Clifford Agius | CA-Software Ltd

Xamarin to MAUI Migration – Part Two – Migrating

Mon, 01 May 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Where are we?

In the last post we cover the Why and How to prepare for migrating your Xamarin App to DotNet MAUI, we also gave you some ideas and suggestions for planning the migration and prepping the story and sprint.

In this post we will start with the actual migration story and hopefully help you on your journey, so grab a fresh coffee and lets start.

Manual or Automated Migration?

Now we have a plan for our Migration, and we have also worked out what will work in the new migrated version and what will need to be replaced we can start with the actual migration.

Xamarin to MAUI Migration – Part One – Why and How to Prepare

Thu, 12 Jan 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Why?

The biggest question I have been fielding recently is should I upgrade a Xamarin app to DotNet MAUI (Multi-platform App UI) and my answer until recently was there isn’t much in it or there are still a few issues so hold off for now.

However now that NET7 is released, and MAUI is now fully released and fully featured it makes sense to at least start looking and planning an upgrade for Apps. The main reason behind this is that Xamarin will no longer receive support after 1st May 2024 but more importantly the latest SDK’s it will support is Android 13 and Xcode 14 which are the current latest versions from Apple and Google but for how long?

IoT with .NET part 3

Sun, 27 Nov 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Part 3 - The Cloud

Hopefully you see and enjoyed Part 2 where we looked at the software side of things, showed how set-up and connect to Azure IoTHub meaning you as a .NET developer can use your existing C# skills to develop for IoT. In this post we are going to build on this and show the cloud elements finishing off the picture of building an IoT system from End to End.

IoT with .NET part 2

Sun, 09 Oct 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Part 2 - What’s next

Hopefully you see and enjoyed Part 1 where we talked about the hardware side of things and showed what can be used to connect to Azure IoT and how you as a .NET developer can use your existing C# skills to develop for IoT. In this post we are going to build on this and cover the software side of things by showing how to set-up an IoTHub in the cloud and the difference between a Device and an IoTEdge Device.

Set-up Azure DevOps for MAUI

Tue, 05 Jul 2022 00:00:00 +0000

What and Why?

You have created an awesome .NET MAUI app and your ready to take over the world but you have been building on a laptop and now want to know how to send that out to Testers or to the Store and maybe you want to automate all the things. Enter CI/CD (Continuous Integration / Continuous Delivery ) we have all heard of it and even use it in projects but how does this work for a .NET MAUI app and how can we set-up Azure DevOps to help us. This is what we will be covering in this blog and sorry but it’s a big topic so it’s going to be a long one…

IoT with .NET part 1

Sun, 12 Jun 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Where do we start?

For many developers IoT brings thoughts of electronics and wires with hours of trying to get things working just to blink an LED or read the temperature of the room with a BME280? You may even be thinking you need to be down low level with C/C++ or Python for your code…

However if your reading this I am guessing you’re a .NET developer and thinking that you can’t use your existing C# .NET skills for IoT, well the good news is that your wrong we can and in this short series of blog posts I will show you how you can program a small low powered device to connect to the cloud and stream sensor data for analytics and storage. We will cover in this post the options we have for the devices and the Pro’s and Con’s of each option to help you pick what best suits your project needs.

MAUI Deep Dive Part 3

Mon, 21 Mar 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Getting Started

In this series of posts we have been explaining how to get started with .NET MAUI and deep dive into the sections that make up a MAUI App while we create a simple demo App.

In our previous post MAUI Deep Dive Part 2 we covered adding Shell Navigation stack to our demo app and creating a simple CollectionView with data pulled from the Web.

However if this is all new I suggest you have a read of Parts 1 & 2 for more info and then come back here to continue the Deep Dive.

MAUI Deep Dive Part 2

Tue, 08 Feb 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Getting Started

In this series of posts we are explaining how to get started with .NET MAUI and deep dive into the sections that make up a MAUI App while we create a simple demo App.

In our previous post MAUI Deep Dive Pt1 we covered how to install the tooling and create our first app from a template and showed how to run this on Android, iOS and Windows.

We covered HotReload and HotRestart and then we walked through the folders and structure of what makes up a MAUI app.

MAUI Deep Dive Part 1

Tue, 28 Dec 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Getting Started

In this series of posts we will explain how to get started with DotNET Maui and deep dive into the sections that make up a MAUI App while we create a simple demo App.

