Book Image

Xamarin 4.x Cross-Platform Application Development - Third Edition

By : Peppers
Book Image

Xamarin 4.x Cross-Platform Application Development - Third Edition

By: Peppers

Overview of this book

Xamarin is a leading cross-platform application development tool used by top companies such as Coca-Cola, Honeywell, and Alaska Airlines to build apps. Version 4 features significant updates to the platform including the release of Xamarin.Forms 2.0 and improvements have been made to the iOS and Android designers. Xamarin was acquired by Microsoft so it is now a part of the Visual Studio family. This book will show you how to build applications for iOS, Android, and Windows. You will be walked through the process of creating an application that comes complete with a back-end web service and native features such as GPS location, camera, push notifications, and other core features. Additionally, you’ll learn how to use external libraries with Xamarin and Xamarin.Forms to create user interfaces. This book also provides instructions for Visual Studio and Windows. This edition has been updated with new screenshots and detailed steps to provide you with a holistic overview of the new features in Xamarin 4.
Table of Contents (13 chapters)

Setting up a shared project


To understand each option completely and what situations call for, let's define a solution structure for both shared projects and portable class libraries. Let's use the product search example from earlier in the chapter and set up a solution for each approach.

To set up a shared project, perform the following steps:

  1. Open Xamarin Studio and start a new solution.

  2. Select a new Single View App under the Multiplatform | App section.

  3. Name the app ProductSearch, and select Use Shared Library.

  4. Complete this new project wizard and Xamarin Studio will generate three projects: ProductSearch, ProductSearch.Droid, and ProductSearch.iOS.

  5. Add the Product, ProductRepository, and ProductViewModel classes to the ProductSearch project from earlier in this chapter. You will need to add using System.Threading.Tasks; and using System.Linq; where needed.

  6. Click on Build | Build All from the menu at the top to double-check everything, and you have successfully set up a cross-platform solution...