.NET MAUI Cross-Platform Application Development: Build high-performance apps for Android, iOS, macOS, and Windows using XAML and Blazor with .NET 8. 2 Ed

Cover....1

Copyright....3

Contributors....4

Table of Contents....8

Preface....20

Part 1: Exploring .NET MAUI....28

Chapter 1: Getting Started with .NET MAUI....30

Overview of cross-platform and full stack technologies....30

Native application....31

Web application....32

Backend services....32

Managing development complexity....32

Full stack development....32

Cross-platform technologies....33

Apache Cordova....34

Ionic....34

React Native....35

Flutter....35

.NET MAUI....35

Analysis of cross-platform full stack solutions....37

Comparison of .NET and JavaScript....39

Exploring the .NET landscape....41

.NET Framework....41

Mono....42

.NET Core....42

.NET Standard and Portable Class Libraries....43

Using Xamarin for cross-platform development....44

Xamarin.Forms....45

Xamarin.Essentials....45

Comparing user interface design on different platforms....46

Moving to .NET MAUI....48

.NET MAUI Blazor apps....50

Developing native apps using .NET....51

What’s new in .NET 8 for .NET MAUI?....51

Native AOT support for iOS-like platforms....51

.NET MAUI extension of Visual Studio Code....52

Development environment setup....52

Using Visual Studio....52

Installing .NET MAUI on Windows....53

Installing .NET MAUI on macOS....54

Visual Studio Code with the .NET MAUI extension....56

Summary....58

Further reading....58

Chapter 2: Building Our First .NET MAUI App....60

Technical requirements....61

Managing the source code in this book....61

Download the source code in a compressed file....62

Clone the source code per chapter....62

Clone the source code from the main branch....62

Setting up a new .NET MAUI project....62

Creating a new project using Visual Studio....63

Creating a new project using the dotnet command....65

App startup and lifecycle....66

Lifecycle management....68

Subscribing to the Window lifecycle events....69

Consuming the lifecycle override methods....71

Configuring the resources....74

App icon....76

Splash screen....76

Setting custom font icons....77

Custom font setup....77

Displaying font icons....79

Building and debugging....82

Windows....83

Android....84

iOS and macOS....85

Building and testing the iOS target....85

Building and testing the macOS target....86

Migrating from Xamarin....87

Migrating and reusing the Shell template from Xamarin.Forms....88

Visual Studio project template....96

Summary....97

Chapter 3: User Interface Design with XAML....100

Technical requirements....101

Creating a XAML page....101

XAML syntax....103

XML declaration....104

Element....104

Attribute....106

XML and XAML namespaces....106

Creating a new page using XAML....107

Creating the same new page using C#....108

XAML markup extensions....110

Building a user interface....111

Layouts....111

StackLayout....112

Grid....113

FlexLayout....114

AbsoluteLayout....114

Views....116

Label....116

Image....116

Editor....116

Entry....116

ListView....117

Master-detail UI design....117

Side-by-side....119

Stacked....120

Navigation in the master-detail UI design....121

ItemDetailPage....121

ItemsPage....122

Supporting multiple languages – localization....128

Creating a .resx file....128

Localizing text....130

Summary....134

Further reading....134

Chapter 4: Exploring MVVM and Data Binding....136

Technical requirements....137

Understanding MVVM and MVC....137

MVVM in PassXYZ.Vault....139

Data binding....140

Binding object....141

Binding target....141

Binding source....142

Properties of a Binding object....144

Source....145

Binding mode....146

Changing notifications in ViewModels....148

.NET Community Toolkit....150

How to use the MVVM Toolkit....151

Improving the data model and service....154

KPCLib....155

Abstraction of PwGroup and PwEntry....157

PassXYZLib....158

Updating the model....159

Updating the service....160

Binding to collections....161

Using custom views....169

Summary....174

Further reading....174

Chapter 5: Navigation Using .NET MAUI Shell and NavigationPage....176

Technical requirements....177

Implementing navigation....177

INavigation interface and NavigationPage....178

Using the navigation stack....179

Manipulating the navigation stack....180

Inserting a page....180

