{"id":38338,"date":"2018-12-04T11:21:03","date_gmt":"2018-12-04T16:21:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.xamarin.com\/?p=38338"},"modified":"2019-03-25T13:42:17","modified_gmt":"2019-03-25T21:42:17","slug":"connect-2018-xamarin-announcements","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/xamarin\/connect-2018-xamarin-announcements\/","title":{"rendered":"Connect(); 2018 Xamarin Announcements"},"content":{"rendered":"
            Today, at Microsoft\u00a0Connect(); 2018, we have several exciting announcements about\u00a0brand new capabilities and foundational improvements in the Xamarin platform\u00a0driven by your generous feedback.\u00a0<span>\u00a0<\/span>\r\n<\/code><\/pre>\n
\u00a0<\/span>Visual Studio developers everywhere will\u00a0enjoy\u00a0updated\u00a0stable releases of Xamarin with Visual Studio 2017 and Visual Studio 2017 for Mac. We are also giving you the first hands-on preview of Visual Studio 2019, along with Xamarin.Forms 4.0. Below are just a few highlights from today\u2019s announcements:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
Cross-Platform UI<\/h2>\n
Xamarin.Forms 3.4<\/span><\/span><\/a>\u00a0has debuted, bringing you the all-new\u00a0<\/span>ImageButton<\/span>\u00a0control, new tab index accessibility features, plus\u00a0<\/span><\/span>40 more improvements<\/span><\/span>. You have told us loud and clear that you want more powerful UI controls and easier access to customize your native, cross-platform mobile apps. Beginning in version 3.0, we have collaborated closely with contributors to identify the controls and features needed most, define the specifications, review the pull requests, and see them through to shipping. Thank you!<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
This update is shipping via your favorite NuGet package manager.<\/p>\n
Early Preview: Xamarin.Forms 4.0<\/h2>\n
Shell \u2013 A Better Host for your Mobile App<\/h3>\n
Get a taste of just how easy it is to stand up a cross-platform mobile application with our first preview\u00a0Xamarin.Forms\u00a04.0.\u00a0We are ready to unveil Shell, a super simple way to express the structure and navigation for your application in a single file. No more dealing with different page types to handle setting up complicated navigation. And speaking of navigation, Shell provides URI powered navigation APIs to jump to any point in your application instantly, passing data along the way. To learn more about Shell and explore the various features\u00a0explore\u00a0our\u00a0documentation<\/a>\u00a0and keep an eye out\u00a0for a special article on MSDN Magazine later this month.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
To showcase using Shell, we have developed a new reference app called Tailwind Traders and\u00a0released it on GitHub<\/a>.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Consistent UI with Visual<\/h3>\n
When it comes to the look of your mobile applications, you have told us that upwards of 90% of\u202fthe time<\/span><\/span>,<\/span><\/span>\u00a0you need iOS and Android to look mostly or\u00a0<\/span><\/span>exactly the same<\/span><\/span>. You backed it up by showing us your applications and talking about the challenges you faced in achieving your designs. To help you achieve your goals of consistent<\/span><\/span>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span><\/span>native UI across platforms, we are introducing Visual. Visual goes much deeper than styles, all the way to providing highly customized renderers that deliver the same look and behavior on both iOS and Android. The first supported Visual\u00a0<\/span><\/span>is \u201cMaterial\u201d<\/span><\/span>\u00a0and our first preview includes implementations of Button, Entry, Frame, and\u00a0<\/span><\/span>ProgressBar<\/span><\/span>. To get started, set the Visual property on any\u00a0<\/span><\/span>ContentPage<\/span><\/span>\u00a0or UI control.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
<ContentPage xmlns=\"http:\/\/xamarin.com\/schemas\/2014\/forms\"\r\n  xmlns:x=\"http:\/\/schemas.microsoft.com\/winfx\/2009\/xaml\"\r\n  Visual=\"Material\">\r\n  \u2026\r\n<\/ContentPage><\/pre>\n
As\u00a0 you can see below, there is still lots of work to be done to unify the default design, and we will continue to improve this as we work through the Xamarin.Forms 4.0 preview cycle. For more information on Visual read our preview documentation<\/a>.<\/p>\n
\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n
Note:<\/strong>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Visual depends on<\/span><\/span>\u00a0Android 9.0, Android Support 28 latest version, and\u00a0<\/span><\/span>target\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Android 28.<\/span><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Faster Lists, More Layouts<\/h3>\n
ListView<\/span>\u00a0may have served you well in the past, or it may have shown its limitations early and often.\u00a0<\/span>CollectionView<\/span>\u00a0aims to help you forget all about\u00a0<\/span>ListView<\/span>\u00a0by introducing more extensible layout options. It also offers modern native control support for performance and an all-around better API to support your MVVM driven application architecture. By default,\u00a0<\/span>CollectionView<\/span>\u00a0provides layouts for vertical, horizontal, and grid. You may easily extend this to support your own custom layout. On iOS, it leverages the powerful\u00a0<\/span>UICollectionView<\/span>, and on Android, it leverages the\u00a0<\/span>RecyclerView<\/span>. In addition to\u00a0<\/span>being<\/span>\u00a0an amazing new control for displaying collections of things, it\u2019s the perfect foundation for a very flexible\u00a0<\/span>CarouselView<\/span>. Both new controls are available today for preview in 4.0. Check our preview documentation<\/a> to get started.<\/span><\/p>\n
https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2019\/03\/EmptyView.mp4<\/a><\/video><\/div><\/p>\n
Cross-Platform Access to Platform Services\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n
Xamarin.Essentials\u00a01.0 is now available for all Xamarin applications! This makes it easier than ever to access non-UI platform APIs from shared code such as geolocation, secure storage, sensors, device information, and many more.\u00a0For a full list of available cross-platform capabilities,\u00a0read the docs<\/a>\u00a0and keep an eye on the\u00a0GitHub repository<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Preview Today<\/h3>\n
To simplify getting started previewing\u00a0<\/span>Xamarin.Forms<\/span>\u00a04.0, we have created a special package of new templates that implement Shell and include Essentials. You can also check the pre-release option in your NuGet package manager and install\u00a0<\/span>Xamarin.Forms<\/span>\u00a04.0-pre1 directly from NuGet.<\/span><\/p>\n
Xamarin.Forms 4.0-pre1 Release notes<\/a><\/p>\n
Download Xamarin.Forms Shell Templates for Visual Studio 2019 Preview on Windows<\/a><\/p>\n
To enable these new controls, be sure to set these flags just before you start\u00a0Xamarin.Forms\u00a0in your\u00a0MainActivity.cs\u202f and\u00a0AppDelegate.cs.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
global::Xamarin.Forms.Forms.SetFlags(\"Shell_Experimental\", \"Visual_Experimental\", \"CollectionView_Experimental\");\u00a0\r\nglobal::Xamarin.Forms.Forms.Init(this,\u00a0savedInstanceState);<\/pre>\n
As you have any feedback or find issues, please let us know by filing a GitHub issue<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Android Announcements<\/h2>\n
Android Build Performance & Reliability<\/h2>\n
In Visual Studio 2017 version 15.9 and Visual Studio for Mac 7.7 we made initial build performance and build correctness improvements<\/a>. In Visual Studio 2019 and Visual Studio for Mac 8.0 the journey continues as we take more ground in the battle to spend less time building and deploying.<\/p>\n
We are also providing support for Android’s next generation packaging tooling that you can learn more about below. To enable this feature, you can add a MSBuild flag in your project’s .csproj<\/code>:<\/p>\n