Xamarin.Forms is a cross-platform UI framework where the idea is no longer to share only your models, business logic, and data access layers similar to a traditional Xamarin solution but also the user interface (UI) across iOS, Android, and Windows Phone. With Xamarin.Forms, you can easily and quickly create great data-driven and utility applications or prototypes.
To accomplish this, Xamarin uses the super-modern C# language, the power of the .NET Base Class Libraries (BCL), these are C# bindings to the native APIs, and two great IDEs, Xamarin Studio and Microsoft Visual Studio. You can't, however, create iOS applications if you don't have a Mac connected to the network and acting as a server to build and deploy your application with the help of the Xamarin Build Host.
This book will provide you with real-world recipes and step-by-step development of the most common practices that you need to create professional cross-platform applications. You will learn how to create one UI across all platforms, customize the layout and views, and inject implementation per platform with a focus on patterns and best practices.
In this chapter, we will dive into the details of creating a cross-platform solution, adding a login screen, storing values for each platform, and using the Xamarin.Auth
component to allow your users to log in with Facebook and Google providers. Neat! Exactly what you need to create a real-world application.