Getting Started with the Uno Platform and WinUI 3 : Hands-On Building of Cross-Platform Desktop, Mobile, and Web Applications That Can Run Anywhere

Get ready to build applications that can run anywhere using the Uno Platform and WinUI. Modern application development can be an intimidating and complex topic, especially when you are building cross-platform applications that need to support multiple operating systems and form factors. There are so many options when it comes to frameworks and selecting the right one for your enterprise is critical in delivering a successful product to market. For the developer who has zero experience building apps with Xamarin, UWP, WinUI, or the Uno Platform, this book deconstructs those complex concepts into tangible building blocks so that productivity gains are immediately recognized. You will start off learning basic concepts and get a bird's-eye view of the enabling technologies to ensure that you feel comfortable with the tools and terminology. From there, you will learn about some of the more popular options in the .NET ecosystem, understand their attributes and shortcomings, and learn why the Uno Platform is ideal for building a cross-platform application that targets Android, iOS, Windows, WASM (Web Assembly), Linux, and MacOS. Then, you will follow a product release timeline that takes you through building an application, introducing key concepts at every step of the way. Each section of the book is chock full of tips and edge case documentations for the different platforms. What You Will Learn Manage multi-targeting solutions: specifically, how to handle the different project heads Effectively write cross-platform software and handle the edge cases of the different platforms Understand the fundamentals of working with Uno Platform WinUI apps Explore enterprise-grade application architecture using MVVM Understand Dependency Injection and how it applies to application architecture Who This Book Is For Developers who understand some basics of C# and object-oriented programming Table of Contents About the Author About the Technical Reviewer Acknowledgments Introduction Chapter 1: Introduction to Uno Platform Who Is This Book For?All Developers .NET MAUI and Xamarin.Forms Developers Universal Windows Platform (UWP) and WinUI Developers Windows Presentation Framework (WPF) Developers .NET and C# Developers What Is Uno Platform Pixel Perfect Architecture Windows WebAssembly macOS and iOS Android Xamarin Is Not Xamarin.Forms Conclusion Chapter 2: New Project Visual Studio Requirements Project Templates Uno Check Requirements Installing Uno Check Run Uno Check Other IDEs UWP vs. WinUI Create a New Project Why Shared Projects? Shared Code: UnoDrive.Shared Windows Target: UnoDrive.Windows WebAssembly: UnoDrive.Wasm Mobile Targets Android iOS macOS MacCatalyst WPF Target: UnoDrive.Skia.Wpf GTK Target: UnoDrive.Skia.Gtk Install WSL2 Visual Studio: .NET Debugging on WSL2 Install X11 Server on Windows Install X11 on WSL2 Install .NET 6 Install GTK3 on Linux Install GTK3 Runtime on Windows (Optional) Configure Default WSL2 Debug UnoDrive.Skia.Gtk Conclusion Chapter 3: Your First Page The Login Page Adding Controls Customize Layout and Controls Test Cross-Platform WebAssembly Android iOS macOS Linux WPF Conclusion Chapter 4: Application Styles Style Implementations Control Styles Page Styles Application Styles Named Styles Style Inheritance Organizing Styles App.xaml Styles Benefits Disadvantages Grouped Styles Benefits Disadvantages Implement Grouped Styles Create Entry Point Add TextBlock Styles Add Button Styles Update LoginPage.xaml Conclusion Chapter 5: Platform-Specific Code and XAML Pre-processor Directives XAML: XML Namespaces Multi-targeting Project Pre-processor Directives Code Organization Special Cases with Skia XAML: XML Namespaces Native Controls Multi-targeted Projects Conclusion Chapter 6: Master-Detail Menu and Dashboard Navigation Types Frame-Based Navigation (View Stack) Tabbed Menu Master-Detail Menu Combination Create a Dashboard Layout PaneCustomContent MenuItems Header Frame Windows WASM Android iOS macOS Linux WPF Menu Navigation Page Header Windows WASM Android iOS macOS Linux WPF Windows WASM Android iOS macOS Linux WPF Conclusion Chapter 7: Custom Fonts Download Material Icons Add Font Styles Update the Header Control Add Font Files to Projects Windows Android Skia: Linux and WPF Linux WPF iOS macOS WASM Conclusion Chapter 8: Model-View-ViewModel (MVVM) What Is MVVM? View Model ViewModel MVVM Example MVVM in UnoDrive ViewModelLocator Set AutoWireViewModel Use LoginViewModel Conclusion Chapter 9: Dependency Injection and Logging What Is Dependency Injection? Parts of the System Container Registration Retrieval Lifetime Example Dependency Injection in UnoDrive Add Logging to Dependency Injection LoginViewModel Windows WebAssembly (WASM) WPF GTK Android/iOS/macOS Conclusion Chapter 10: Application Navigation Navigation in Uno Platform Optional Parameters Object Parameter NavigationTransitionInfo Navigation Page Overrides Navigation Example Add Navigation to LoginViewModel Add NuGet Packages to Target Platforms Add Commanding to LoginViewModel Test Login Flow Create NavigationService Create INavigationService and Implementation Register INavigationService with Dependency Injection Add INavigationService to LoginViewModel Add INavigationService to the Dashboard Test the Application Conclusion Chapter 11: