Month: September 2019

VSIX for XAF Model Editor (OBSOLETE)

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OBSOLETE: Please use the Xpand.XAF.ModelEditor package that contains a standalone version of XAF Model Editor, designed to integrate with Visual Studio, Rider, Explore.

Also coming soon is the Model Editor for .NET Core and .NET Standard Projects. Read the announcement here.

If you’ve  unloaded your csproj and take a look you’ve seen how cumbersome they can be and  you must probably know how much simpler, leaner the new sdk project is. In Hanselman words:

“It lets you manage all project dependencies in one place and gives you and uncluttered view of top-level dependencies.”

And that statement above it is crucial for a smooth CI/CD flow.

We also won’t be needing to have DevExpress assemblies installed in the GAC we could use Nugets and have our projects in as many different versions as we want.

One really neat tool that help you with the migration is CsprojToVs2017 or if you prefer to do it manually you can follow this post.

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Uno Platform and XPO

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As a proof of concept I wanted to give a try of using Uno Platform and XPO together. Uno has been gaining popularity and I have to say that after this I will have a tough decision on the framework selection for my next mobile project. I love Xamarin but the benefits that Uno brings to the table are hard to pass.

From their own website:

  • Uno-built native apps can be compiled to WASM with no additional development efforts!
  • Ramp up time is minimal and you can take advantage of all that the Visual Studio ecosystem has to offer for testing, deploying, project management, and more.

What that means to us?

First, A web front end thanks to web assembly (I honestly don’t know why Xamarin has not invested in this route yet. Besides Ooui that I believe it is awesome but not even close to production, there is nothing else out there)

Update: UNO has WebAssembly Renderers for Xamarin Forms.

And second, a UWP first approach where all the VS tooling just work. Including Designers, Hot reload, Brushes and more.

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ReactiveUI + Xamarin Forms + Prism

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If you guys have not use this combination I strongly suggest to give it a try. Prism handles navigation like a boss, ReactiveUI makes your code readable that you will comeback 6 months from today and you will still be able to pick it up fairly quickly (that is not the only reason of course but one of the most appealing for me) and Xamarin Forms (no need for introductions here).

If you have never used Prism or ReactiveUI I recommend:

Prism in Xamarin Forms Step by Step by Xamgirl.

And

You, I, and ReactiveUI by Kent Boogaart.

Now, How do we use them together?

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XAF to Xamarin Teaser

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I know I still owe you guys the complete article about the XAF POS Teaser but I could not help it. Here is a quick XAF to Xamarin Teaser.

Remarks:

  • ORM in NET Standard library to share between XAF and Xamarin.
  • Custom IDataStore Implementation in ASP.Net Core Web API.
  • Shared Authentication between XAF and Xamarin
  • Support for Direct SQL Queries with XPO
  • Win, Web, Android, iOS, UWP. (UNO coming soon)
  • Using Syncfusion Data Grid because DevExpress Data Grid for Xamarin is still not on Nuget. (You can also use a ListView,  CollectionView, etc)
  • Not showing in the teaser: XAF Reports in Xamarin using Syncfusion PDF Viewer.
  • Not showing in the teaser: Multiple IDataStore implementation to support multiple databases in the same application.

I am really happy about this template. I believe it will save a ton of time. As always feel free to reach out with any question/suggestion or if you are struggling trying to make your XAF project mobile.

Xafmarin out!

Meeting Dave and Adam -DevExpress MVPs

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For the Xamarin Saturday on August 24 I traveled to Toronto, as we all know from my last post. One thing I did not mention there because I wanted to have a special post just for this was that I had the opportunity and honor to finally meet in person Dave Hesketh and Adam Latimer current DevExpress MVPs.

I want to say thanks to both for making the trip from Orangeville. I have been following their work for a couple years already and my XAF POS Teaser includes code from their Free Modules.

We had a  great talk about XAF, XPO, Blazor, Xamarin and more. Continue reading →