KYM PHILLPOTTS
The year is off to a flying start
Hi everyone and welcome back to another issue of WeeklyXamarin.
Hopefully, by now you have caught up with all your holiday emails and are getting back into the swing of it. Things are starting to ramp up with loads of blog posts and new community initiatives like Xamarin Universe and the .NET Mobile Community Standup. It looks like it's going to be an awesome year for Xamarin.
Have a great weekend everyone!
NEWS
Announcing unlimited free private repos and unified Enterprise offering
It's a happy new year from GitHub!!! Unlimited free private repositories!!! Read more about it here
New year, new GitHub: Announcing unlimited free private repos and unified Enterprise offering
APP OF THE WEEK
Voice in a Can
"I wanted Alexa on my Apple Watch so I built it. Also working on iPhone, Android, Mac and Tizen, because ... Xamarin. Delightful to be able to share core tested functionality (Alexa Voice Service client implementation) across all the platforms, and UI where appropriate using Xamarin Forms.
DESIGN
How To Design Search For Your Mobile App
A lot of applications require good search facilities, but what makes a good search experience in your applications?
How To Design Search For Your Mobile App by More about Suzanne
TOOLS
Simplified Image Asset Management for Xamarin Apps
MFractor keeps getting better and better. It's an incredible, must have, set of tools if you are developing Xamarin applications on a Mac.
Now it has been extended to allow you to easily manage the image assets in your Xamarin apps, which, if you have a decent sized application can be a very time consuming and laborious process. Not anymore, thanks to MFractor.
Simplified Image Asset Management for Xamarin Apps by Matthew Robbins
What bothers Xamarin developers?
This is an interesting series of blog posts that helps identify the things that bother Xamarin Developers. This is the third in the series, so make sure you check out the earlier editions too.
[EN] What bothers Xamarin developers? Part 3 by Damian Antonowicz
IOS
IOS Animations
If you are doing iOS animations then check out this blog post (and it's followup) to get started with iOS animation techniques.
iOS Animations: UIView (Part 1) by Theo Ben Hassen
XAMARIN FORMS
App Links in Xamarin Forms
As a mobile applications user sometimes we receive emails with url links that by clicking on them, they open an application instead of the browser. These are called App Links, in this article I will show you how to handle them in Xamarin Forms. I will use my own domain for my app links xamboy.
Changing audio volume with Xamarin.Forms
All platforms allow controlling the audio level and mobile devices have got hardware buttons and soft keys to do so. But how would you change the audio volume from within a Xamarin.Forms app?
Changing audio volume with Xamarin.Forms by René Ruppert
Adjusting elements when keyboard shows in Xamarin Forms
Making sure your form elements are still visible when the soft-keyboard appears is an essential part of usability. Here's how it's done.
Adjusting elements when keyboard shows in Xamarin Forms by Charlin Agramonte
Mocking Xamarin.Essentials
Xamarin.Essentials provides developers with cross-platform APIs for their mobile applications. If you never heard about Xamarin.Essentials you should get familiar with it as soon as possible! It is a great collection of APIs that is very easy to use and integrate to your projects.
In this article, Evgeny talks about how you can throw an interface in front of Xamarin.Essentials for unit testing and mocking
Mocking Xamarin.Essentials by Evgeny Zborovsky
FSHARP
Hackathon Superweapon: F# and Fabulous
Larry O'Brien investigates the Fabulous framework during a hackathon. As he says "The camaraderie, short deadline, and free pizza make hackathons an ideal place to explore new technologies."
Hackathon Superweapon: F# and Fabulous by Larry O'Brien
PODCASTS & VIDEOS
Merge Conflict 131 - Three Degrees of Freedom
It's a slow start to the new year, which means it is time to talk about what we splurged on this holiday! Frank got himself a new Oculus Go, so why not talk about the state of VR, AR, and MR!
Visual Azure Provisioning From a Whiteboard
On this week's Xamarin Show, James is joined by good friend Christos Matskas who shows off a beautiful Xamarin application that is infused with AI to generate a full Azure backend just by drawing pictures on a white board. You don't want to miss this mind blowing demo and walkthrough of the code.
Visual Azure Provisioning From a Whiteboard by James Montemagno
Essential API of the Week - Connectivity
Xamarin.Essentials provides developers with cross-platform APIs for their mobile applications. On this week's Essential API of the week we take a look at Connectivity, which enable you to check device internet connectivity, connection type, and register for changes to connectivity.
Connectivity (Essential API of the Week) by James Montemagno
Xamarin.Forms 101: Data Binding
James Montemagno has a new mini-series on as part of the Xamarin Show - because you know, he must have heaps of spare time ;-)
Let's take a step back in a new mini-series that I like to call Xamarin.Forms 101. In each episode we will walk through a basic building block of Xamarin.Forms to help you build awesome cross-platform native applications. This week we will look at MVVM and Data Binding to simplify development.
Mobile .NET Community Standup
This is something new that is happening - the Mobile: .NET Community Standup which is broadcast live on Twitch and Youtube. This will be great to watch to keep up to date with the mobile community.
RELEASES
Carousel layout + auto item size + column count = Happy New HorizontalListView !
A big update has been released for the Sharpnado.Forms.Presentation and the Sharpnado.HorizontalListView nuget packages: v0.9.8. If you are looking for a nice Carousel view and/or grid check it out.
Carousel layout + auto item size + column count = Happy New HorizontalListView ! by Jean-Marie Alfonsi
AND FINALLY...
Xamarin Month: Love and Friendship
Luis Matos is spearheading an initiative at the Xamarin Universe to make February the month of Xamarin Love and Friendship. If you want to contribute please check this out.