Removing a page....180

Using Shell....181

Flyout....183

Flyout items....185

Menu items....185

Tabs....187

Shell navigation....190

Registering absolute routes....191

Registering relative routes....191

Passing data to pages....194

Improving our app....201

Understanding the improved design....203

Registering absolute routes and relative routes....204

Model and services....204

Implementation of IUserService....206

Improving the login process....208

Login view model....210

Login UI....213

Summary....215

Chapter 6: Software Design with Dependency Injection....216

Technical requirements....217

A brief overview of design principles....217

Exploring types of design principles....218

Don’t Repeat Yourself (DRY)....218

Keep It Simple, Stupid (KISS)....218

You Aren’t Gonna Need It (YAGNI)....218

SOLID design principles....218

Using design principles....219

Implementing DI....220

Lifetime management....225

Configuring DI in .NET MAUI....228

Constructor injection....232

Method injection....233

Property injection....234

Replacing the mock data store....236

Initializing the database....239

Performing CRUD operations....240

Adding an item....241

Editing or deleting an item....247

Summary....251

Further reading....251

Chapter 7: Using Platform-Specific Features ....254

Technical requirements....255

Implementing platform-specific code....255

Conditional compilation....256

Interfaces, partial class, and methods....257

.NET MAUI/Xamarin plugins....258

The evolution of .NET MAUI/Xamarin plugins....259

The introduction of Plugin.Fingerprint....261

Supporting fingerprint functionality using Plugin.Fingerprint....266

Fingerprint settings....270

Login using a fingerprint....273

Customizing controls....275

Overview of handlers....276

Using HybridWebView....277

Implementing MarkdownView....278

Summary....283

Further reading....283

Part 2: Implementing .NET MAUI Blazor....286

Chapter 8: Introducing Blazor Hybrid App Development....288

Technical requirements....288

What is Blazor?....289

Hosting models....289

Blazor Server....290

Blazor Wasm....291

Blazor Hybrid....294

Blazor Bindings....295

What’s new in .NET 8 Blazor hosting models....299

Project templates of .NET MAUI and Blazor apps....300

Blazor apps....302

.NET MAUI apps....302

Creating a new .NET MAUI Blazor project....302

Generating a .NET MAUI Blazor project with the dotnet command line....303

Creating a .NET MAUI Blazor Hybrid App using Visual Studio on Windows....304

Running the new project....305

The startup code of the .NET MAUI Blazor Hybrid App....306

Migrating to a .NET MAUI Blazor Hybrid App....309

Understanding Razor syntax....310

Code blocks in Razor....310

Implicit Razor expressions....311

Explicit Razor expressions....311

Expression encoding....311

Directives....312

Directive attributes....312

Creating a Razor component....313

Redesigning the login page using a Razor component....313

The Model-View-ViewModel (MVVM) pattern in Blazor....320

Dependency injection in Blazor....323

CSS isolation....323

Summary....326

Further reading....326

Chapter 9: Understanding Blazor Routing and Layout....328

Technical requirements....328

Understanding client-side routing....329

Setting up BlazorWebView....329

Setting up the Router component....330

Defining routes....332

Passing data using route parameters....333

Navigating with NavigationManager....335

Using Blazor layout components....336

Applying a layout to a component....339

Nesting layouts....341

Implementing navigation elements....342

Implementing a list view....343

Adding a new item and navigating back....351

Summary....353

Chapter 10: Implementing Razor Components....354

Technical requirements....355

Understanding Razor components....355

Inheritance....357

Creating a Razor class library....358

Using static assets in the Razor class library....361

Creating reusable Razor components....361

Creating a base modal dialog component....363

Data binding....365

Component parameters....366

Nested components....369

Child content rendering....370

Two-way data binding....373

Binding with component parameters....373

Communicating with cascading values and parameters....376

Understanding the Razor component lifecycle....378

SetParametersAsync....379

OnInitialized and OnInitializedAsync....380

OnParametersSet and OnParametersSetAsync....380

