Book Image

Xamarin Mobile Development for Android Cookbook

By : Matthew Leibowitz
Book Image

Xamarin Mobile Development for Android Cookbook

By: Matthew Leibowitz

Overview of this book

Xamarin is used by developers to write native iOS, Android, and Windows apps with native user interfaces and share code across multiple platforms not just on mobile devices, but on Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. Developing apps with Xamarin.Android allows you to use and re-use your code and your skills on different platforms, making you more productive in any development. Although it’s not a write-once-run-anywhere framework, Xamarin provides native platform integration and optimizations. There is no middleware; Xamarin.Android talks directly to the system, taking your C# and F# code directly to the low levels. This book will provide you with the necessary knowledge and skills to be part of the mobile development era using C#. Covering a wide range of recipes such as creating a simple application and using device features effectively, it will be your companion to the complete application development cycle. Starting with installing the necessary tools, you will be guided on everything you need to develop an application ready to be deployed. You will learn the best practices for interacting with the device hardware, such as GPS, NFC, and Bluetooth. Furthermore, you will be able to manage multimedia resources such as photos and videos captured with the device camera, and so much more! By the end of this book, you will be able to create Android apps as a result of learning and implementing pro-level practices, techniques, and solutions. This book will ascertain a seamless and successful app building experience.
Table of Contents (20 chapters)
Xamarin Mobile Development for Android Cookbook
Credits
About the Author
About the Reviewers
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
Index

Introduction


Multitasking is what computers do, and they do it amazingly well. In the case of mobile apps, the user expects the app to always be responsive even if a complex task is being executed.

Most devices are fast enough to execute tasks as needed, but sometimes those tasks take longer than a few milliseconds. If that task was to be executed on the main, or UI thread, then the UI would freeze.

Users demand that not only an app be responsive when executing long-running tasks, but also that animations and transitions run smoothly. In such a case, the task has to be moved into the background so that the app continues to give the impression that it is waiting for the user, when in fact, it is working hard.

Some tasks are not work happing but rather managing the tasks being run by others. This can include playing music or downloading a file. The app has already handed the task over to the operating system, and all that the user cares about is starting a new app or task.

The device must remain...