Authentication with Azure Active Directory How Does It Work? Scopes Access Token Refresh Token Redirect URI Azure App Registration Implement Authentication NuGet Packages Configuration and Dependency Injection iOS and macOS Keychain Access Authentication Service Application Code Flow Test Authentication Windows WebAssembly (WASM) WPF GTK Android iOS macOS Conclusion Chapter 12: Converters How Does It Work? Create the Converters IsEmptyToVisibilityConverter BoolToVisibilityConverter Add Converters to Global Styles Usage Conclusion Chapter 13: Microsoft Graph, Web APIs, and MyFilesPage Microsoft Graph Web APIs and Uno Platform Graph Service Implementation Add NuGet Packages Data Models .NET 6 Mobile Data Models GraphFileService Interface GraphFileService: Stubs GraphFileService: AuthenticationProvider GraphFileService: GetFilesAsync .NET 6 Mobile Considerations WPF Considerations Cross-Platform ImageSource Considerations GraphFileService: GetRootFilesAsync .NET 6 Mobile Considerations Dependency Injection Setup ViewModel Implementation Constructor Properties and Data Binding Data Loading ViewModel Entry Point and IInitialize Complete View Model Code User Interface Implementation Address Bar Files and Folders Explorer MyFilesPage.xaml Complete Code Testing the Code Windows WebAssembly (WASM) WPF GTK Android iOS macOS Conclusion Chapter 14: Microsoft Graph and Dashboard Menu DashboardViewModel Implement the Constructor Public Properties Microsoft Graph Integration .NET 6 Mobile Considerations IInitialize Implementation Complete DashboardViewModel Implementation Dashboard Changes User Interface Testing Windows WebAssembly (WASM) WPF GTK Android iOS macOS Conclusion Chapter 15: Images and GridView Uno Platform Image Layer Adding Images Displaying Images Create DataTemplate macOS Considerations Test the User Interface Windows WebAssembly (WASM) WFP GTK Android iOS macOS Conclusion Chapter 16: Selectors How Do Selectors Work? Implement the Selector Add the Selector Update GridView Styles Conclusion Chapter 17: OneDrive Navigation Update Models Item Click Navigation Forward and Back Navigation Testing the User Interface Conclusion Chapter 18: Offline Data Access Offline Data Access Strategies Caching Strategies Local Data Store and LiteDB Add the LiteDB NuGet Package Create the DataStore Authentication and Token Caching Simple Caching in the Dashboard Add APIs to the DataStore Add Offline Code to the Dashboard GraphFileService and MyFilesPage Caching Add APIs to DataStore Add Offline Code to GraphFileService Update Loading Indicators Conclusion Chapter 19: Complete App Update the GraphFileService and Data Model Update View Models Port Existing Code into BaseFilesViewModel Update MyFilesViewModel Implement RecentFilesViewModel Implement SharedFilesViewModel Update the User Interface Conclusion Index Get ready to build applications that can run anywhere using the Uno Platform and WinUI. Modern application development can be an intimidating and complex topic, especially when you are building cross-platform applications that need to support multiple operating systems and form factors. There are so many options when it comes to frameworks and selecting the right one for your enterprise is critical in delivering a successful product to market. For the developer who has zero experience building apps with Xamarin, UWP, WinUI, or the Uno Platform, this book deconstructs those complex concepts into tangible building blocks so that productivity gains are immediately recognized. You will start off learning basic concepts and get a bird's-eye view of the enabling technologies to ensure that you feel comfortable with the tools and terminology. From there, you will learn about some of the more popular options in the .NET ecosystem, understand their attributes and shortcomings, and learn why the Uno Platform is ideal for building a cross-platform application that targets Android, iOS, Windows, WASM (Web Assembly), Linux, and MacOS. Then, you will follow a product release timeline that takes you through building an application, introducing key concepts at every step of the way. Each section of the book is chock full of tips and edge case documentations for the different platforms. What You Will Learn Manage multi-targeting solutions: specifically, how to handle the different project heads Effectively write cross-platform software and handle the edge cases of the different platforms Understand the fundamentals of working with Uno Platform WinUI apps Explore enterprise-grade application architecture using MVVM Understand Dependency Injection and how it applies to application architecture This book is for developers who understand some basics of C# and object-oriented programming. Skye Hoefling is a Lead Software Engineer and works on cross-platform apps for desktop, mobile, and web using Xamarin and .NET technologies. She has been using .NET and Microsoft technologies since 2006 and has a Bachelor of Science degree from Rochester Institute of Technology in Game Design and Development. Skye has a background in enterprise software, building custom web portals for large corporations as well as small projects used by general consumers. She is an active Open Source contributor, a Microsoft MVP in Developer Technologies, and a .NET Foundation Member. You can find her on twitter @SkyeTheDev as well at her software development blog, SkyeTheDev, where you will find a wide range of blogs