Building cross-platforms applications has never been easier using Microsoft's Xamarin.Forms. In this article Nick introduces v6 of MvvmCross and shows how it can be leveraged to accelerate development and improve the architecture of a Xamarin.Forms application.
- By Nick Randolph
- 05/16/2018
With the release of iOS 11 and ARKit, creating augmented reality experiences has never been easier. Here’s a hands-on look at how easy it is to get started.
- By Greg Shackles
- 12/07/2017
Consuming services is something every application needs to do. In this article, Nick demonstrates how to document a REST service using Swagger in order to make it easy to consume from a Universal Windows Application.
- By Nick Randolph
- 06/12/2017
Chatbots are the new mobile application. In this article, Nick demonstrates how you can integrate a bot right into your Universal Windows Platform app via the Microsoft Bot Framework Direct Line API.
- By Nick Randolph
- 01/17/2017
Saving and retrieving data is a fundamental part of all but the simplest of applications. In this article, Nick walks through getting started using Entity Framework with SQLite to persist application data.
- By Nick Randolph
- 12/15/2016
Both the MediaElement and Player Framework provide rich, on-screen elements for controlling media playback. Here's how to use a Universal Windows Platform app to use both the System Media Transport Controls and Cortana to provide an alternative, more integrated player experience.
- By Nick Randolph
- 10/19/2016
The Universal Windows Platform comes with rich media capabilities. In this article Nick explores how to customize and extend the media playback experience using the Player Framework.
- By Nick Randolph
- 07/27/2016
Now that you know how to communicate with the Band apps, here's another twist. Let's get interactive.
- By Nick Randolph
- 05/12/2016
The Microsoft Band is one of the most sophisticated fitness and health trackers available today. In this article, Nick walks through building a Windows Phone app that can communicate with it.
- By Nick Randolph
- 03/01/2016
One of the hardest challenges of mobile development is how to minimize the cost of building the same application for multiple platforms. Nick shows how to use Xamarin.Forms to develop a cross-platform application that also targets the Universal Windows Platform.
- By Nick Randolph
- 02/03/2016
With the Universal Windows Platform, developers can target a wide variety of devices with a single application, but it comes with performance ramifications. We look at ways to make those apps more efficient and highly performant.
- By Nick Randolph
- 01/08/2016
With the Universal Windows Platform, you can now build apps that truly interact with the new digital assistant for Windows. In this article, Nick Randolph walks through using Cortana to launch and interact with your application.
- By Nick Randolph
- 12/01/2015
An introduction to the Chakra JavaScript engine and how it can be used within a Windows 10 app to execute JavaScript.
- By Nick Randolph
- 10/21/2015
Nick Randolph pulls apart the lifecycle of a Windows 10 application and reveals what goes on programmatically when users launch, switch between and close Windows 10 apps.
- By Nick Randolph
- 09/23/2015
In this article Nick Randolph breaks down XAML for the Universal Windows Platform using the Live Visual Tree and Live Property Explorer tool windows in Visual Studio 2015.
- By Nick Randolph
- 08/25/2015
Nick Randolph investigates the inner workings of the new compiled data binding support available to Windows platform developers in the Universal Windows Platform.
- By Nick Randolph
- 06/17/2015
Microsoft finally unveiled the Windows Universal Application Platform at Build in San Francisco. Nick Randolph takes the new controls -- and other changes that assist developers building adaptive layout applications -- out for a spin.
- By Nick Randolph
- 05/27/2015
Building line-of-business mobile apps for Windows Phone that connect to Microsoft Azure for authentication, data storage and notifications isn't much different from on-premises apps. Here's what it takes.
- By Nick Randolph
- 04/28/2015
Adding real-time diagnostics and communication to a Windows Phone 8.1 application is no challenge for SignalR.
- By Nick Randolph
- 03/10/2015
Nick Randolph dissects a Windows Phone 8.1 application package in order to inject analytics tracking code into a pre-build application.
- By Nick Randolph
- 01/22/2015
Nick looks at the preview release of Blend for Visual Studio 2015 and demonstrates some tips and tricks that will save you time and help you build better looking Windows Phone applications.
- By Nick Randolph
- 12/09/2014
Here's how to build a Windows Phone application that synchronizes data with Azure Mobile Services, triggered when the device restores its network connection.
- By Nick Randolph
- 11/01/2014
Windows Phone applications can use Azure Active Directory to authenticate users and authorize access to Azure Mobile Services. Nick Randolph walks through the process, step by step.
- By Nick Randolph
- 10/13/2014
Nick Randolph discussed how Windows Phone applications can be deployed within a company using enterprise distribution.
- By Nick Randolph
- 09/11/2014
How to define common XAML resources to improve the consistency of your applications.
- By Nick Randolph
- 08/06/2014