In our previous post What is .NET MAUI we covered what MAUI is but a brief recap is that MAUI or ‘Multi-Platform App UI’ to give it’s full name is the evolution of Xamarin Forms. It is now (Or will be when it GA’s in Q2 2022) be baked into DotNET and will be the way we as developers build Mobile cross-platform applications going forward when using DotNET and C#/F#.

What is .NET MAUI

Tue, 16 Nov 2021 00:00:00 +0000

What is .NET MAUI

MAUI or more accurately .NET MAUI stands for .NET Multi-platform App UI which seems a bit of a mouthful but essentially all it is the next iteration of Xamarin… Yes it’s Xamarin vNext so instead of there being a Xamarin.Forms 6 we are getting .NET MAUI.

But I know what your thinking why the name change and surely it’s more that that and yes your right it is a lot more than just a name change it is pretty much a re-write of the Xamarin stack, and more than that it is also finally being pulled into the .NET BCL (Base class library) which means it is going to be a part of .NET and no longer the separate project it was before.

Connect an ESP32 To Azure IoT Hub with NanoFramework

Tue, 07 Sep 2021 00:00:00 +0000

You don’t need a big device to connect to Azure IoT Hub

When you are looking for IoT devices to connect to Azure IoT Hub most are mini computers or devkits that are cheap but limited in what they can do or just very power hungry.

“‘But what about using a Microprocessor?’ I hear you say”, well these are great but you are then normally limited to programming in C which we all know isn’t great.

Azure Percept/Edge device OTA Updates

Wed, 07 Jul 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Why Update?

In the last blog post we looked at the unboxing and first set-up of the Azure Percept system and got our very first AI model running. However out of the box my Percept showed that it was running an old version of the OS Software so this blog will explain how you can check your device and then if needed set-up Digital Twins and automate the updating of your Azure Percept system(s).

Using the Azure Percept as an Aircraft Part Checker

Mon, 05 Jul 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Idea

When not coding and building IoT project I spend time working on a personal project or building an aircraft, and to be more specific a South African designed Sling TSi.

The design of the aircraft is widely regarded in Light Aircraft circles as being one of the best 4 seat aircraft out there for the home builder and one of the main reason I picked the design, now I know what your thinking have I opened the wrong blog post here what’s all this Airplane speak…

First Impressions of the Azure Percept DK

Sat, 12 Jun 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Unboxing

As an MVP in the UK and after a fair bit of complaining and questioning of the Microsoft IOT team about the release dates of the Azure Percept into the UK/EU markets they offered to loan me one. Obviously I said YES! and a few days later I got a nice box.

So opening the box for a look inside and you are presented with a fantastic display of the components that make up the Azure Percept Developer Kit (DK). This is the Microsoft Version of the Kit and not the one available to buy here from the Microsoft Store which is made by Asus. There are a few slight differences but I am told by the team they are very minor and won’t affect it’s use in any way, but the kit you get and it’s abilities for such a low cost is very impressive.

Secretless Connection to CosmosDB from Xamarin Pt1

Sat, 15 May 2021 00:00:00 +0000

TLDR!

This may look like a really long post but honestly it takes less than 10 minutes and its mostly pictures.

Don’t commit your SECRETS to Source Control.

We have all done it at least once (Don’t lie!), you start a project and you need that secret key or connection string to the backend, so you put it in the code just to test and then forget and commit to source control, now the secret is out. Hopefully it’s just a private/internal repo and not a popular Open-Source project, but I am going to show you how quick and easy it is to set-up a Xamarin/MAUI App connecting thru a WebAPI to CosmosDB with no secrets or connection strings anywhere.

Arduino where is my BIN/HEX file.

Sat, 08 May 2021 00:00:00 +0000

TLDR!

I ramble on here about IOT IDE’s etc but if you just want to know how to set the Output Build path then just scroll down to the section called Can this be changed you ask?

Arduino IDE

If like me, you love IOT development then you will no doubt at some point use the Arduino platform or one of it’s derivatives like Teesny or Adafruit. Now this means your hard core and writing in Arduino C/C++ rather than Circuit Python but that doesn’t mean you are using the Arduino IDE; you could be using VSCode or even full fat Visual Studio… (more on that below!)

