Developer Support
Advocacy and Innovation
Latest posts
Building cross-platform Xamarin.Forms apps in VSTS
In a recent post from his blog, Premier Developer Consultant Jim Blizzard shows how to navigate past some of the issues when setting up VSTS builds for a multi-project Xamarin.Forms solution. The other day I wanted to create a DevOps CI / CD pipeline for a simple Xamarin.Forms app that I’d created. The Visual Studio solution contains project files for the PCL, Android, iOS, and UWP projects. The CI / CD pipeline would include VSTS for source control, build, and release, my Mac for the actual compile and packaging of the iOS app, and HockeyApp for beta version management and beta user management. It’s not that ...
Using the correct version of Android SDK Build-Tools with Xamarin Android
Senior Developer consultant, Wael Kdouh, walks us through what it takes to get Xamarin.Android working with the latest “24” SDK Build-tools package. Google recently released a new final version “24” of the Android SDK Build-tools package. Of course, being a good citizen meant that I used the Android SDK Manager to update to the latest version. The short story (after debugging every stage of the tool chain with a colleague of mine) is that Xamarin.Android is not yet fully compatible with this version. The details can be found here. What is more important is not the resolution but rather the journey that I emba...
US Workshops, Webcasts, and Tech Talks – August 2016 Update
Premier Support for Developers provides access to a wide range of advisory and training options that include most popular developer technologies. Options range from onsite, instructor-led workshops to remote training, and even access to a distinguished team of Developer Consultants for specialized advisory needs. Content frequently includes proven practices established through the support of Microsoft’s largest customers. Teams struggle to keep up with the latest technology trends, so training and knowledge transfer are important investments to build the expertise required for optimal application and infrast...
Single SignOn is easy, Single SignOut is not
In a recent post from his blog, Premier Developer Consultant Marius Rochon talks about problems with single SignOut. Single Sign In relies on the token issuer holding on to a cookie, which tells it about the user identity after the first signin. The issuer can then respond to a request for token in whatever protocol it came in (WSFed, SAML, OpendIDConnect, etc.). Continue reading on Marius’ blog…
UK Dev Briefing Day
In this post, Senior Application Development Manager, Neal Champion shares an overview of the UK Dev Briefing Day. This annual event typically runs in the spring of each year, covering up-to-date presentations on the latest tools and development capabilities for the Microsoft platform. It is held at the Microsoft UK Campus in Reading, Berkshire. If you want to be a part of the next event, please contact your ADM or reach out to learn more about Premier Support for Developers. Building a Mobile App with a Cloud Backend At Microsoft UK, the Cloud and Developer team of Application Development Managers (AD...
Ironman or Pokémon: Both are helping make the virtual real!
This post is a collaboration between David S. Lipien- Director in Microsoft’s Premier Services, Jeremy Rule- Practice Manager in Microsoft’s Premier Services, and Dan Simmons- Technical Manger. They are all part of the Enterprise Services Business where they enable clients to leverage IT for business success in the cloud and on the ground. Ironman and Pokémon both are telling the story of our future reality – virtual or otherwise. It is gratifying when films and games allow for a better understanding of something we do as developers in the world of IT. Often the work we do, the bits and the bytes, are not...
Global resources in Xamarin Forms! No App.xaml? Create one!
In a recent post from his blog, Premier Developer Consultant Joe Healy shows us how to create global resources in Xamarin Forms. Xaml developers moving to Xamarin Forms are hoping to take some of their good habits from the Windows (WPF/Silverlight/UWP) dev world with them (probably a few of their bad ones as well but we don’t want to talk about those). Sometimes the constructs that devs hope to find in Xamarin Forms are not there waiting for them by default. Such was the case with App.Xaml. Continue reading on Joe’s blog…
Let’s talk about Technical Debt
It seems that every company has at least one application built on aging technology and held together by virtual duct tape. Have you been that developer, fighting to upgrade a solution before it breaks? Have you been that business guy making the tough budget decision—maintenance or new development? This post is for both of you. How did we get here? Technical Debt What is Technical Debt? Many developers would say it simply represents all the code they would fix if they had the time to do it. It’s sometimes described as the gap between making something work and building it the right way. The ...
Xamarin Forms: Avoiding data binding in ListViews
In a recent post from his blog, Premier Developer Consultant Bill Reiss shows us how to avoid data binding in List Views for Xamarin Forms. This post was inspired by Jason Smith’s Evolve session discussing performance in Xamarin Forms. Jason gives a lot of great information and I highly recommend watching the video. At one point he mentions reducing the amount of data binding, and I was asked recently how you would do that in a ListView, so here is my solution for that. I am not a fan of over optimizing, so I would only use this if you are seeing performance issues in your ListView (scrolling hiccups etc.) alo...