Deep Dive Into Xamarin With Azure Mobile Service

Xamarin

Xamarin is a platform to develop cross-platform and multi-platform applications, such as - for Windows phone, Android, and iOS. With Xamarin, you can use C# language to develop the apps for iOS, Android, and Universal Windows. And with Xamarin.Forms, the interface design for all three platforms can be accomplished within its XAML-based framework. Xamarin apps are built with standard, native user-interface controls.

Learn more on Xamarin.

Azure

Microsoft Azure is a growing collection of integrated cloud services which developers and IT professionals use to build, deploy, and manage applications through one global network of data centers. With Azure, you get the freedom to build and deploy wherever you want, using the tools, applications, and frameworks of your choice.

Learn more on Azure.

Azure Mobile Service

Azure App Service is a fully managed Platform as a Service (PaaS). It brings a rich set of capabilities to the web, mobile, and integration scenarios.

Azure App Service gives enterprise developers and system integrators a mobile-application development platform that's highly scalable and globally available.

This article shows you how to add a cloud-based backend service to a Xamarin.Forms app.

Prerequisites

  • Xamarin Studio or Visual Studio Community Edition.
  • Azure account.

Now, let's get started with the following steps.

Create a new Azure mobile app backend

Step 1

Sign in to the online Microsoft Azure Portal.

 

Step 2

In the Jumpbar, click New, then type Mobile Apps Quickstart in the "Search the marketplace" bar.



We have two options - Mobile App and Mobile Apps Quickstart. If you choose Mobile App, you can create the database manually. If you choose Mobile Apps Quickstart, you have a built-in database.



We choose "Mobile Apps Quickstart".



Then, click "Create".

Step 3

Next, we have given the App name, Subscription, and Resource Group followed by a click on "Create".

Wait a few minutes for the service to be deployed successfully.

Step 4

Open the App from the dashboard otherwise choose the App from All Resources.



Step 5 Configure the Server project

After opening the App, let's configure the database.

Choose "Quick Start" and you will see that you have client platforms like iOS, Android, Xamarin, Xamarin.Forms and Cordova. Here, choose your platform.

Step 6

Our app automatically gets connected to the database, table API, and configure the client application. Then, click "Download".

 

Step 7

Open your downloaded file and run it in Visual Studio. We can run it for Android, iOS, and UWP App.

Step 8

Run your app in Xamarin.Android.

Output

Main Screen

Add the content and click on the "+" button.

To delete, hold the item name.

Task deleted.

Conclusion

I hope you understood how to create a Xamarin app with Azure Mobile Service and how to run it.

Up Next
    Ebook Download
    View all
    Learn
    View all