Setup Windows Terminal to run a Macro

Tue, 23 Feb 2021 00:00:00 +0000

What and Why?

I do a lot of Xamarin development for clients and when I am working away the builds sometimes fail on say Android or iOS and the reason a lot of the time is where the build system in Visual Studio has had a hiccup and the quickest and easiest way to resolve this is the Delete the Bin/OBJ folders and rebuild. Sadly, just a Clean in Visual Studio doesn’t delete the folders and files so doesn’t work especially for Android so it’s a hard delete.

Setup HotRestart for iOS on Windows

Tue, 19 Jan 2021 00:00:00 +0000

What and Why?

If like me you’re using Xamarin to develop applications on your a Windows machine and don’t have a Mac hanging around, how can you test your Shiny App on an iPhone? How can you check and debug the UI before sending it out there into the big bad world?

Well, this is where Xamarin HotRestart comes in to save the day, using this amazing tool which is integrated to Visual Studio 2019 Version 16.5+ you can plug your iPhone into your Windows machine and deploy locally and debug that UI all without a Mac anywhere near you. I have done this while on a flight so it’s not some magic cloud thingy that the Xamarin team are up to either.

Create your own Xamarin.Forms NuGet

Wed, 06 Jan 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Create your own Xamarin.Forms NuGet

I am guessing that if you are here you have found a bug with Xamarin.Forms (Or A.N.Other OSS Project!) and you followed my previous blog Here to create your awesome fix and PR which you are awaiting review.

I had exactly this over the last week (Jan 2021) with a Memory Leak in the CollectionView control on UWP in a Xamarin.Forms project. The issue had been open for a while and you can see it here and there were various other issues related to the same problem, the good news is that the fault was found by @Gentledepp and they even created a fix AWESOME!! however they have an internal build of Xamarin, so the fix was pulled into that Fork but no PR was created back to the main Xamarin.Forms Repo BOOO…

Setup Hugo With Github Pages

Thu, 31 Dec 2020 00:00:00 +0000

What and Why?

So, I have hosted my blog using Ghost on Azure Websites for over a year now and in that time I have found it hard to write blogs as much as I would like. The reason being that I tend to have a lot of time either in the air or downroute somewhere with no data connection, plus I found the Ghost offering for writing Offline not that easy.

Flying

Tue, 06 Oct 2020 08:23:34 +0100

Flying and Aviation

I will from time to time write a post about aviation and flying the Airbus A320 around Europe. I have been asked many times to do this but never really known what to write about, so if you have an idea of a subject you want to hear about the world of Aviation/Flying drop me an email and let me know.

For now here are some nice pictures for you to enjoy…

Dot Net 5 Thoughts

Tue, 06 Oct 2020 00:00:00 +0000

.Net 5 Thoughts

As .Net5 is just around the corner scheduled release at .Net Conf 2020 which is November 10-12 I thought I would write a bit about my thoughts and what I have found about the up coming changes.

Now these are my thoughts (Hence the name!) but is based on Docs/Blogs/Podcasts/Meet-ups from Microsoft Team members but for the best and latest news take a look at the .Net Downloads Page for the latest release notes and roadmap.

About

Mon, 28 Sep 2020 18:46:47 +0100

About Me!

My Name is Clifford Agius but everyone just calls me Cliff unless I’m in trouble that is.

I am an Airline Pilot for a Major UK carrier and I have the fantastic priviledge to fly the Airbus A320 family around Europe from our home at London Heathrow. This is an amazing aircraft that burns next to no fuel passengers in comfort at Mach 0.78.

When I’m not flying I spend my time working as a freelance .Net, MAUI and IoT Developer working on various client and Open Source projects (Like #Handy & #Leggy). I was awarded Microsoft MVP in 2020-2021 for my work in the community where I enjoy giving talks at Meet-ups and International Conferences about MAUI/IoT.

Speaking

Mon, 28 Sep 2020 18:46:47 +0100

Speaking

I am always happy to give talks on MAUI & IoT especially if it’s around projects I am working on, as well as Team Skills from the Aviation world.

