Foreword

Xamarin.Forms was launched 6 years ago with the humble intention of being a simple tool for creating simple apps. In the years since then, the toolkit has grown considerably, becoming more capable and more complex. To my astonishment, a community sprung up around this little project, and before we knew it there were thousands of early adopters. It turns out there was a real call for bringing a XAML-style framework to mobile application development.

The journey to today has not been without mistakes. At times, things have become more complicated or less clear than they ought to have been. With the public release of version 1.0, there were many problems with the toolkit, and it took a lot of work, along with help from the community, to get most of them ironed out. I tell you this not to turn you away from using Xamarin.Forms—quite the opposite—it has had its trial by fire. I tell you this because having a guide who has seen where the traps and pitfalls are can save you time and anguish.

Johan Karlsson and Daniel Hindrikes have proven with this book that they not only understand how to use the tool we created, but they understand the vision of where we are trying to go. Their knowledge and expertise will help you to have a more complete understanding of the toolkit, as well as letting you navigate its ups and downs. This book will walk you through the most basic aspects of Xamarin.Forms through to some of the most complicated, and takes in some interesting side-streets along the way.

Jason Smith

Xamarin.Forms co-creator