Xamarin: Cross-Platform Mobile Application Development
Published on 6. January 2016
Book
Paperback/Softback
1049 pages
978-1-78712-012-9 (ISBN)
Description
Master the skills required to develop cross-platform applications from drawing board to app store(s) using Xamarin
About This Book
* Learn to deliver high-performance native apps that leverage platform specific acceleration, complied for native performance
* Learn development techniques that will allow you to use and create custom layouts for cross-platform UI
* Gain the knowledge needed to become more efficient in testing, deploying, and monitoring your applications
* Implement application life cycle management concepts to manage cross-platform projects
Who This Book Is For
Mobile application developers wanting to develop skills required to steer cross-platform applications using Xamarin.
What You Will Learn
* Share C# code across platforms and call native Objective-C or Java libraries from C#
* Submit your app to the Apple App Store and Google Play
* Use the out-of-the-box services to support third-party libraries
* Find out how to get feedback while your application is used by your users
* Create shared data access using a local SQLite database and a REST service
* Test and monitor your applications
* Gain memory management skills to avoid memory leaks and premature code cycles while decreasing the memory print of your applications
* Integrate network resources with cross-platform applications
* Design and implement eye-catching and reusable UI components without compromising on nativity in mobile applications
In Detail
Developing a mobile application for just one platform is becoming a thing of the past. Companies expect their apps to be supported on iOS, Android and Windows Phone, while leveraging the best native features on all three platforms. Xamarin's tools help ease this problem by giving developers a single toolset to target all three platforms. The main goal of this course is to equip you with knowledge to successfully analyze, develop, and manage Xamarin cross-platform projects using the most efficient, robust, and scalable implementation patterns.
Module 1 is a step-by-step guide to building real-world applications for iOS and Android. The module walks you through building a chat application, complete with a backend web service and native features such as GPS location, camera, and push notifications. Additionally, you'll learn how to use external libraries with Xamarin and Xamarin.Forms. Module 2 provide you recipes on how to create an architecture that will be maintainable, extendable, use Xamarin.Forms plugins to boost productivity. We start with a simple creation of a Xamarin.Forms solution, customize the style and behavior of views for each platform. Further on, we demonstrate the power of architecting a cross-platform solution. Next, you will utilize and access hardware features that vary from platform to platform with cross-platform techniques. You will master the steps of getting the app ready and publishing it in the app store. The last module starts with general topics such as memory management, asynchronous programming, local storage, networking, and platform-specific features. You will learn about key tools to leverage the pattern and advanced implementation strategies. Finally, we show you the toolset for application lifecycle management to help you prepare the development pipeline to manage and see cross-platform projects through to public or private release. After the completion of this course, you will learn a path that will get you up and running with developing cross-platform mobile applications and help you become the go-to person when it comes to Xamarin.
Style and approach
This course will serve as comprehensive guide for developing cross-platform applications with Xamarin with a unique approach that will engage you like never before as you create real-world cross-platform apps on your own.
About This Book
* Learn to deliver high-performance native apps that leverage platform specific acceleration, complied for native performance
* Learn development techniques that will allow you to use and create custom layouts for cross-platform UI
* Gain the knowledge needed to become more efficient in testing, deploying, and monitoring your applications
* Implement application life cycle management concepts to manage cross-platform projects
Who This Book Is For
Mobile application developers wanting to develop skills required to steer cross-platform applications using Xamarin.
What You Will Learn
* Share C# code across platforms and call native Objective-C or Java libraries from C#
* Submit your app to the Apple App Store and Google Play
* Use the out-of-the-box services to support third-party libraries
* Find out how to get feedback while your application is used by your users
* Create shared data access using a local SQLite database and a REST service
* Test and monitor your applications
* Gain memory management skills to avoid memory leaks and premature code cycles while decreasing the memory print of your applications
* Integrate network resources with cross-platform applications
* Design and implement eye-catching and reusable UI components without compromising on nativity in mobile applications
In Detail
Developing a mobile application for just one platform is becoming a thing of the past. Companies expect their apps to be supported on iOS, Android and Windows Phone, while leveraging the best native features on all three platforms. Xamarin's tools help ease this problem by giving developers a single toolset to target all three platforms. The main goal of this course is to equip you with knowledge to successfully analyze, develop, and manage Xamarin cross-platform projects using the most efficient, robust, and scalable implementation patterns.
Module 1 is a step-by-step guide to building real-world applications for iOS and Android. The module walks you through building a chat application, complete with a backend web service and native features such as GPS location, camera, and push notifications. Additionally, you'll learn how to use external libraries with Xamarin and Xamarin.Forms. Module 2 provide you recipes on how to create an architecture that will be maintainable, extendable, use Xamarin.Forms plugins to boost productivity. We start with a simple creation of a Xamarin.Forms solution, customize the style and behavior of views for each platform. Further on, we demonstrate the power of architecting a cross-platform solution. Next, you will utilize and access hardware features that vary from platform to platform with cross-platform techniques. You will master the steps of getting the app ready and publishing it in the app store. The last module starts with general topics such as memory management, asynchronous programming, local storage, networking, and platform-specific features. You will learn about key tools to leverage the pattern and advanced implementation strategies. Finally, we show you the toolset for application lifecycle management to help you prepare the development pipeline to manage and see cross-platform projects through to public or private release. After the completion of this course, you will learn a path that will get you up and running with developing cross-platform mobile applications and help you become the go-to person when it comes to Xamarin.
Style and approach
This course will serve as comprehensive guide for developing cross-platform applications with Xamarin with a unique approach that will engage you like never before as you create real-world cross-platform apps on your own.
More details
Persons
Jonathan Peppers is a Xamarin MVP and the lead developer of the popular apps and games at Hitcents, such as Hanx Writer and Draw a Stickman: EPIC. He has been working with the C# programming language for over 8 years. He is also quite familiar with other technologies, such as WinForms, WPF, Unity, ASP.Net WebForms, ASP.Net MVC, and Windows Azure. In recent years, Hitcents has been heavily investing in mobile development with Xamarin and has developed over 50 mobile applications with Xamarin across multiple platforms. George Taskos is a senior software engineer. He has been creating applications professionally since 2005, and he started coding at the age of 8. George has worked as a consultant for the past 10 years in the enterprise and consumer domains. George is a Microsoft Certified Solutions Developer since 2009 and Xamarin Certified Mobile Developer. Throughout his career, he has created multitier interoperable applications with various technologies, including Windows Forms, WPF, ASP.NET MVC, SOAP, and REST web services, focusing on native iOS/Android and Xamarin Cross Platform Mobile applications for the past 5 years. As a professional, he worked with small and large enterprises in Greece, Cyprus, South Africa, UK, and USA where he is currently based in New York City. George is a passionate engineer involved in the start-up community by contributing his free time. He was a member of the BugSense mobile analytics team that was acquired by a NASDAQ big data analytics corporation in 2013. Currently, he is working with Verisk Analytics, a NASDAQ 100 company, leading the engineering of Xamarin iOS/Android platforms and working in general software architecture of products. Can Bilgin currently works for Authority Partners Inc. as a program architect. He has been working in the software industry, primarily with Microsoft technologies, for over a decade and has been recognized as a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) for his technical contributions. In this period, he played key roles in projects for high profile clients using technologies such as BizTalk, SharePoint, Dynamics CRM, Xamarin, WCF, and other web technologies. His main passion lies in mobile and IoT development using the modern toolset available for developers. He tries to share his experience on his blog (http://canbilgin.wordpress.com), social media (@can_bilgin), and through speaking engagements at both local and international conferences and community events in the Balkans region.