I think this will stay a dream for a very long while. If Xamarin would create controls based on the lowest common denominator of each platform (with regards to functionality), the capabilities of said controls would be very limited indeed, likely only useful for the most basic of apps.
Mmm, yeah that's a good point, I didn't think that quite through, and to be honest I've not used Xamarin myself. How does it handle the UI layer? Is it re-done for each platform, using C# but with the Android UI and iPhone UI classes?
It's up to you, but mostly, yeah, you write out as much into the shared code area (C#) as possible then, write up/wire up your UI layer using native layout tooling. How far you go to using stuff like iOS storyboards or just doing code-based implementations (C#) is up to you. You have the flexibility.
This yields a massive reduction in time and cost associated with managing multiple code bases while holding onto the native experience.
It's not quite as fluid as html+css, but you don't hear nearly the performance-horror stories.
Comments
I think this will stay a dream for a very long while. If Xamarin would create controls based on the lowest common denominator of each platform (with regards to functionality), the capabilities of said controls would be very limited indeed, likely only useful for the most basic of apps.
Mmm, yeah that's a good point, I didn't think that quite through, and to be honest I've not used Xamarin myself. How does it handle the UI layer? Is it re-done for each platform, using C# but with the Android UI and iPhone UI classes?
It's up to you, but mostly, yeah, you write out as much into the shared code area (C#) as possible then, write up/wire up your UI layer using native layout tooling. How far you go to using stuff like iOS storyboards or just doing code-based implementations (C#) is up to you. You have the flexibility.
This yields a massive reduction in time and cost associated with managing multiple code bases while holding onto the native experience.
It's not quite as fluid as html+css, but you don't hear nearly the performance-horror stories.