NDC-London - Workshop: Writing Cross Platform iOS and Android Apps using Xamarin.Forms

In the upcoming NDC London 2016, I will be doing a pre-conference workshop on developing cross-platform iOS and Android apps using Xamarin.Forms.

For more information on NDC London 2016, click this link.

Synopsis of the Workshop

In this 2-day workshop, you will learn the fundamentals of building cross-platform mobile apps targeting iOS and Android devices using Xamarin.Forms. Using the Xamarin Studio or Visual Studio, you can now write iOS and Android apps using your familiar C# language. When you are ready to deploy your apps, the Xamarin compiler will compile your app into the native binary for each platform. The end result is you have a first class application that is optimized for the respective platform that it is compiled for.

Topics

Introduction to Xamarin.Forms Cross Platform UI Development

Using Pages

• ContentPage

• MasterDetailPage

• NavigationPage

• TabbedPage

• CarouselPage

Using Layouts

• StackLayout, AbsoluteLayout, RelativeLayout

• GridLayOut, ContentView, ScrollView, Frame

Using the various UI controls

Displaying Maps

Accessing native features using DependencyService

Accessing Locations Services

Accessing Web Services

Deploying iOS and Android apps

Change in course schedule

In view of Polling day (a public holiday which is 11 Sep 2015, Friday), the schedule for the following courses have changed:


IOT101 - Programming Internet of Things - changed to 8-9 Sep 2015 (Tue and Wed)

AND304 - Android Wear Programming - changed to 10 Sep 2015 (Thu)

Tip - Resolving "Application Transport Security has blocked a cleartext HTTP (http://) resource load since it is insecure"

In iOS 9 and watchOS 2.0, if you try to connect to a Web server insecurely using http://, you will get an error that says "Application Transport Security has blocked a cleartext HTTP (http://) resource load since it is insecure. Temporary exceptions can be configured via your app's Info.plist file.".

This is because the default implementation of Transport Security is set to use https://, which is secure and safe. To override this behaviour, you simply need to add the following keys to your Info.plist file:

IOS302 Apple Watch Programming Course to cover watchOS 2.0

In the upcoming Apple Watch Programming course, I will cover the latest watchOS 2.0!
Apple's latest watchOS 2.0 will support:

* Complications and Time Travel
* The new Watch Connectivity Framework
* New execution model for apps
* Several new controls like Picker, Alerts and Action Sheets, and Movie control
* The ability to access the hardware on the Apple Watch

Course Fee

S$1397 (nett; no GST) Includes an Apple Watch Sport

If your company is sponsoring you for the training, your company can enjoy 400% tax deductions/ allowances and/or 60% cash payout for investment in innovation and productivity improvements under the Productivity and Innovation Credit (PIC) scheme. For more details, check out the Productivity and Innovation Credit page. 

Schedules

Start Date	End Date	Details	Category
Thu Sep 17 2015 CONFIRMED	Thu Sep 17 2015	PDF

Venue

Bayview Hotel Singapore
30 Bencoolen Street
Singapore 189621

Tip - Taking Screenshots on the Apple Watch

If you want to take a screenshot on your Apple Watch, do the following:
1. Hold down the Side Button
2. Press and release the Digital Crown

Voila! The screenshots are now in the Photo app on your iPhone. You can then use AirDrop to send the screenshots to the Mac, iPhone, or iPad.

New Xamarin.Forms Articles

I have recently published two articles on Xamarin.Forms:

Using Native Platform Features in Xamarin.Forms Through DependencyService
Xamarin.Forms is platform-agnostic, and your single code base will work on all platforms. But if you want to perform platform-specific operations, you need to do some work, as Wei-Meng Lee shows.

Providing Location Service Using DependencyService in Xamarin.Forms
When your app needs to work with location information, the code that requests and then handles the user's latitude and longitude shouldn't be affected by the platform of that device. Wei-Meng Lee shows how to use Xamarin.Forms to take advantage of each platform's native features to provide location services.

To learn more about Xamarin.Forms, join us in the upcoming course on Xamarin.Forms Programming:

MOB104 Writing Cross Platform iOS and Android Apps using Xamarin.Forms and C# (S$799)

Course Fee

S$799 (nett; no GST)

If your company is sponsoring you for the training, your company can enjoy 400% tax deductions/ allowances and/or 60% cash payout for investment in innovation and productivity improvements under the Productivity and Innovation Credit (PIC) scheme. For more details, check out the Productivity and Innovation Credit page. 

Schedules

Start Date	End Date	Details	Category
Wed Sep 23 2015 CONFIRMED	Wed Sep 23 2015	PDF

Venue

Bayview Hotel Singapore
30 Bencoolen Street
Singapore 189621 

Change in dates for Programming IoT and Apple Watch Programming in Sep 2015

Please note that the following course dates have changed:

* Programming Internet of Things (IoT) - 16 and 18 Sep 2015
* Apple Watch Programming - 17 Sep 2015

The course calendar will be updated next week.