KYM PHILLPOTTS
Quite a wide variety of articles in this weeks issue. It's a real challenge to keep the number of articles down to a manageable number. Almost as challenging as keeping track of the Xamarin.Forms Teams' releases, who have just pushed out XF 4.2.0. Congratulations!
Also, If you aren't doing anything this Saturday and you live somewhere near Toronto, you should definitely go check out Xamarin Saturday! This event is hosted by the awesome Toronto Mobile .NET Developers at BSI Labs. More information and registration details here..
Here's to an amazing weekend,
❤️ Kym
Now onto the links.
NEWS
Challenge: Try Xamarin Android Performance and App Size
I love the trend this year of having challenges around Xamarin. This new one for August is about Android app size and performance. Take part and you win stickers!! Plus 10 lucky people chosen at random will also get themselves a coveted Xamarin Monkey!
DESIGN
4 Rules for Intuitive UX
There are a lot of ways you can vastly improve the user experience of your application that doesn't involve a big investment in user research sessions, paper prototyping playtime, or any other trendy UX buzzwords. Here are some good tips.
4 Rules for Intuitive UX – Learn UI Design by Erik D. Kennedy
BUSINESS & MARKETING
App Store Optimization Checklist
App Store Optimization is a set of techniques that help you take advantage of how Apple's and Google's search algorithms work to ensure your app shows up where it's most relevant, giving it more visibility and more downloads. If you haven't yet and need a place to start, here’s a list of must-dos before submitting your next update or publishing your app.
If you don't want to pay for an app-specific keyword research tool, the Google Keyword Planner can give you good insights as well.
App Store Optimization Checklist by AppFigures
TOOLS
Must-Have Visual Studio Extensions
There are so many great extensions for Visual Studio, it's a full time job keeping up with them ;-)
Here is a list of 15 extensions you might want to check out.
15 Must-Have Visual Studio Extensions for Developers by Joseph Christ Nithin Issack
XAMARIN FORMS
Creating page templates for Xamarin Forms
Houssem Dellai shows a simple solution for creating page templates which you can help create a consistent and reusable pages design.
Creating page templates for Xamarin Forms by Houssem Dellai
Using Prism + Shiny in Xamarin Forms
In this article, Rendy shows you how to set up Allan Ritchie's Shiny step by step in a Xamarin Forms project that uses Prism.
Using Prism + Shiny in Xamarin Forms by Rendy
6 Steps to Consume ASP.NET Core Web API in Xamarin Applications
It is the most common requirement to access data from a web API and display it in a mobile app. To build a Xamarin application that consumes ASP.NET Core web APIs or rest services, we need HttpClient to send HTTP requests and receive HTTP responses from a web service identified by a URI. This is a quick read if you want to get started with the basics of consuming a web API
6 Steps to Consume ASP.NET Core Web API in Xamarin Applications by Mageshyadav
Drawing across the wire with Couchbase
This is a cool app to do real time synchronization of data (in this case, drawing points) between devices using Couchbase.
Couchbase Mobile contains a robust and powerful embedded NoSQL database, called Couchbase Lite, that can be used within your iOS, Android, and Xamarin apps. The Couchbase Mobile stack also contains Sync Gateway. Sync Gateway enables secure data synchronization across Couchbase Lite enabled clients.
Simple and Synchronized Drawing Apps with Couchbase and Xamarin by Rob Hedgpeth
MVVMCROSS
Using C#, XAML, Uno and MvvmCross to Jump Start Your Cross Platform Application
Using Uno, XAML, MvvmCross allows you to hit all the platforms. In this post, Nick shows you how to get started with putting all the pieces together with MvvmCross.
Using C#, XAML, Uno and MvvmCross to Jump Start Your Cross Platform Application by Nick
NUGET OF THE WEEK
EasyLayout
Pretty much everything that Frank Krueger produces is gold. This NuGet EasyLayout makes writing auto layout code in Xamarin.iOS easier. Finally Frank has gotten around to packaging it all up in a tasty little NuGet.
praeclarum/EasyLayout by Frank Krueger
AsyncCommand & More Come to MVVM Helpers
A lot of us are a big fan of some of the libraries that James Montemagno has created over the years! One of my (Luce) personal favourites, is MVVM Helpers which has allowed me to spin up a brand new app with bindings and mvvm architecture in under 30 minutes. James has just updated it with new AsyncCommand and more! AsyncCommand & More Come to MVVM Helpers by James Montemagno
PODCASTS & VIDEOS
Xamarin Podcast: We ❤️ Android!
Keeping up with the latest in .NET, C#, Xamarin, and Azure is easier than ever. Co-hosts Matt Soucoup and James Montemagno cover a range of topics relevant to Xamarin developers from designing mobile apps to identity management.
XAML Hot Reload for Xamarin.Forms Preview
This week, James is joined by friend of the show Pierce Boggan, Xamarin Program Manager, shows us the brand new public preview of XAML Hot Reload for Xamarin.Forms.
XAML Hot Reload for Xamarin.Forms Preview by James Montemagno
Merge Conflict: 163: "Borrowing" Code from the Internet
Stack Overflow, blog posts, GitHub repos... we all live in a beautiful open source world of code sharing. However, what happens if you want to use that code in your library or in your app? What should you do as a good digital citizen?
Editor Improvements in Visual Studio for Mac | The Xamarin Show
This week, James is joined by friend of the show Maddy Leger, Xamarin Tooling Program manager, who shows off awesome editor updates to Visual Studio for Mac. She walks us through all of the new awesome C# editing and XAML features that will boost any developers productivity.
Editor Improvements in Visual Studio for Mac | The Xamarin Show by JamesMontemagno
RELEASES
Xamarin.Forms 4.2.0 Hits GA & CollectionView Updates
Xamarin.Forms 4.2.0 is now available in stable. This release continues the 4.0 series with improvements to Shell, community enhancements, performance enhancements, and bug fixes.
Xamarin.Forms 4.2.0 Hits GA & CollectionView Updates by Paul DiPietro
AND FINALLY...
These Are My Own Devices
This musical parody of Pet Shop Boys "Left To My Own Devices" has been doing the rounds on twitter. It's about the joys of upgrades, patches and forced updates. If you need a laugh to get the weekend started, this might help.