Mastering Xamarin UI Development

Build stunning, maintainable, cross-platform mobile application user interfaces with the power of Xamarin
Mastering Xamarin UI Development Book Cover

Mastering Xamarin UI Development

Steven F. Daniel

1 customer reviews
Build stunning, maintainable, cross-platform mobile application user interfaces with the power of Xamarin
Mapt Subscription
FREE
€29.98/m after trial
eBook
€29.40
RRP €41.98
Save 29%
Print + eBook
€43.99
RRP €43.99
What do I get with a Mapt Pro subscription?
  • Unlimited access to all Packt’s 5,000+ eBooks and Videos
  • Early Access content, Progress Tracking, and Assessments
  • 1 Free eBook or Video to download and keep every month after trial
What do I get with an eBook?
  • Download this book in EPUB, PDF, MOBI formats
  • DRM FREE - read and interact with your content when you want, where you want, and how you want
  • Access this title in the Mapt reader
What do I get with Print & eBook?
  • Get a paperback copy of the book delivered to you
  • Download this book in EPUB, PDF, MOBI formats
  • DRM FREE - read and interact with your content when you want, where you want, and how you want
  • Access this title in the Mapt reader
What do I get with a Video?
  • Download this Video course in MP4 format
  • DRM FREE - read and interact with your content when you want, where you want, and how you want
  • Access this title in the Mapt reader
€0.00
€29.40
€43.99
€29.98p/m after trial
RRP €41.98
RRP €43.99
Subscription
eBook
Print + eBook
Start 30 Day Trial
Subscribe and access every Packt eBook & Video.
 
  • 5,000+ eBooks & Videos
  • 50+ New titles a month
  • 1 Free eBook/Video to keep every month
Start Free Trial
 
Code Files
Preview in Mapt

Book Details

ISBN 139781786462008
Paperback420 pages

Book Description

Xamarin is the most powerful cross-platform mobile development framework. If you are interested in creating stunning user interfaces for the iOS and Android mobile platforms using the power of Xamarin and Xamarin.Forms, then this is your ticket.

This book will provide you the practical skills required to develop real-world Xamarin applications. You will learn how to implement UI structures and layouts, create customized elements, and write C# scripts to customize layouts. You will create UI layouts from scratch so that you can tweak and customize a given UI layout to suit your needs by using Data Templates.

Moving on, you will use third-party libraries – such as the Razor template engine that allows you to create your own HTML5 templates within the Xamarin environment – to build a book library Hybrid solution that uses the SQLite.Net library to store, update, retrieve, and delete information within a SQLite local database. You’ll also implement key data-binding techniques that will make your user interfaces dynamic, and create personalized animations and visual effects within your user interfaces using Custom Renderers and the PlatformEffects API to customize and change the appearance of control elements.

