Issue 174

KYM PHILLPOTTS

Welcome Back

This week we have an action-packed edition of the Weekly Xamarin newsletter. Lots of stuff happening around the community. And just around the corner, we have Ignite 2018. BTW, here is a summary of the Xamarin Sessions.

Thanks again for reading the newsletter and have a great weekend.

DESIGN

60+ great UI kits for iOS engineers

If you are designing apps for iOS then you'll like this curated list of design resources and UIKits for iOS development.

60+ great UI kits for iOS engineers by Read More

6 Animation Guidelines for UX Design

Animations look great in applications, however, if you don't follow these basic animation guidelines you could be turning off your users. So follow these tips to really make them work for you.

6 Animation Guidelines for UX Design by José Torre

TESTING

Getting Started with Xamarin.Forms and Unit Testing with xUnit and Moq

Nick Randolph talks about unit testing with xUnit. He also covers using the mocking library, Moq, to make your testing easier.

Getting Started with Xamarin.Forms and Unit Testing with xUnit and Moq by Nick

Turn specs into high quality apps

This is Marco's talk from NDC Oslo about Turning specs into high-quality apps!

Presentation: Turn specs into high quality apps [NDC Oslo] by Marco

TOOLS

Copy a (db) file from an installed Android apk

Need to pull a database file from a device so you can play around with it? Look no further.

Copy a (db) file from an installed Android apk by Geoff

ANDROID

Rounded Icons in Xamarin.Android

Rounded Icons are all the rage in Android these days. You should support them, and with this post Thiago shows you how.

O X do Xamarin Forms — Criando Ícones arredondados para o Xamarin.Android by Thiago Bertuzzi

Android 9 Pie, thoroughly reviewed

If you need to catch up with the changes in Android 9 this is an extremely thorough run down of whats new and changed.

Android 9 Pie, thoroughly reviewed by Ron Amadeo

IOS

Touchscreen Visualisation on Xamarin iOS

To produce a demonstration video on Android you can turn on screen visualisations from the Developer settings menu and this will show screen interactions on a screen capture. No such option exists on iOS so you need to write some custom code in your app instead.

Touchscreen Visualisation on Xamarin iOS by Peter Freeman Foot

Allowing one specific controller inside of UINavigationController to rotate

René Ruppert was asked the question: "How can I have a UINavigationController based app, where all controllers are forced into portrait but one of them should support both, landscape and portrait?" one too many times and decided it was time to write a guide.

Allowing one specific controller inside of UINavigationController to rotate by René Ruppert

iOS 12 less known

Here are some of the less known and obscure IOS 12 API additions and changes.

iOS 12 by Mattt

Supporting iPhone XS Max and XR

Here is a recap of what you need to know to update your Apps for the all the shiny new Apple devices.

Supporting iPhone XS Max and XR

iOS User Interfaces: Storyboards vs. NIBs vs. Custom Code

What’s the best way to develop a UI in iOS: through Storyboards, NIBs, or code? This article provides a pretty good rundown of the pros and cons of each option.

iOS User Interfaces: Storyboards vs. NIBs vs. Custom Code by Antonio Bello

Handling input from Apple Pencil

This blog post describes how to use Xamarin.iOS and Visual Studio 2017 to build a signature pad app that works with Apple Pencil.

Handling input from Apple Pencil by Prashant Cholachagudda

XAMARIN FORMS

An amazing Xamarin.Forms app

I can't say enough good things about the niceties of this app for Paris Turf. It includes a slew of nice little touches that really showcase what you can do with a Xamarin.Forms app if you are willing to spend some time and effort. In this article, Jean-Marie Alfonsi talks about how they pulled it off.

Xamarin.Forms: it works by Jean-Marie Alfonsi

Local Notifications in Xamarin Forms

You have never asked yourself how your device does to show reminders or alerts that run at a certain time (for example: "Go to the supermarket" and this message appears as a notification reminding you to go to the supermarket). Carlos shows you how.

