#VS2015 – Do you need #Xamarin Forms Designer? This may help you ;)

Hola!

Finally, I think Xamarin Forms begins to make sense in my head. A nice one in this training ride, is when I start to learn more about Xamarin Forms, at the end I learn a lot about Android and iOS. But still, I miss something as simple as a visual designer for Xamarin Forms pages. I am sure that this is in the Xamarin team Backlog, however (as a good lazy Developer) I try to find an alternative.

After a couple of searches I found Jonathan Yates blog, “Adventures in Xamarin Forms” where there is plenty of interesting material about Xamarin Forms. In one of the blog entries, Jonathan wrote about a tool that allows you to translate Windows Phone XAML code to Pages in Xamarin Forms. The basic steps are

1 start your designs of Windows Phone Designer pages

2 you use the tool to create a new Xamarin Form from the XAML for Windows Phone

3 done!

The tool name is "Windows Phone Forms to Xamarin Forms" and can be downloaded from the links in the references section. The app user interface is quite simple:

The operation of the tool is based on use Xamarin native controls and syntax, for example

– A TextBlock is translated to a Label

– A TextBox is translated to an Entry

– A StackPanel is translated to a StackLayout

Once the new file is generated we can add the XForm to our project.

Although the translation cover almost all the elements in the page, I had to review the Namespace and other settings to get the Xamarin Form up and running. Lucky for me, this review task took only 15 minutes.

As initial test I think it is enough, Jonathan makes a much more detailed study on how to work with styles, or the configuration of the tool options. When in use, and learn a little more, then it will be time to write a second post.

Saludos @ Madrid

/El Bruno

References

– Jonathan Yates, Adventures in Xamarin Forms http://adventuresinxamarinforms.com/

– Windows Phone Forms to Xamarin Forms http://www.gui-innovations.com/Blog%20Posts/windows-phones-forms-to-xamarin-forms.html

– Material Designer for Xamarin Forms http://adventuresinxamarinforms.com/2015/05/20/material-designer-for-xamarin-forms/