At the end of this book, you will test your application UI for robust and consistent behavior and then explore techniques to deploy to different platforms.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Creating the TrackMyWalks Native App
Creating the TrackMyWalks solution
Creating the TrackMyWalks model
Creating the walks main page
Creating the new walk entry content page
Creating the walk trail content page
Creating the DistanceTravelledPage content page
Creating the Splash screen content page
Differences between Xamarin Studio and Visual Studio
Running the TrackMyWalks app using the simulator
Summary
Chapter 2: MVVM and Data Binding
Understanding the MVVM pattern architecture
Implementing the MVVM ViewModels within your app
Creating the WalkBaseViewModel for the TrackMyWalks app
Implementing the WalksPageViewModel
Implementing the walks entry page ViewModel
Implementing the walk trail page ViewModel
Implementing the DistanceTravelledViewModel
Summary
Chapter 3: Navigating within the MVVM Model - The Xamarin.Forms Way
Understanding the Xamarin.Forms Navigation API
Differences between the navigation and ViewModel approaches
Implementing the navigation service within your app
Summary
Chapter 4: Adding Location-Based Features within Your App
Creating and using platform-specific services
Summary
Chapter 5: Customizing the User Interface
Creating the DataTemplate class for the TrackMyWalks app
Creating a TableView EntryCell custom picker for the iOS platform
Creating the custom picker renderer class for the iOS platform
Creating PlatformEffects using the Effects API for the iOS platform
Creating PlatformEffects using the Effects API for the Android platform
Implementing value converters within the TrackMyWalks app
Summary
Chapter 6: Working with Razor Templates
Understanding the Razor template engine
Creating and implementing Razor templates within Xamarin Studio
Creating and implementing the book library database model
Creating and implementing the book database wrapper
Creating and implementing the BookLibrary database wrapper
Creating and implementing the book listing main page
Creating and implementing the BookLibraryAdd Razor template
Creating and implementing the BookLibraryEdit Razor template
Creating and implementing the WebViewController class
Summary
Chapter 7: Incorporating API Data Access Using Microsoft Azure App Services
Setting up our TrackMyWalks app using Microsoft Azure
Creating the HTTP web service class for the TrackMyWalks app
Creating the DataService API for the TrackMyWalks app
Creating the DataService API class for the TrackMyWalks app
Summary
Chapter 8: Making Our App Social - Using the Facebook API
Setting up and registering the TrackMyWalks app with Facebook
Creating a Facebook user model for the TrackMyWalks app
Updating the NavigationService Interface for the TrackMyWalks app
Updating the WalksPage to properly handle Facebook Sign In
Summary
Chapter 9: Unit Testing Your Xamarin.Forms Apps Using the NUnit and UITest Frameworks
Creating a unit test solution folder using Xamarin Studio
Creating a unit test project using Xamarin Studio
Creating a UI test project using Xamarin Studio
Understanding the commonly used UITest methods
Adding the Xamarin Test Cloud Agent to the iOS project
Running the TrackMyWalks UITests using Xamarin Studio
Summary
Chapter 10: Packaging and Deploying Your Xamarin.Forms Applications
Creating and setting up your iOS development team
Creating the TrackMyWalks iOS development certificate
Creating the TrackMyWalks development provisioning profile
Preparing the TrackMyWalks (iOS) app for submission
Summary

What You Will Learn

  • Develop stunning native cross-platform apps using the Xamarin.Forms framework
  • Work with the different UI layouts to create customized layouts using the C# programming language and tweak it for a given platform
  • Customize the user interface using DataTemplates and CustomRenderers and the Platform Effects API to change the appearance of control elements
  • Build hybrid apps using the Razor Template Engine and create Razor Models that communicate with a SQLite database
  • Use location based features within your app to display the user’s current location
  • Work with the Xamarin.Forms Map control to display Pin placeholders based on the stored latitude and longitude coordinates
  • Understand and use the MVVM pattern architecture to navigate between each of your ViewModels and implement Data Binding to display and update information
  • Work with the Microsoft Azure Platform to incorporate API Data Access using Microsoft Azure App Services and the RESTful API
  • Incorporate third-party features within your app using the Facebook SDK and the Open Graph API
  • Perform unit testing and profile your Xamarin.Forms applications
  • Deploy your apps to the Google Play Store and Apple App Store

