Ash Tewari

Mobile

PackRaft with Xamarin and Microsoft Azure

tewari

PackRaft is a cross-platform mobile application built with Xamarin. It integrates with Microsoft Azure services, such as Azure Table Storage and Azure App Service. It is created with Xamarin.Forms for iOS and Android (Windows version will be coming soon).     The purpose of creating this sample application was to expand expertise in cross-platform mobile development with Windows Azure integration, specifically with Xamarin.Forms and Azure App Service. With Xamarin.Forms, it is possible to achieve close to 100% code reuse across these platforms for certain type of apps. Azure App Service provide a set of rich cloud backend services for your mobile applications. PackRaft allows the user to setup a fleet of vehicles of various seating capacities. Groups of riders are assigned to these rides according to the […]

Does Xamarin have a future?

tewari

Xamarin‘s cross-platform mobile application framework has Xamarin.iOS and Xamarin.Android at its core. Both Xamarin.Android and Xamarin.iOS are based on Mono. Mono is an open source implementation of .NET (CLI and CLS). Xamarin’s customers are Microsoft (.NET) shops. Microsoft is open sourcing .NET itself. What does all this mean for Xamarin? Is Xamarin’s competitive advantage going to be undermined by the open source .NET? Microsoft’s Universal Application Platform (UAP) and the promise of making .NET applications run on Mac and Linux seems to indicate that Microsoft may be emerging as a threat to Xamarin. The formidable Microsoft has perhaps spelled death for Xamarin by standing up a competitor to Mono. If you are a developer getting started with Xamarin or already using […]

Creating Android Apps using C# and Xamarin

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You can create native Android and iOS applications using C#, with Xamarin. I explored the capabilities of Xamarin tools and the development experience with Xamarin to create an Android version of CensusMapper. CensusMapper displays U.S. Census data on a Map. I created the original application for Windows 8 (WinRT) using C#. I have since converted it to an MVVM (C#) application, HTML/Javascript (WinJS) version and more recently to a Universal Windows App running on Windows Phone 8.1 and Windows 8.1. In that tradition, now it is faithfully ported to run on Android devices, using C# and Xamarin. CensusMapper is available on Google Play Store. CensusMapper.Android shows population of each U.S. State. User can tap on a location on the map to […]

Universal Apps

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The story of Windows Universal Apps is the result of advancements in three areas: The platform convergence between Windows 8.1 and Windows Phone 8.1 The (ongoing) unification of Windows and Windows Phone stores. Shared Projects and other enhancements in Visual Studio 2013 Update 2 to support cross-platform development. I have written about my experience in converting an existing Windows 8 app, CensusMapper, to a Universal App on the AIS Blog. Read the article here. I have also created another Universal App, LRMS, using Windows App Studio. This app is available in both Windows and Windows Phone Stores. I gave a presentation at the Raleigh Code Camp this past weekend : Creating Universal Apps for Windows Phone 8.1 and Windows 8.1. Thanks […]