In Syncfusion’s recent webinar, “Design Xamarin Apps with 100+ XAML Pages and Templates,” Meikanda Nayanar introduced the Essential UI Kit for Xamarin’s various generic pages and demonstrated an app created from some of them. If you missed the webinar, you can find it on our YouTube page, or watch it here:
The following is the Q&A portion of the webinar.
I want this solution. Can I access it after this webinar?
We will publish the app in GitHub in a few days and post the details in our blog. We will mail the webinar details along with the blog in about a week. However, the video is be posted live on our YouTube channel.
I want to create a shopping app. Do you have anything like that to look at?
Please find a demo app for a shopping application in this GitHub location.
When I use the Essential Kit, will it give me extra files?
The UI Kit extension will not add any extra classes, pages, or files to your application. Only the necessary pages will be included in your project.
Do you have any SQLite integrated screens? Like basic CRUD?
No. We use JSON files in our Essential UI Kit pages.
What do you recommend for local storage and integrating with your UI?
We use JSON files to access data for the demo. Those files can easily be replaced with databases like SQLite, since we are using the MVVM pattern to split the business logic and UI designs.
We keep the JSON files in the Data folder; data-services to access that data are in the DataService folder. When adding the XAML pages to your project from our Visual Studio extension, these folders are added to your Forms project. We have accessed that data from ViewModel using the dataservice classes. You just need to change these according to the local storage you choose.
Have you published the app in the App Store?
We will publish our UI Kit in the App Store in the next few releases. We already have the app in the Play Store.
The list where we had stories, can it be based on the template? E.g., one template can be the left-side image and the right side will be content, and another template can be an image rotator on the left side and on the right side it shows content?
Please check our chat XAML pages. There we handled this case in the screens. If you create a feedback request on this, we can check and update you with more details along with a sample for possible cases.
I registered on the Syncfusion website, but I can’t use the samples and templates. Why not?
You can find the details for using the XAML pages in your Xamarin.Forms project from this documentation. If this does not work for you, you can create a feedback request and we will get back to you.
Do you have a video that shows how to install these templates in Visual Studio for Mac?
We do not have a video, but you can find all the details in this documentation.
Can these templates be integrated with Prism?
The pages are developed in MVVM pattern. So there is no need for much modification.
How are templates implemented, natively or on forms side?
In the Essential UI Kit, the XAML pages were developed on the Xamarin.Forms platform.
How resource-intensive are these components? Do they operate well on older or lower power devices?
Yes, the pages are tested in all possible lower-end devices.
Can the onboarding contain some sort of animation?
Yes. We can use GIF or any animated view.
Why is the Essential UI Kit app only on Android? Was it not developed with Xamarin.Forms so that it could be deployed onto iOS, too?
The UI Kit was developed for Xamarin.Forms and can be used in Android, iOS, and UWP platforms.
What can be customized? Buttons’ shape and color or just color? Background color or image, or fonts?
Yes, we can customize button shapes and colors, fonts, and background colors. Please check this page for the customization options available for the buttons used in these pages.
Are there any templates for Xamarin.Forms that are free?
We have published the Essential UI Kit source code in GitHub with an MIT license. You can use these UI Kit pages in your application for free without any restrictions.
But for the pages that use Syncfusion controls, you must have a license to use those controls in your application to avoid the license validation pop-ups. Syncfusion has free community licenses that provide access to Essential Studio products for individual developers and small businesses.
Alternatively, you can replace the Syncfusion controls with framework controls to avoid the need for any licenses.
For more details about the Essential UI Kit license, please refer to this GitHub page.
For more information on Syncfusion licenses, please refer to our licensing page.
To learn more about the Syncfusion Community License, please see this page.
Do you have a link to how to install the forms/templates in Visual Studio 2019 (Windows)?
Yes, please check out this KB.
Do you have the link for installing these in Windows?
You can find our Visual Studio extension for Windows on Visual Studio Marketplace.
Can any of these templates or pages access internal calendar events?
No. Can you please create a feedback request on this, and include a use case for your requirement? We can update you with more details along with a sample for possible cases. This also lets us consider adding this feature in our future releases.
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[ebook] Xamarin.Forms Succinctly
[ebook] Xamarin for macOS Succinctly
[blog] Here’s the World’s First and Only UI Controls for Xamarin.Forms WPF
