MyUnicamA Xamarin cross-platform mobile application

The project

The project originally started out as a university exam for a group of three students.

e-Lios, a local IT company, provided support and tutoring. More info at http://www.e-lios.eu/

The request was to create a cross-platform mobile application using Xamarin Platform for the University of Camerino (Italy), that would allow the user to:

examine press releases and events held by the university consult the available degree programs and their courses contact a professor or university personnel by e-mail or phone see the available videos on the university's YouTube channel as a student, consult the courses timetables and current career

status (exams, results

The team

Alessio Ciarrocchi

Email: alciarro93@gmail.comLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/pub/alessio-ciarrocchi/83/199/1aaFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/alessio.ciarrocchiTwitter: @alciarro93

Matei Radu

Email: matei.radu.92@gmail.comLinkedIn: https://it.linkedin.com/in/mateibogdanraduFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/mateiradu92Twitter: @matei_dev

Matteo Maponi

Email: matteo.maponi@gmail.comLinkedIn: https://it.linkedin.com/pub/matteo-maponi/50/204/20Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/matteo.maponi

About Xamarin

Xamarin Platform allows developers to create cross-platform applications in C# with native performance, native API access and native user interface controls.

Bu using the same language and same base code, the platform allows to reuse a great amount of code in all the platforms. This has a huge advantage for maintainability and is less time consuming that developing applications for each platform individually.

More information at www.xamarin.com/platform

Shared code everywhereEach area represents the amount of code written. Only a small portion is platform-specific (top row: purple, green and cyan areas).

Application overview

In the following slides we will present the different parts of the app. Different platforms will be used on occasion to demonstrate

furthermore the advantages of using Xamarin Platform, as the user experience varies very little on each device.

NOTE: at the time being, the team didn't had an Apple machine available which is necessary to compile for the iOS platform. Only Android and Windows Phone will be shown.

NOTE: while the application is fully available in different languages, most of the data pulled from the server is available only in italian, which might put someone in doubt regarding the localization quality of the project.

Windows Phone splash screen• When the application is first

started on the Windows Phone platform, a splash screen is presented in respect with the platform's design guidelines.

Home page• Local panorama of Camerino

citiy on the background.• A top 3 list of the most

visited sections of the app.• The favorite list is, of course,

empty when the application has just been installed.

Main menu• The main menu allows the user

to navigate between the various parts of the application.

• A general group 'University' separates the student-specific part 'Students', for a more organized navigation.

• The menu presents itself differently on each platform thanks to the native API call. On Android it appears as a sliding menu from the side while on Windows Phone it appears from the bottom, respecting both systems' design guidelines.

Degrees and courses• The 'courses' section allows

the consultation of the available degrees and their specific courses.

• at first the user will have to filter the type of degree. The user will be able to go deeper in the details.

Events• This page shows all the

events to come and the ongoing ones.

• Other than the event title, a location and date frame will be shown (if available).

• Each event is clickable, leading the user to the webpage of the event in a separate browser.

Press releases• Here the user can read the

most recent press releases of the University.

• Each release is clickable, allowing the user to read the entire article.

Videos• The University of Camerino

has a YouTube channel where it uploads frequently new videos.

• In this section, the user can see the list of most recent videos available.

• Each video is clickable, opening it in the YouTube app if installed. Otherwise, a mobile webpage will be loaded in the browser.

• A quick link to the YouTube channel is available at the top of the page.

Address book• The address book shows the

University personnel contact info, such as telephone numbers, fax and e-mail addresses.

• Each contact is grouped alphabetically.

• Clicking on a contact allows the user to call or email that person.

Map of locations• In the first tab 'map' the user

can see the location of the University's main buildings.

• On each platform is used the native map system, thanks to native API calls. In this case, Bing Maps is used for Windows Phone.

• On the second tab 'locations' the user can see the list of locations, with the address and the list of the classrooms.

Career login• A student can login with

username and password to consult his academic status, list of exams and results.

• Since some students still prefer to use the desktop website, a quick link to the site was added under the login button.

Tools

Microsoft Visual Studio 2013 Ultimate - Update 4 Microsoft Visual Studio Online (using Git as a VCS) Microsoft Windows 8.1 Pro Xamarin Platform Xamarin Android Player Windows Phone 8.1 Emulator