Highlights from Evolve 2016What does “Xamarin from Microsoft” mean for you?

Chris MillerSenior R&D Engineer for Tyler Technologies, currently working on mobile apps for the K-12 transportation market.

@anotherlabhttp://www.rajapet.nethttps://www.linkedin.com/in/christophermiller

Overview• Sold out (3 for 3)• 2 Days of training• 2 days of conference sessions• Included sessions by the Woz and a Mythbuster• Open sourcing of Xamarin SDKs

Xamarin SDKs• open.xamarin.com• All repos on Github

• Xamarin.iOS• Xamarin.Android• Xamarin.Forms

• MIT license• Ready for pull requests• Consider filing a bug before going in and changing the code

Licensing• What’s covered• How do I get me some free Xamarin• What was lost

Licensing• What’s covered

• Included in every edition of Visual Studio• Including Visual Studio Community Edition• Test Cloud and Xamarin University are separate products

Licensing• How do I get me some free Xamarin

• Install Visual Studio 2015 Update 2

Licensing• What was lost

• The Enterprise Edition of Xamarin included a set of 3rd party controls (like SQLcipher) at no extra charge. Those controls are no longer bundled in.

• Having to find $1900 in budget money each year.

Open Source• The Mono Project to be re-released under the MIT License• Xamarin SDKs for Android, iOS, and OS X • Xamarin.Forms

Microsoft/Xamarin integration• Parts of .NET are being integrated into Mono

• Addresses missing features• Improved performance

• Easier sell for Xamarin technology as part of the Microsoft stack• Xamarin is now saying that they acquired Microsoft.

Changes to Xamarin Studio• New “dark” theme• All new icons• First class support for F#, the only IDE to

support shared projects for F#• Uses the Roslyn compiler as a service

• Better code compilation• Better refactoring• Full C#6 support• Will pick up C#7 features at the same time as Visual Studio

• New Project Model with parallel compilation of projects and better support for MSBuild

Changes to Xamarin.iOS & Xamarin.Android• New Java Invocation Architecture – reduce app size by 2MB (API-23)

by shrinking the size of Mono.Android.dll. Fewer round trips from managed code to JNI

• HttpClient uses new platform specific handlers for better performance and access to platform specific network & encryption protocols such as TLS 1.2.

• Visual Studio Community Edition now supported. No more application size limits. Command line builds, P/Invoke, All assembly types: all supported in all editions, Trial version splash screen has been removed

Workbooks• Live documents that mix a blend of

documentation and code to test with and experiment on code.

• Live results for Android, iOS, OS X, or WPF.

• A REPL for drilling into C# and platformAPIs with visualizers for data

• Runs on both Mac and Windows via the Inspector App

Workbooks• Support Rich Text Editing• All Xamarin documentation is being moved over to use Workbooks.

This will let you see step by step invocations of the code.• Rich Visualizations of data• Early preview, get it from the Beta Channel• https://developer.xamarin.com/guides/cross-platform/workbooks/

iOS Simulator on Windows• A screen and touch share from the iOS Simulator

running on a Mac• Unlike the Mac, true touch is supported• Pen support on devices that support it (Surface)• No longer have to interrupt your workflow to

switch between VS on your PC and the simulator on the Mac

• Visual Studio developers can leave their Mac in the corner

• Currently in Preview on the Beta Channel

iOS USB Remoting• You can debug an iOS app on actual device plugged into Windows• Still requires the Mac, but pushes it further back in the corner• Will be available soon

Xamarin.Forms• Now supports native deep linking• Datapages let you create master/detail pages from json or Azure

data• Theming support to change styles quickly and easily• Embedded Platform specific controls• Xamarin.Forms Previewer

DataPages• Fast way to create master/detail pages from data• Prebuilt data sources for JSON, Azure Easy Tables• Three prebuilt pages

• ListDataPage (master/detail list)• DirectoryPage (a list with grouping)• PersonDetailView (single view for specific data objects, like a contact

entry)

• Read only, CRUD at a later date

Linus Torvalds

“Talk is cheap.Show me the

code.”

Themes• Define specific styling for the standard controls• Comes with a Light theme and a Dark theme• Create your own theme• The StyleClass property of a view allows the view to be changed to

a definition provided by the theme• Preview release and requires Xamarin.Forms 2.3 preview release (or

later)

Xamarin.Forms Previewer• Support live previews of XAML on iOS and Android.• Supports custom renderers• Works with latest release of Xamarin.Forms (2.3 Prerelease)• Preview release in Alpha Channel, Xamarin Studio Mac only

Xamarin Test Recorder• As you interact with your app, Xamarin.UITest code will be

generated• Run the test locally on the device or on thousands of devices in

Xamarin Test Cloud• Preview

DevOps• Check your code into Visual Studio Team Services (VSTS) and VSTS

will run the unit tests• Push the code to HockeyApp and enable testers to get the latest

builds. • Xamarin Insights is now part of HockeyApp. All of the Xamarin

Insights metrics and crash reporting have been brought to HockeyApp

Test Cloud Live• Remote debugging into one of the thousands of devices currently

hosted in Test Cloud• Private preview

Xamarin University• Still one of the best ways to learn Xamarin• As part of Microsoft, more resources means more classes• Self-Guide Learning• Certification Exam Improvements

Xamarin University• Still one of the best ways to learn Xamarin

• Live lessons with instructors• Scheduled around the clock for a global audience• Class size is limited• Covers Xamarin coding, C#, F#, Testing

Xamarin University• As part of Microsoft, more resources means more classes

• More instructors mean more sessions available• More topics

• Azure• Data• Best Practices

Xamarin University• Self-Guide Learning

• Follow at your pace• Tracked like a live class and counts towards certification• Still includes labs and quizzes• Video Chapter Navigation• Responsive design, scales to your device

Xamarin University• Certification Exam Improvements

• New inhouse exam system to replace 3rd party exam site• Better user experience• Status updated instantly

Xamarin University Demo

Watch the Keynote and the sessions• The keynote and individual sessions were all recorded and available

online• https://evolve.xamarin.com/#sessions• Updates are posted to http://releases.xamarin.com/