Xamarin's Android designer

The default template for Android projects has a little more built-in functionality than iOS, so we will have a few controls to remove later. Android user interface layouts are defined in XML files that are readable by humans and editable. However, Xamarin Studio has provided an excellent design tool that allows you to drag-and-drop controls to define your Android layouts. Let's add some more features to your application and start using the Android designer.

Return to Xamarin Studio and carry out the following steps to add features to your app:

1. Open the Android project you created earlier in this chapter in Xamarin Studio.

2. Under Resources | layout in your project, open Main.axml.

3. You will see the Android designer open in Xamarin Studio.

4. Delete the existing label and button from the Android project template.

5. Drag TextView from the Toolbox section on the right to the empty layout.

6. Type some default text such as 0 into the label.

7. In the Properties pane on the right, you'll...