You can find Sessionize Speaker Profile

If you interested in having me along at your Meet-Up/Conference/Podcast to talk then please just email me CliffordAgius@CA-Software.Co.uk

Current Sessions

Talks Given

Xamarin.Forms NEW Expander Control

Thu, 23 Apr 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Xamarin.Forms NEW ExpanderControl

Coming along in the new Xamarin.Forms 4.6 release which at the time of writing is at 4.6pre4 (So it’s due very soon!) is a new control called the ExpanderControl, now those of you that have played with Web will know this as the Accordian Control in that the user clicks/taps the element in the list and it expands to show more detail of that item.

This control has been added to Xamarin.Forms by Community member Andrei Misiukevich thanks for the great work Andrei.

Ideas For a Visual Studio Tool

Tue, 03 Mar 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Idea for a VisualStudio Tool for Xamarin

In my last blog I wrote about all the different image sizes required for a Xamarin project and how to calculate them and size them and where to put them, it’s all very confusing when you first start out in mobile development so I hope that post helped…

Recently (2019!) I was working on a standalone UWP project for a new instructor control station in the Mobile Flight Sim I helped to build, this sim is used by the airline I work for at School STEM events, Recruitment and fun corporate events. It travels to events all over the UK and EU (Have to write that now 😥) and this new Instructor station allows the pilots at the event to control the sim.

Working with Images in Xamarin.Forms

Tue, 03 Mar 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Working with Images In Xamarin

Your just starting out developing a Xamarin app and wondering how you add an image, where they go and what sizes are needed. This is something I wondered when I first started and it took me a while to resolve it. The docs Images in Xamarin.Forms are very good (They all are really!) but still I was confused on the best approach. Well I was asked by someone I have been helping a little get into Xamarin Development so rather than just share with one person I thought a blog would be better.

Finding and 3D Printing a Hand

Sun, 06 Oct 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Finding and 3D Printing a Hand

TLDR;

This is a long post as it’s the back story to the whole project and how it came about to getting a design for the hand, it covers the 3D design and printing as well as the problems along the way. Don’t worry if your here hoping to see code and electronics or even the Xamarin App thats coming soon, I just need to explain where the Handy design came from first. Plus I have noticed that giving talks around the world most people find the 3D printing side very interesting.

Handy the Big Picture!

Mon, 23 Sep 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Handy and the Big Picture

Meet Kayden a Local 15 year old and the son of close friends, as you can see he is a happy teenager (They do exist!) full of fun and ready to take on the world…

You may also notice that Kayden was born without a left forearm and hand and is also missing the middle fingers on his right hand, so life is a challenge at times but it’s Ok the NHS (National Health Service here in the UK) are there to help free of charge (if you conveniently forget you pay TAX). So from a very young age Kayden and his parents have been visiting hospital to be measured and fitted with a prosthetic left arm, great you may think job done whats next.

10 steps to submitting your first Xamarin.Forms PR.

Sat, 21 Sep 2019 00:00:00 +0000

10 steps to submitting your first Xamarin.Forms PR.

As a Freelance Xamarin Dev I spend time now and then looking at the Xamarin Github to see if the issue I have been battling with is my code or some bug in Xamarin.Forms or maybe I am trying to work out why something isn’t working how I had hoped.

Now I am not saying by any stretch that Xamarin is a buggy code base far from it in the past year or two it has become very stable compared to previous years and yes there are bits here and there (Looking at you UWP!!) that need input but find me a code base that is 100% bug free.

Custom Fonts and Icons in Xamarin.Forms

Sun, 23 Sep 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Custom Fonts and Icons in Xamarin.Forms

Custom Fonts and using Icons in your project sounds like a lot of work and importing projects like FFImageLoading or Iconize both amazing packages but for this a bit of overkill (if you can get the icons as a font pack!).

So the first job is to get the custom font pack from the design team or the web and we want this in a .ttf format, if you want Icons then I recommend using the Icon font pack from Material Design Icons you can download the whole Icon pack as a Zip using the big download button top right and inside this zip you will find the .ttf file. Of course there are others but this pack has over 2800 icons and an active community adding more all the time.

Live Player V Live Reload

Fri, 03 Aug 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Live Player v Live Reload.

So, your developing a Xamarin app and getting tired of the make a change, save the change, build the change, deploy the change notice you messed it up so starting the loop over again. Yes that loop can take a few minutes and all you might be editing is the value in the CSS file to change and test the colour of the background (Yes Xamarin.Forms has CSS styling now that’s awesome too give it a try…).