A simple developer's journey

About Parse In my previous article (or next, we will see ;) I talk about Parse BaaS. This is a 'Back end As Services' that offers you simple but really convenient back end capabilities for storage but also managing users... I approach why I choose this technology for my mobile application, looking for advantages and drawbacks. Parse, after being purchased by Facebook, was closed last year, but fortunately, the source code is open source and Parse still exists . So you can install your own server or use the new Parse on Buddy platform for instance. You can take a look here:  https://buddy.com/parse/ The problem with Parse for Xamarin Forms So, actually the problem is that we can find .NET Xamarin SDK but specifically for iOS and Android frameworks. There is no SDK for Xamarin Forms. The ideal solution could be the following: Many 'pseudo' solutions can be found on internet but I will give you mine, using conditional builds in Visual Studio. I

Preview my Xamarin Forms XAML ? Today, I started a new Xamarin Forms application and for that I decided to use Visual Studio 2017 Community edition. Why ? Because I know that this version includes interesting features to me. One of this feature is that we can preview our Xamarin Forms XAML pages (theorically in a better way than in VS2015). First, we have to notice that to preview XF XAML pages, we don't use the exact same way as with  traditional XAML pages. In fact what we are looking for is not the designer but the Xamarin Forms Previewer Window . Take a look at the next steps to understand the differences...  There is not a lot of details on Xamarin Web site: https://developer.xamarin.com/guides/xamarin-forms/xaml/xaml-previewer/ XAML Designer vs Xamarin Forms Previewer On a XF XAML page, right click on the code: Using traditional "Designer menu" as for traditional XAML page We got an error Then use the previewer ( menu VIEW\Other Wi

Visual Studio is now available to download. In my case, I used the english web installer to install the english version. But I was a little bit surprised (or not) to see that the installed version was setup with the same language as my operating system. So here is the simple steps to change the IDE's language: 1- Run Visual Studio 2017 installer (in administrator mode) then click"update" button of the instance you want to update: 2- Then click on the language modules tab 3- Then check all languages you want to use in your IDE 4- Restart Visual Studio then go to Menu / TOOLS / Options / (Environnement - International Settings) menu 5- Finally choose your prefered language in the languages combobox. Note that you can choose 'Same as Microsoft Windows' option. Restart and enjoy programming !

Did you heard about Spoon ? If you are a mobile developer (in our case an Android developer with hundreds of available target devices), and you know how much testing your app is important, take a look at Spoon ! This tool will enable you to test your app simultaneously - on several android devices, - to take different steps screenshots during your tests, - to display the results in a meaningful way - to compare screenshots from the several devices... Spoon is available on Github: https://github.com/square/spoon All you need to start is here: http://square.github.io/spoon/ Just take a look below or click on the link below to display a Spoon output sample: http://square.github.io/spoon/sample/index.html

In its original blog post ( that you can find it here ), Scott Guthrie has announced that Microsoft acquired Xamarin, the company that gave us the technology to develop mobile apps in C# for  iOS, Android and WP :) Wednesday, February 24, 2016 In my mind it s a good news for the futur evolution of the technology, however we can ask ourself about the futur development and pricing strategies... Hope it will be more accessible, at less in term of pricing, than the actual version ! What do you think ?

Warning before to start Before to install a custom APK app on your device, make sure it comes from a secured and trusted source ! Generate your APK using Xamarin Studio In order to have a valid package file (APK file), we have to generate a valid package signed with a security certificate. You can use a temporary certificate for test purpose. The process bellow shows you how to do that using Xamarin Studio Wizard: Generate your APK Select Archive for publishing menu Then select "Ad-Hoc" option (to generate your APK localy) Click on "Sign and distribute" Create a custom signing certificate Create a temporary certificate to sign your APK file Install the APK on the target device Configure the target device In order to accept and install a "custom" APK (application coming from other sources than the Play Store), you will need to unlock your phone. This is done in the phone's parameters

Here is a link where you'll find windows 10 designed devices: http://blogs.windows.com/windowsexperience/2015/10/06/a-new-era-of-windows-10-devices-from-microsoft/?WT.mc_id=DX_MVP4025064

Here is the "how to" for beginners, but useful to anyone who starts on building a windows 10 application. It is a good way to start with good practices. http://blogs.windows.com/buildingapps/2015/09/30/windows-10-development-for-absolute-beginners/?WT.mc_id=DX_MVP4025064