Local Notifications en Xamarin Forms by Carlos R. Campos

Learning Realm in Xamarin Forms (Part. 1)

Realm is an object oriented database that can be use to handle data persistance in mobile apps. Is a solid alternative to SQLite and other mobile data persistance options. In this specific article will be covering the basics on setting up Realm and starting to use it in Xamarin Forms.

Learning Realm in Xamarin Forms (Part. 1) by Rendy

ListView Infinite Scroll – Xamarin.Forms

Julio demonstrates how you can implement a list with Infinite Scroll, so your list will be loaded "in parts" with pagination and the amount of items you want per page. This type of loading is often used when it is necessary to load a list with many elements, preventing the user from expecting the whole list to load so that he can select the desired element.

ListView com Infinite Scroll – Xamarin.Forms by Juliano Custódio

Backgrounding with Xamarin.Forms the Easy Way

Ever wonder how facebook and twitter process there background to fetch a new content? And it looks so slick that when you refresh it was snappy and smooth, Making the user believed that the content is refreshed and updated in a snap when in fact it was done in the background.

Backgrounding with Xamarin.Forms the Easy Way by Winston Gubantes

State Button and other goodies

Thiago Beruzzi has posed some articles on various customised Xamarin.Forms controls.

This week he has a post on a State Button

Also check out his introduction to other components here.

O X do Xamarin Forms — State Button by Thiago Bertuzzi

The new Xamarin.Forms 3.2 TitleView

Xamarin.Forms 3.2 has introduced a nice bunch of fixes. In this post, Thiago gives a nice introduction to get you started.

O X do Xamarin Forms — A Nova TitleView by Thiago Bertuzzi

Effect to customize the StatusBar

Here is a nice little effect from Javier to customize the colour of your status bar in Xamarin.Forms

[Xamarin.Forms] Efecto para personalizar la StatusBar by Javier Suárez Ruiz

Consuming RSS Feeds with Xamarin.Forms the Easy Way

Here is a nice little tip on consuming RSS Feeds using Microsoft.Toolkit.Parsers.

Consuming RSS Feeds with Xamarin.Forms the Easy Way by Winston Gubantes

What's New in Xamarin Forms Part 1

In case you missed .NET Conf (you can watch all the videos at Channel 9) and you want a quick rundown of what’s new in Xamarin Forms from .NET Conf 2018, let Devlin tell you all about the new hotness.

Summary of NET Conf 2018 – What's New in Xamarin Forms Part 1 by Devlin

Upgrading to Xamarin.Essentials from Plugins

Xamarin.Essentials is a new official library from Microsoft that provides developers with over 30 cross-platform APIs for their mobile apps to tap into to access native features. Learn to love Essentials because it's going to be your best friend.

Upgrading to Xamarin.Essentials from Plugins by James Montemagno

NUGET OF THE WEEK

Tiny.RestClient : A fully fledged .NETStandard compatible REST client.

The main purpose of the client is to have an optimized REST client that is easy to use. It is compatible with .Net Standard 1.3 and 2.0 which means that it is usable on .Net Framework 4.5 or higher, Xamarin and .Net Core and UWP.

Tiny.RestClient : le client REST pour consommer vos API

PODCASTS & VIDEOS

Merge Conflict 115: Apple Event Recap & Smart Homes 3.0

Yes! It is time for new iPhone and Apple Watch devices! We quickly break down the entire Apple Event from last week and then go directly into smart home automation and Android Things.

115: Apple Event Recap & Smart Homes 3.0

RELEASES

Get Ready for iOS 12 and Xcode 10

Support for iOS 12 and Xcode 10 to accompany Apple’s Xcode Gold Master (GM) release has just been announced! We have also published updated documentation and samples to help you quickly get started with all the latest new features.

Get Ready for iOS 12 and Xcode 10 by David Ortinau

Xamarin.Forms 3.2.0 Released!

Xamarin.Forms 3.2.0 continues the theme of previous releases to give you big wins by making little things much easier to do.

Xamarin.Forms 3.2.0 Released: Going Big with Little Things by David Ortinau