Professional cross-platform mobile development in c# (paperback)

All the tools you need to build cross-platform mobile applications in .NET/C# and Mono

Assuming no experience with mobile development, this book provides the fundamentals for building enterprise mobile applications in .NET/C# and Mono that can be delivered on all the major mobile platforms in the market today. The team of authors explains the technical considerations for building mobile apps while also addressing security and deployment needs. The featured real-world examples, best practices, and proven techniques round out the essentials of cross-platform mobile development and help give you an edge over your competition.

Professional Cross-Platform Mobile Development in C#:

• Demonstrates how to build applications that share code on the iPad®, iPhone®, Android, Windows® Phone, and mobile web

• Suggests helpful questions to ask when deciding whether to build for the mobile web and native platforms or to use a hybrid approach

• Covers the design and prototyping techniques necessary for taking advantage of interfaces and form-factors available on modern mobile devices

• Examines mobile data services design and consumption, data synchronization, device utilities, device functionality, and hybrid development techniques

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PART I: MOBILE DEVELOPMENT OVERVIEW

CHAPTER 1: CHOOSING THE RIGHT ARCHITECTURE 3

Understanding Mobile Architecture 3

Connecting to the Network 4

Recognizing Storage and Processor Limitations 5

Securing Data on the Device 6

Building Scalable Applications 7

Planning for Deployment 8

Writing Extendible Modules 8

Maintaining Application Code 9

Choosing an Architecture 9

Building Native Applications 9

Building Web Applications 10

Building Hybrid Applications 11

Building for Multiple Platforms 12

Choosing iOS Applications 12

Choosing Android Applications 13

Choosing Windows Phone Applications 14

Choosing Web Applications 14

Summary 14

CHAPTER 2: DESIGNING YOUR USER EXPERIENCE 15

Making Your Applications Usable 16

Identifying the Scope of Each Screen 16

Conforming to Platform Standards 17

Separating Platform from Design 19

Prototyping 20

Whiteboarding 20

Using Functional Prototypes 22

Obtaining User Feedback 25

Using Agile Iterations 26

Summary 27

PART II: DEVELOPING CROSS-PLATFORM APPLICATIONS

CHAPTER 3: SETTING UP YOUR DEVELOPMENT ENVIRONMENT 31

Getting Your Development Tools 32

Installing Microsoft Visual Studio 32

Installing Internet Information Services (IIS) 35

Installing MonoDevelop for Mac 38

Installing Device Frameworks 41

Installing the Windows Phone SDK 41

Preparing for iOS Development 42

Preparing for Android Development 47

Installing MonoCross Project Templates 54

Installing the MonoCross Utilities 56

Organizing Your Solutions 57

Navigating the Sample Code 59

Continuous Integration 60

Summary 61

CHAPTER 4: THE MONOCROSS PATTERN 63

Understanding the Cross-Platform Problem 63

Understanding Native Platform Diff erences 64

Acknowledging HTML 5 Limitations 64

Taking a Hybrid Approach 65

Enabling Code Portability with Mono 65

Developing for Multiple Platforms 66

Defi ning a Cross-Platform Architecture 67

Separating the User Interface 67

Understanding the MonoCross Solution 67

Using the Model-View-Controller Pattern 68

Using URI-Based Navigation 77

Summary 88

CHAPTER 5: BUILDING SHARED APPLICATIONS 89

Defi ning Your Model 91

Starting from Your User Experience Design 91

Building for Lightly Loaded Lists 94

Plan for Lazy-Loaded Details 95

Advanced Techniques 96

Building Your Controllers 100

Implementing Your Workfl ow 101

Applying Changes to the Model 110

Summary 110

CHAPTER 6: BUILDING MONOCROSS CONTAINERS 113

Understanding How It All Fits Together 113

Implementing a Simple Application 115

Initializing the Container 115

Building the Customer List View 116

Building the Customer View 118

Building the Customer Edit View 120

Implementing an iOS Platform Container 122

Initializing a Container in MonoTouch 122

Building the Customer List View in MonoTouch 124

Building the Customer View in MonoTouch 127

Building the Customer Edit View in MonoTouch 131

Implementing an Android Platform Container 134

Initializing the Container for Android 134

Building the Customer List View for Android 136

Building the Customer View for...