross platform solutions

is the only major framework that compiles to respective native binaries for a 100% native application; coding is done using the C# programming language and compiled to native languages for different platforms/devices.

instead uses a native shell to run a web version of the app. It can use CSS3, HTML5, and JavaScript as the code base.

A cross-platform IDE that can be added into Visual Studio to create native user interfaces for Android, iOS and UWP devices and systems

Uses the C# programming language as its code base and is capable of using resources from the .NET Framework

What are the xamarin approach?

Apps are wholly written in C#, ensuring delivery of fully native user interfaces and app functionality while utilizing complete access to 100% of the native APIs for iOS, Android, and Windows in C#. App logic and UI code are shared across device platforms.�

Approaches that involve other programming languages (such as XAML, JavaScript, and native shell logic) and features (device-specific feature usage, WebView capabilities, etc.) are supported to an extent

Xamarin provides support for F#, a strongly-typed, functional, imperative programming language designed to run on the .NET Framework due to Xamarin support for the core .NET libraries

Code is shared across platforms/devices as much as possible (such as data access layers and business logic), leaving only a little work on the native code. This allows the approach to provide greater access to OS UI APIs.

Utilizes platform-specific UI code in C#, XAML, XML, Storyboards, and XIBs

Allows code sharing capability up to 100% to deliver fully native, cross-platform apps

Allows mix-and-match use of Xamarin.Forms with platform-specific code

A collection of bindings around various SDKs

Also provides functionality of the .NET framework for app development

What are the xamarin platform components?

provides the core functionality of .NET using C#

binds to the Android SDK

binds to the iOS UI Kit.

binds to Xamarin.Android, Xamarin.iOS, and Windows SDK.

Isolation and minimizing of platform-specific code

A programming language designed by Microsoft in January of 1999, with integration to the .NET framework in mind

Based on other programming languages such as C, C++, and Java

A very popular language used for a wide variety of applications

Pronounced as “zammel”�

An XML-based Extensible Application Markup Language developed by Microsoft

A general-purpose markup language for instantiating and initializing objects

A C# binding to the Android SDK

Provides and allows binding of Android APIs through Android Runtime (ART)

Accessed when a Layout File (in .AXML format) is opened

Provides the interface for easy creation of layouts, views, and activities in Xamarin

Contains a variety of tools that can be used to customize an app’s controls

What are the parts of the android designer?

shows a basic interface of an AVD (specified on the upper bar of the window. The AVD allows for customization of an app via the other parts�

contains the different controls that can be inserted as part of an Android app’s design, from text labels to working buttons.

shows the different files that can be worked on or created for the current project.

specifies the breakdown of objects created in the app, according to level.

allows the customization of the controls, such as text size, spacing/padding, and naming.

the Designer Window shows the actual XAML code that is created from the specifications made on the Design View of the window.

.XAML files usually found inside the Resources folder of an app project

Can be created in the Android Designer workspace via the Toolbar

Usually contains one (1) root item: a LinearLayout object to put child items of the corresponding UI

A .CS file (usually, the MainActivity.cs file) puts logic on the UI activity and handles events of the .XAML file’s elements�

Basically, the “structure” of a specific activity (window or part) of an Android app�

Contains the different controls that execute and manage an app’s primary and secondary functions

What are the types of android layouts?

aligns all children in a single direction, vertically, or horizontally. A scrollbar is created if the length of the window exceeds the length of the screen.

displays child views in relative positions. The position of each view can be specified as relative to sibling elements (such as child A to the left of child B) or in positions relative to the parent RelativeLayout area (such as aligned to the top of the parent).

displays items in a two-dimensional scrollable grid. This layout is similar to the Home menu of most Android devices.

blocks out an area on the screen to display a single item. Generally used to hold a single child view, because it can be difficult to organize child views in a way that's scalable to different screen sizes without the children overlapping each other.

are small, individual activities embedded within other layouts and activities

Self-contained, modular components that are used to help address the complexity of writing applications that may run on screens of different sizes;

What are the xamarin UI controls?

are simple drop-down menus containing a list of pre-determined values

is used when date values (date, month, year) must be specified and selected as data

works in a similar manner as DatePicker, except that it specifies/selects time values (hour, minute, second)

is used whenever value adjustments are needed (such as in audio volume, rewind/fast-forwarding of audio tracks, or any other specified value). It uses a bar with control that can be dragged left or right

is used to turn features and other functions on or off�

is used when multiple choices are allowed to be selected in an activity

is used when only one (1) choice is allowed to be selected in an activity.

is a control that can be tapped (clicked) in order to execute various operations

is an input control that allows for inputting of alphanumeric values (numbers, letters, certain symbols) via a generated keyboard on the device.

The main building block of Android applications

What are the Android Life Cycle Callback Methods?

fires when the system first creates the activity; created activity enters the Created state. Basic application startup logic that should happen only once for the entire life of the activity can be performed in this state/method

invoked when the activity enters the Started state. The call makes the activity visible to the user, as the app prepares for the activity to enter the foreground and become interactive.

invoked when the activity enters the Resumed state in which the app interacts with the user. The app stays in this state until something happens to take focus away from the app.

called during the Paused state as the first indication that the user is leaving the activity. The method is used to pause operations such animations and music playback that should not continue while the activity is in the Paused state, and that you expect to resume app interaction shortly

– invoked during the Stopped state, meaning the activity is no longer visible to the user

Called before the activity is destroyed. This is the final call that the activity receives. The system either invokes this callback because the activity is finishing or because the system is temporarily destroying the process containing the activity to save space.

Represents the basic building block for user interface components

Works similarly to selection controls, only that some of them aren’t necessarily related to input

Occupies a rectangular area on the screen and is responsible for drawing and event handling

The base class for widgets, which are used to create interactive UI components (buttons, text fields, etc.)

used to create interactive UI components (buttons, text fields, etc.)

What are the commonly used views in android apps?

is a view user interface element that the user can tap or click to perform an action. It makes use of event listeners and handlers in order to receive input from users and execute its corresponding code

displays customized, non-editable text that can be used to label certain controls. It can contain properties that alter its appearance, such as size and color

is a user interface element for entering and modifying text. The TextView_inputType attribute must be specified to determine the type of input keyboard to be generated (such as keyboards used for entering email addresses, for example).

displays image resources, for example, Bitmap or Drawable resources. It is also commonly used to apply tints to an image and handle image scaling