ShouldRender....381

OnAfterRender and OnAfterRenderAsync....381

Implementing CRUD operations....385

CRUD operations of items....385

Adding a new item....385

Editing or deleting an item....386

CRUD operations of fields....389

Refactoring Razor components....394

Creating the Navbar component....395

Creating a Dropdown component for the context menu....398

Using templated components....402

Creating a ListView component....403

Using the ListView component....404

Accessing a native API from Blazor Hybrid apps....406

Summary....407

Part 3: Testing and Deployment....408

Chapter 11: Developing Unit Tests....410

Technical requirements....410

Unit testing in .NET....411

Setting up the unit test project....412

Developing test cases for the model....415

Sharing context between tests....417

Sharing using a constructor....418

Sharing using class fixtures....420

Sharing using collection fixtures....422

Mock .NET MAUI components....425

Razor component testing using bUnit....427

Changing the project configuration for bUnit....427

Creating a bUnit test case....428

Creating test cases in Razor files....430

Using the RenderFragment delegate....433

Testing Razor pages....436

Summary....442

Further reading....442

Chapter 12: Deploying and Publishing in App Stores....444

Technical requirements....444

Preparing application packages for publishing....445

Preparing for publishing....445

Publishing to Microsoft Store....447

Publishing to Google Play Store....453

Publishing to Apple’s App Store....458

GitHub Actions....465

Understanding GitHub Actions....465

Workflows....465

Events....468

Jobs....469

Runners....469

Steps....469

Summary....475

Further reading....476

Other Books You May Enjoy....480

Index....486

Build apps using .NET MAUI and Blazor with this comprehensive, revised guide for .NET 8.

Purchase of the print or Kindle book includes a free eBook in PDF format.

Key Features

• Handle data effectively with expanded coverage on the MVVM model and data binding
• Integrate platform-specific code using plugins and custom controls
• Migrate from Xamarin.Forms to .NET MAUI for the latest hybrid app development capabilities

Book Description

An evolution of Xamarin.Forms, .NET MAUI is a cross-platform framework for creating native mobile and desktop apps with C# and XAML. Using .NET MAUI, you can develop apps that'll run on Android, iOS, macOS, and Windows from a single shared codebase. In this revised edition of .NET MAUI Cross-Platform Application Development you will be introduced to .NET 8 and get up to speed with app development in no time.

The book begins by showing you how to develop a cross-platform application using .NET MAUI, including guidance for migrating from Xamarin.Forms. You'll gain all the knowledge needed to create a cross-platform application for Android, iOS, macOS, and Windows following an example project step by step.

As you advance, you'll integrate the latest frontend technology into your app using Blazor components, including the new Blazor Bindings feature. After this, you'll learn how to test and deploy your apps. With new coverage on creating mock .NET MAUI components, you can develop unit tests for your application. You will additionally learn how to perform Razor component testing using bUnit.

By the end of this book, you'll have learned how to develop your own cross-platform applications using .NET MAUI.

What you will learn

• Develop high-performance apps with logical user interfaces
• Improve the maintainability of apps using the MVVM design pattern
• Understand the progression from Xamarin.Forms and how to migrate to .NET
• Delve into templated components and Razor class libraries for crafting Blazor UI elements
• Publish your creations to major app stores with guidance on preparation and processes
• Extend your testing repertoire with bUnit for Razor components for reliable unit testing

Who this book is for

This book is for mobile developers interested in cross-platform application development with working experience of the .NET Core framework, as well as junior engineers who've just begun their career in mobile app development. Native app developers (desktop) or Xamarin developers who want to migrate to .NET MAUI will also benefit from this book. Basic knowledge of modern object-oriented programming languages, such as C#, Java or Kotlin, is assumed.