Xamarin has built three core products for developing iOS and Android applications in C#: Xamarin Studio, Xamarin.iOS, and Xamarin.Android. Xamarin gives you direct access to the native APIs on each platform and the flexibility to share C# code between platforms. Using Xamarin and C#, you get better productivity when compared to Java or Objective-C, and still retain great performance compared to an HTML or a JavaScript solution.
In this book, we will develop a real-world sample application to demonstrate what you can do with Xamarin technologies, and build on core platform concepts for iOS and Android. We will also cover advanced topics such as push notifications, retrieving contacts, using the camera, and GPS location. With Xamarin 3, a new framework was introduced called Xamarin.Forms. We will cover the basics of Xamarin.Forms and how you can apply it to cross-platform development. Finally, we will walk through what it takes to submit your application to the Apple App Store and Google Play.
Chapter 1, Setting Up Xamarin, covers the process of installing the appropriate Xamarin software and native SDKs required for performing cross-platform development.
Chapter 2, Hello, Platforms!, walks you through creating your first "Hello World" application on iOS and Android, which also covers some basic concepts on each platform.
Chapter 3, Code Sharing between iOS and Android, gives you code-sharing techniques and project setup strategies that can be used with Xamarin.
Chapter 4, XamChat – a Cross-platform App, introduces a sample application that we will be building throughout the book. In this chapter, we will write all the shared code for the application, complete with unit tests.
Chapter 5, XamChat for iOS, covers the technique of implementing the iOS user interface for XamChat and various iOS development concepts.
Chapter 6, XamChat for Android, covers the technique of implementing the Android version of XamChat and introduces Android-specific development concepts.
Chapter 7, Deploying and Testing on Devices, walks you through the painful process of deploying your first application to a device. We also cover why it is important to always test your application on real devices.
Chapter 8, Web Services with Push Notifications, explains the technique of implementing a real backend web service for XamChat using Azure Mobile Services.
Chapter 9, Third-party Libraries, covers the various options of using third-party libraries with Xamarin and how you can even leverage native Java and Objective-C libraries.
Chapter 10, Contacts, Camera, and Location, introduces the library, Xamarin.Mobile, as a cross-platform way to access users' contacts, camera, and GPS location.
Chapter 11, Xamarin.Forms, discovers Xamarin's latest framework, Xamarin.Forms, and how you can leverage it to build cross-platform applications.
Chapter 12, App Store Submission, explains the process of submitting your app to the Apple App Store and Google Play.