Authors

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Creating the TrackMyWalks Native App
Creating the TrackMyWalks solution
Creating the TrackMyWalks model
Creating the walks main page
Creating the new walk entry content page
Creating the walk trail content page
Creating the DistanceTravelledPage content page
Creating the Splash screen content page
Differences between Xamarin Studio and Visual Studio
Running the TrackMyWalks app using the simulator
Summary
Chapter 2: MVVM and Data Binding
Understanding the MVVM pattern architecture
Implementing the MVVM ViewModels within your app
Creating the WalkBaseViewModel for the TrackMyWalks app
Implementing the WalksPageViewModel
Implementing the walks entry page ViewModel
Implementing the walk trail page ViewModel
Implementing the DistanceTravelledViewModel
Summary
Chapter 3: Navigating within the MVVM Model - The Xamarin.Forms Way
Understanding the Xamarin.Forms Navigation API
Differences between the navigation and ViewModel approaches
Implementing the navigation service within your app
Summary
Chapter 4: Adding Location-Based Features within Your App
Creating and using platform-specific services
Summary
Chapter 5: Customizing the User Interface
Creating the DataTemplate class for the TrackMyWalks app
Creating a TableView EntryCell custom picker for the iOS platform
Creating the custom picker renderer class for the iOS platform
Creating PlatformEffects using the Effects API for the iOS platform
Creating PlatformEffects using the Effects API for the Android platform
Implementing value converters within the TrackMyWalks app
Summary
Chapter 6: Working with Razor Templates
Understanding the Razor template engine
Creating and implementing Razor templates within Xamarin Studio
Creating and implementing the book library database model
Creating and implementing the book database wrapper
Creating and implementing the BookLibrary database wrapper
Creating and implementing the book listing main page
Creating and implementing the BookLibraryAdd Razor template
Creating and implementing the BookLibraryEdit Razor template
Creating and implementing the WebViewController class
Summary
Chapter 7: Incorporating API Data Access Using Microsoft Azure App Services
Setting up our TrackMyWalks app using Microsoft Azure
Creating the HTTP web service class for the TrackMyWalks app
Creating the DataService API for the TrackMyWalks app
Creating the DataService API class for the TrackMyWalks app
Summary
Chapter 8: Making Our App Social - Using the Facebook API
Setting up and registering the TrackMyWalks app with Facebook
Creating a Facebook user model for the TrackMyWalks app
Updating the NavigationService Interface for the TrackMyWalks app
Updating the WalksPage to properly handle Facebook Sign In
Summary
Chapter 9: Unit Testing Your Xamarin.Forms Apps Using the NUnit and UITest Frameworks
Creating a unit test solution folder using Xamarin Studio
Creating a unit test project using Xamarin Studio
Creating a UI test project using Xamarin Studio
Understanding the commonly used UITest methods
Adding the Xamarin Test Cloud Agent to the iOS project
Running the TrackMyWalks UITests using Xamarin Studio
Summary
Chapter 10: Packaging and Deploying Your Xamarin.Forms Applications
Creating and setting up your iOS development team
Creating the TrackMyWalks iOS development certificate
Creating the TrackMyWalks development provisioning profile
Preparing the TrackMyWalks (iOS) app for submission
Summary

Book Details

ISBN 139781786462008
Paperback420 pages
Read More
From 1 reviews

Read More Reviews

DEAL OF THE DAY

Sign up here to get exclusive deep discounts on our latest and bestselling eBooks, delivered straight to your inbox every day.

FREE LEARNING FOREVER

Master new IT skills and unlock valuable software & web development knowledge with a FREE eBook every day.

Recommended for You

C# 6 and .NET Core 1.0: Modern Cross-Platform Development Book Cover
C# 6 and .NET Core 1.0: Modern Cross-Platform Development
€ 43.18
€ 30.24
C# 6 and .NET Core 1.0: Modern Cross-Platform Development
Mar 2016
550 pages
€ 30.24
Mastering Xamarin.Forms Book Cover
Mastering Xamarin.Forms
€ 26.38
€ 18.48
Mastering Xamarin.Forms
Jan 2016
184 pages
€ 18.48
Mastering Cross-Platform Development with Xamarin Book Cover
Mastering Cross-Platform Development with Xamarin
€ 39.58
€ 27.72
Mastering Cross-Platform Development with Xamarin
Mar 2016
390 pages
€ 27.72
Xamarin Blueprints Book Cover
Xamarin Blueprints
€ 46.78
€ 32.76
Xamarin Blueprints
Sep 2016
516 pages
€ 32.76
Xamarin Cross-platform Application Development - Second Edition Book Cover
Xamarin Cross-platform Application Development - Second Edition
€ 26.38
€ 18.48
Xamarin Cross-platform Application Development - Second Edition
Feb 2015
298 pages
€ 18.48
Xamarin Cross-Platform Development Cookbook Book Cover
Xamarin Cross-Platform Development Cookbook
€ 39.58
€ 27.72
Xamarin Cross-Platform Development Cookbook
Mar 2016
416 pages
€ 27.72