Issue 156

APP OF THE WEEK

Azure Mobile App

The Azure Mobile app is now generally available. The reason I mention it is because it's a Xamarin app! ;-)

CODE

Why I use ‘var’

Using var or explicit types is a hotly debated topic. Right up there with tabs vs spaces. Here are some good reasons to start using var.

Why I use ‘var’ by Antão Almada

DESIGN

Getting started in UX Design

The reality is that most of us who develop mobile applications also get involved in the UX design of those apps as well. Here are some basics to get you started.

Getting started in UX Design: 5 behaviours I wish I’d learned sooner by Amanda Moussa

OPEN SOURCE

Xamarin.Essentials gives you a way to access common native features from shared code without having to write your own abstractions or find an open source plugin created by the community. This is a fantastic addition to your Xamarin ecosystem. The documentation for it is also top notch!

Xamarin.Essentials: Cross-Platform APIs for Mobile Apps

TOOLS

Convert Xamarin Libraries to SDK Style & Multi-Targeted Projects

Take your Xamarin Libraries and update them to the new SDK Style projects which use Package References, auto-NuGet packaging, and load WAY faster. Let James show you how.

Converting Xamarin Libraries to SDK Style & Multi-Targeted Projects by James Montemagno

ANDROID

What’s new in Android P Beta

Beta versions of Android P are starting to roll out. As cross-platform mobile developers, we need to keep up to date with what is happening on the different platforms. There are some interesting changes happening in Android, here is a summary.

What’s new in Android P Beta by Dave Burke

IOS

IOS 11 support in Xamarin Forms + Prism

iOS 11 has a new UI design which include two main changes: Safe area and large titles. The importance of adding support to this in our apps is to respect the platform conventions and also if you don’t add the Safe area it won’t respect the borders in iPhoneX. It's not always as easy as it sounds, but XamGirl is here to help you out.

IOS 11 support in Xamarin Forms + Prism by Charlin Agramonte

MAC

Update Your Xamarin.Mac Apps for 64-bit Today!

Last June, Apple announced that upcoming macOS releases would only support 32-bit applications “with compromises”. If your Mac application is not 64-bit, we strongly recommend taking action to avoid compromises in the next version of macOS.

Update Your Xamarin.Mac Apps for 64-bit Today! by John Miller

XAMARIN FORMS

Build a Xamarin.Forms Application with MvvmCross

Nick Randolph shows you how to get started with building a Xamarin.Forms app using MvvmCross

Build a Xamarin.Forms Application with MvvmCross by Nick Randolph

Getting started with FlexLayout

FlexLayout is a new layout that has been added in Xamarin.Forms 3.0. It works wonderfully for the kind of responsive design you need for mobile apps. Here is a nice introduction.

Getting started with FlexLayout Properties Behavior by Leomaris Reyes

Create an Initials Circle View

Alex Dunn has written up another excellent little Renderer for Xamarin.Forms! This one provides initials inside a circle, which is fantastic for things like a list of notifications or emails.

Xamarin.Tip – Create an Initials Circle View by Alex Dunn

REACTIVEUI

ReactiveUI - Brave New World

There has been a bunch of news happening in the ReactiveUI world over the last couple of weeks.

First of all ReactiveUI v8 was released!! It has a new home on Github and they have moved towards using Continuous Deployment.

There has also been a lot of discussion about making it more sustainable going forward. So get in there, check out what's happening with Reactive UI and also have a look at the Slack Channel.

You, I, and Reactive UI

Speaking of ReactiveUI... have you had an seen Kent Boogaart's book "You, I, and Reactive UI".

Learn ways of writing UI code that is powerful, elegant, maintainable, and neatly encapsulates the management of state.

Understand how ReactiveUI's abstractions help you write user interface logic once, then run it on a wide array of platforms that have nothing in common apart from a .NET runtime.

See how ReactiveUI makes it so much simpler for you to construct modern experiences that depend on a multitude of asynchronous events.

Discover how ReactiveUI can facilitate the testing of all your code, even asynchronous and time-sensitive scenarios, regardless of how long they would ordinarily take to execute in real-time.

If you want to look further into ReactiveUI check it out!

MEETUPS

Microsoft //Build/ Recap for Xamarin Developers

I presented a session on all the important stuff from Microsoft //Build/ for Xamarin Developers at the Melbourne Xamarin User Group yesterday. Just sharing out the links from the session. Links to all the gory details are over at https://aka.ms/XamBuild2018.

Microsoft //Build/ Recap for Xamarin Developers by Kym Phillpotts

PODCASTS & VIDEOS

Build 2018 Recap

In this episode of the Xamarin Podcast, Pierce Boggan and James Montemagno discuss news from Build 2018 for mobile developers, including Xamarin.Forms 3.0, Hyper-V support for the Android emulator, Xamarin Essentials, and updates to Visual Studio 2017 and Visual Studio for Mac.

Build 2018 Recap

Merge Conflict 97: GitHub + App Center = ?

Merge Conflict is live from Microsoft Build 2018 with Nilofer Rajpurkar from App Center and Steve Winton from GitHub to discuss the new partnership between Microsoft and GitHub and how they are making mobile app developers lives better with new integrations for continuous integration.

Merge Conflict 97: GitHub + App Center = ?

Snack Pack: Configure iOS & Android Architecture Types

We have a new Xamarin Snack Pack... In this edition James looks at configuring iOS & Android architecture types to support different devices.

Snack Pack: Configure iOS & Android Architecture Types by James Montemagno

AND FINALLY...

Visual Studio and Xamarin Announcements from Microsoft Build 2018

Marco gives a first-hand walkthrough of the Build announcements. The three day event was action packed with loads of interesting, technical sessions and to give an idea of the vision of Microsoft.

Visual Studio and Xamarin Announcements from Microsoft Build 2018 by Marco