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I've never been an Android developer, but i am happy Xamarin (Forms) developer. It is not without some hassle, need to deal with a little amount of platform-spe

I've never been an Android developer, but i am happy Xamarin (Forms) developer. It is not without some hassle, need to deal with a little amount of platform-specific code, but it's the way mobile development should be in 2017. Code the experience and functionality, do not loose (too much) time on platforms.

pier25 10y ago
Last time I checked Xamarin Forms about a year ago it was still limited. Is it better now? What are some of its limitations?
- rpeden 10y ago
  It's still limited in that it's not a good choice if your app requires UI functionality that is very platform specific. I think that's intentional - it isn't intended to be the right solution for every application. It's still a good choice if your app mainly involves displaying lists and tables of text and images, and data entry forms. The cross platform Map control works quite well too. I don't remember exactly what is different now from a year ago, but if you list a few of the limitations you faced, I can tell you if they still exist. A quick look at the Pages, Layouts, and Controls section of the Xamarin Forms page might tell you if they've added things that were missing last time you tried it: https://www.xamarin.com/forms https://www.xamarin.com/forms
  - pier25 10y ago
    Thanks for the info. From what I've seen things haven't changed much. The idea still seems to be that Forms is for simple apps that use a number of common components.
    - rpeden 10y ago
      Yeah, it is similar to React Native ins that way. There's a limited set of cross platform components. In both Xamarin and RN, though, you can also include your own platform-specific components/plugins when necessary.
- tabulatouch 10y ago
  They recently added a way to use native components _directly in XAML_ inheriting all the binding goodness. I agree that it is still difficult to have a 100% platform-specific look&feel, but it's an incredible time saver for the majority of apps which deal with _functionality_ and good Ux.

pier25 10y ago

Last time I checked Xamarin Forms about a year ago it was still limited. Is it better now? What are some of its limitations?

rpeden 10y ago
It's still limited in that it's not a good choice if your app requires UI functionality that is very platform specific. I think that's intentional - it isn't intended to be the right solution for every application. It's still a good choice if your app mainly involves displaying lists and tables of text and images, and data entry forms. The cross platform Map control works quite well too. I don't remember exactly what is different now from a year ago, but if you list a few of the limitations you faced, I can tell you if they still exist. A quick look at the Pages, Layouts, and Controls section of the Xamarin Forms page might tell you if they've added things that were missing last time you tried it: https://www.xamarin.com/forms https://www.xamarin.com/forms
- pier25 10y ago
  Thanks for the info. From what I've seen things haven't changed much. The idea still seems to be that Forms is for simple apps that use a number of common components.
  - rpeden 10y ago
    Yeah, it is similar to React Native ins that way. There's a limited set of cross platform components. In both Xamarin and RN, though, you can also include your own platform-specific components/plugins when necessary.
tabulatouch 10y ago
They recently added a way to use native components _directly in XAML_ inheriting all the binding goodness. I agree that it is still difficult to have a 100% platform-specific look&feel, but it's an incredible time saver for the majority of apps which deal with _functionality_ and good Ux.