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Creating Mobile Apps with Xamarin Forms Preview Edition Developer Reference

Zadie Smith

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Published in Creating Mobile Apps With Xamarin Forms Preview Edition 2 (Developer Reference)

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Xamarin Forms is a cross-platform framework for building native mobile apps with C# and XAML. It allows you to create apps that can run on iOS, Android, and Windows with a single codebase. This article provides a comprehensive guide to creating mobile apps with Xamarin Forms, covering topics such as setting up your development environment, creating UI elements, handling user input, and consuming web services.

Creating Mobile Apps with Xamarin.Forms Preview Edition 2 (Developer Reference)

by Charles Petzold

4.2 out of 5

Language	:	English
File size	:	59824 KB
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Print length	:	1199 pages

Setting Up Your Development Environment

To get started with Xamarin Forms, you will need to install the following software:

* Visual Studio 2017 or later * The Xamarin Forms SDK * The latest version of your target platform's SDK (iOS, Android, or Windows)

Once you have installed the necessary software, you can create a new Xamarin Forms project by following these steps:

1. Open Visual Studio and click on "New Project". 2. Select the "Cross-Platform" template and then choose the "Xamarin.Forms" project type. 3. Enter a name for your project and click on "Create".

Your new Xamarin Forms project will contain a number of default files, including a MainPage.xaml file and a MainPage.xaml.cs file. The MainPage.xaml file contains the XAML code for your app's main page, and the MainPage.xaml.cs file contains the C# code for your app's main page.

Creating UI Elements

Xamarin Forms provides a wide range of UI elements that you can use to create your app's user interface. These elements include buttons, labels, entry fields, and list views. You can add UI elements to your app by dragging and dropping them from the Toolbox onto the XAML editor.

Once you have added UI elements to your app, you can customize their appearance and behavior by setting their properties. For example, you can change the text of a label by setting its Text property, or you can change the background color of a button by setting its BackgroundColor property.

Handling User Input

Xamarin Forms provides a number of ways to handle user input. You can handle user input by attaching event handlers to UI elements. For example, you can attach a Clicked event handler to a button to handle the click event.

When a user clicks on a button, the Clicked event handler will be triggered. You can then write code in the event handler to respond to the click event. For example, you could display a message box or navigate to a new page.

Consuming Web Services

Xamarin Forms provides a number of ways to consume web services. You can use the HttpClient class to send HTTP requests to web services, or you can use the WebClient class to consume web services that provide a SOAP interface.

To consume a web service, you first need to create a client for the web service. You can create a client for a web service by using the Add Web Reference dialog box in Visual Studio.

Once you have created a client for a web service, you can use the client to send requests to the web service. For example, you could use the client to retrieve data from a web service or to perform a calculation on a web service.

Xamarin Forms is a powerful framework for building mobile apps. It allows you to create apps that can run on iOS, Android, and Windows with a single codebase. This article has provided a comprehensive guide to creating mobile apps with Xamarin Forms, covering topics such as setting up your development environment, creating UI elements, handling user input, and consuming web services.

If you are interested in learning more about Xamarin Forms, you can visit the Xamarin website or read the Xamarin documentation.

Creating Mobile Apps with Xamarin.Forms Preview Edition 2 (Developer Reference)

by Charles Petzold

4.2 out of 5