DEV Community: Mazi Vincent Esomchi

Get Started with .NET MAUI

Mazi Vincent Esomchi — Mon, 14 Nov 2022 14:17:32 +0000

Installation
If you want to develop native, cross-platform .NET Multi-platform App UI (.NET MAUI) apps requires Visual Studio 2022 17.3 or greater, or Visual Studio 2022 for Mac 17.4 or greater.

Prerequisites
Visual Studio 2022 17.3 or greater. For information about supported operating systems, hardware, supported languages, and additional requirements and guidance, see Visual Studio 2022 System Requirements.
To build, sign, and deploy .NET MAUI apps for iOS, you'll also need:

A Mac that is compatible with the latest version of Xcode. For more information, see Apple's minimum requirements documentation
The latest version of Xcode.
An Apple ID and paid Apple Developer Program enrollment. An Apple ID is required to deploy apps to devices, and to submit apps to the Apple Store.
Alternatively, to deploy debug builds of your app directly from Windows to your iOS device with hot restart, you'll need:

An Apple Developer account and paid Apple Developer Program enrolment.

Installation
To create .NET MAUI apps, you'll need the latest version of Visual Studio 2022:

Download Visual Studio 2022 Community

Download Visual Studio 2022 Professional

Download Visual Studio 2022 Enterprise

Either install Visual Studio, or modify your existing installation, and install the .NET Multi-platform App UI development workload with its default optional installation options:

Install .NET MAUI today and take it for a spin

What is MAUI?

Mazi Vincent Esomchi — Sun, 13 Nov 2022 09:33:37 +0000

.NET Multi-platform App UI (.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 can run on Android, iOS, macOS, and Windows from a single shared codebase.

Instead of different projects for desktop, mobile, and each OS, all your code is in a single project. .NET MAUI also provides hosting Blazor in MAUI, with embedded web view controls to run Razor components natively on your target device. The decoupled UI and single project enable you to stay focused on one application instead of juggling the unique needs of multiple platforms. It’s the new baby of Microsoft and I know there will be more libraries and the broader ecosystem come alongside .NET MAUI in the following months.

*Who .NET MAUI is for? *
.NET MAUI is for developers who want to:

Write cross-platform apps in XAML and C#, from a single shared codebase in Visual Studio.
Share UI layout and design across platforms.
Share code, tests, and business logic across platforms.

Single project for different platforms
In new .NET MAUI projects, platforms are placed in a subfolder that gives your focus to your application. Within your project’s Resources folder, you have a single place to manage your fonts, images, app icon, splash screen, raw assets, and styling. .NET MAUI will do the work to optimize them for each platform’s unique requirements.

Cross-platform APIs for device features
.NET MAUI provides cross-platform APIs for native device features. Examples of functionality provided by .NET MAUI for accessing device features includes:

Access to sensors, such as the accelerometer, compass, and gyroscope on devices.
Ability to check the device's network connectivity state, and detect changes.
Provide information about the device the app is running on.
Copy and paste text to the system clipboard, between apps.
Pick single or multiple files from the device.
Store data securely as key/value pairs.
Utilize built-in text-to-speech engines to read text from the device.
Initiate browser-based authentication flows that listen for a call-back to a specific app registered URL.

Hot reload
.NET MAUI includes support for .NET hot reload, which enables you to modify your managed source code while the app is running, without the need to manually pause or hit a breakpoint. Then, your code edits can be applied to your running app without recompilation.

.NET MAUI also includes support for XAML hot reload, which enables you to save your XAML files and see the changes reflected in your running app without recompilation. In addition, your navigation state and data will be maintained, enabling you to quickly iterate on your UI without losing your place in the app.

Will you Learn MAUI?

HOW TO LEARN FLUTTER

Mazi Vincent Esomchi — Thu, 10 Nov 2022 08:19:17 +0000

Flutter is one of the most liked and adopted technology in the current IT Industry. But why is it so? Why is Flutter trending so much? There are other frameworks too, then why Flutter? So in this article, let’s first see what flutter is and why is it trending and then we will look at how to learn Flutter like a pro!

What is Flutter?
Flutter is Google's UI tool for building beautiful, natively compiled apps for mobile, web, desktop and embedded devices from a single code base. So, in other words, if you use Flutter to build your app or website, it will be much faster compared to other frameworks or technologies! So why is Flutter so popular?

Flutter compiles the code in the native language. Beginners can easily adopt Flutter and create an MVP.
Broad platform support (Android, iOS, Windows, macOS, Linux, Embedded, more coming soon!)
Excellent books and many resources are available for learning
The community is big and united!
Open space!

Map the way to learn Flutter like a pro!

*Step 1: Requirements *
Before starting Flutter, you should know at least some OOP concepts. Flutter uses the Dart language and Dart also uses OOP concepts. So, the minimum would be to learn OOP concepts in any language (preferably Java). It is always good to learn the basics of Android so that you can understand Flutter easily. It's not mandatory, but it's a better way to check. If you're a recent graduate, it's now your job to create a portfolio or online presence to stand out from the crowd! So, learn GIT. Support your work on GitHub, no matter what the project is! Install Flutter on your system so you can start your journey!

Step 2: Start with the basics!
Dart is a very broad language and will take time to master. Before proceeding with the application, you should learn at least the basics of the Dart language. If you know Java well, the transition from Java to Dart will be easy! Don't jump into Flutter without knowing Dart. Some concepts you should learn:

List
Map
Lambda function
combination
wait in async
Once you've mastered the basics of darts, feel free to explore Flutter.

Step 2: Get involved in UI development!
Every time we start a new language, our motivation will be to learn every day. When we first started with UI development, it was a relief. When your app screen first appears on your device and is as expected, that's when you need it! Also, there are many problems and errors that a developer will face when working with UI development in Flutter. So, what or how should you do UI development?

Take any Dribble UI and implement it in Flutter
Create apps like WhatsApp clone, TikTok clone, etc. Step 3: Learn API calls
Once you are comfortable with UI development, you should start by learning API calls. APIs will be important whenever you build an application. API calls can be made using different packages like http, dio, retrofit, chopper, etc. The base package is HTTP and other packages are HTTP wrappers with some additional features. You can choose any of them, but it is always better to start with http and any other package. You can get many mock APIs to embed in your application from: https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com

Once the API is associated with an API call, you can inspect the API response in the instance class:

Step 3: State Management
State control is one of the most important concepts in Flutter. As our apps grow in size and complexity, it becomes really difficult to control the position of your screen in your app. Suppose you want to transfer data from page 1 to page 2. It's easy. We can skip it while browsing. But let's say you want to transfer data from page 1 to page 5. In this case, state management comes in handy! There are many state management systems and packages available. But don't worry! Use whatever is convenient for you. You can start with a provider that is one of the basic state control packages. Step 4: Learn about database integration
Database is an important part of any application. It will still be necessary to save some data from your application. Some databases that can be used in Flutter:

hot head
Subbase
SQLite (local database)
Hive (local database)
Moor (local database)
And many others…

Step 4: Project Structure and Architecture
Maintaining project schedule is very important. This helps beginners to quickly review the code. It also makes it easy to find bugs or add or remove features as needed without breaking existing functionality. There are many specific frameworks like MVVM, MVC, TDD, etc. These are really scary and created after proper research. But using them is not mandatory. You can always create your own home that suits you and your team. Always remember to keep the following in mind with your building code:

KISS (Keep it simple, dumbass!)
Can be calculated
There is little agreement between features
Code recovery.

If your home design meets the above criteria, great!
Have fun Learning.