On March 21, 2017, Aaron Melamed, product solutions specialist for Syncfusion, presented the webinar Visual Studio + Xamarin + Syncfusion—a primer on how to use Xamarin and Visual Studio in conjunction with Syncfusion components.
Did you miss the webinar? Watch the recording here and download the sample Aaron used.
The following section contains all the questions asked by attendees during the webinar with answers provided by Aaron and additional Syncfusion staff.
A: Yes, we offer competitive upgrade discounts. Also, with our flat license you save 80 percent or more compared with other companies.
A: We don’t have runtime license checks.
A: Special handling is not required. All our controls are available through NuGet.
A: Yes, you may sell your product.
A: All our products are available in the Global License and the Community License.
A: Yes, any individual developer can have free access. Companies with less than a million dollars (US) in revenue can also.
A: Yes, but you do need to sign an agreement, which is free. Contact us to sign up.
A: You can get it from our Community License download page.
A: Yes.
A: Yes, we do have plans to make our chart render in the Xamarin.Forms XAML previewer.
A: Thanks for the feedback. We will take it into account.
A: Yes, we have a map control that can render shape files (.shp).
A: The image editor control will include features such as cropping, rotating, free-form drawing, shape drawing, and text annotation.
A: Yes, you can find them on our Essential Studio® for Xamarin page.
A: Yes, we do have plans.
A: Yes.
A: Yes.
A: No
A: Syncfusion offers a huge selection of controls for every platform. Also, we have unique enterprise platforms, such as the Dashboard Platform and Big Data Platform. One unique aspect is that our license is flat and covers everyone. A company with $100 million in revenue will pay $4,000 per year for all users—less expensive than any competitor.
A: We do have plans, but not for the immediate future.
A: No, Syncfusion is not currently not working on anything for that.
A: The image editor will be part of our Volume 2, 2017 release coming in late April.
A: We don’t have a public road map available, but here are some items you can expect later this year.
Coming in Volume 2 this April:
Coming in Volume 3 this fall:
Please note that this is only a rough estimate. Timelines for delivery are likely to change. Also, this list does not include several customer-requested enhancements for existing controls.
A: Yes, but not in the immediate future since there are other higher-priority items on our to-do list.
A: Generally, yes, but minor checks may be needed.
A: Currently, Syncfusion does not have a control to do this, but maybe this sample from Xamarin might help: https://github.com/xamarin/customer-success-samples/tree/master/samples/Xamarin.Forms/FormsNativeVideoPlayer.
A: Yes, they do. Please refer to the following documentation: https://help.syncfusion.com/xamarin/datagrid/row-height-customization#auto-fit-the-grid-rows-based-on-content.
A: We support XAML in Xamarin.Forms and AXML in Xamarin.Android applications.
A: Yes, we support UWP in Xamarin.Forms.
A: Yes, we fully support Visual Studio 2017.
A: The promise of Xamarin.Forms is that things will work across platforms.
A: Yes, we support Visual Studio 2015 Community.
A: Yes, Xamarin.Forms apps are compiled to native OS code.
A: In the sample, we mainly used event handlers for navigation purposes. You can bind the selected item property of the control to the view modal to be notified whenever you select an item in the control.
You can also use events to command behavior, as demonstrated in the following sample for the events that do not have commands.
https://developer.xamarin.com/samples/xamarin-forms/Behaviors/EventToCommandBehavior/
We will also investigate further and add commands where relevant.
A: That is true, however, if you would like to see the tutorial samples, you might need to download the .exe or .zip files.
A: Yes.
A: In the sample, we mainly used event handlers for navigation. You can bind the selected item property of the control to the view modal to be notified whenever you select an item in the control. You can also use an event to command behavior, as demonstrated in the following sample for events that do not have commands.
https://developer.xamarin.com/samples/xamarin-forms/Behaviors/EventToCommandBehavior/
We will investigate further and add commands where relevant.
A: We can do that through Direct-Trac, our support channel.
A: We don’t have samples, but you can refer to Xamarin’s CRM and sport samples for working with authentication, located at https://www.xamarin.com/prebuilt.
A: Xamarin results in real, native apps. React Native also produces native apps, but we feel that at this point, the Xamarin ecosystem is richer. Ionic apps are hybrids, so there will be user-perception differences and performance differences.
It comes down to a preference between using JavaScript versus C# when choosing between React Native and Xamarin.
A: Our understanding is that the most popular versions will work.
A: Yes, all static text in our controls can be localized.
A: Yes, separate packages are available from Syncfusion.
A: You can also choose to work with NuGet packages to avoid installing anything.
A: Currently, we don’t support Xamarin.Mac, but we will consider adding support if we receive sufficient customer requests.
A: Yes.
A: Definitely look at our e-book Xamarin.Forms Succinctly. We also recommend Charles Petzold’s guide on Xamarin.Forms.
A: Several samples ship with our download, and you can also find our Xamarin samples online.
A: Yes, we are constantly updating our documentation.
A: Yes, we will add more videos.
A: Yes.
A: Currently, there is no way to develop Xamarin apps without coding. Hence, you should have knowledge about the programming language and the platform.
A: More than 100 titles are available for free at our Technology Portal, including a title covering Xamarin.
A: An updated version of WPF Succinctly was recently published.
A: You can find Syncfusion’s documentation at https://help.syncfusion.com.
A: That depends on the platform. A couple of days is typical for most people.
A: You can download the sample at https://github.com/syncfusion/Xamarin-ExpenseAnalysis.
A: Since most developers prefer XAML, we will not have a webinar exclusively on Xamarin.Forms with straight code. We will, however, be happy to set up an individual demo for you.
A: We will consider that.
A: This sample application was completely developed on Visual Studio 2017. Visual Studio 2017 provides the only option to develop for iOS, Android, and UWP within the same IDE. We wanted to highlight that. All our controls are fully compatible with Visual Studio 2017.
A: We have been around for 16 years. Our mission is to create components for every dev’s toolbox. Learn more about us at https://www.syncfusion.com/company/about-us.
A: Yes, we think so. Xamarin.Forms Mac support is under development, and there is also talk of WPF being supported, so Xamarin is emerging as the most powerful cross-platform development solution.