Creating Android Apps with Xamarin in Visual Studio

Xamarin platform helps .Net developers to easily build applications for Android, iOS, Mac and Windows in C#. Let’s take a look at how to create our first Android demo with Xamarin in Visual Studio 2013.

Xamarin Installation and Configuration

Download Xamarin:

xamarin_download

Connect to the Internet, and run the Xamarin installer. Make sure you have already configured Java environment correctly, and then all needed packages will be automatically downloaded:

xamarin_installer

By default, the Android SDK is installed at C:\Program Files (x86)\Android\android-sdk. Use SDK Manager.exe to install corresponding system images, and run AVD Manager.exe to create an Android virtual device (AVD):

xamarin_avd

First Android App in C#

Launch Visual Studio 2013 to create an Android project:

xamarin_create

Click Main.axml to see the layout:

xamarin_layout

Check the code inside MainActivity.cs. A button with click event:

using System;
using Android.App;
using Android.Content;
using Android.Runtime;
using Android.Views;
using Android.Widget;
using Android.OS;

namespace HelloXamarin
{
    \[Activity(Label = "HelloXamarin", MainLauncher = true, Icon = "@drawable/icon")\]
    public class MainActivity : Activity
    {
        int count = 1;

        protected override void OnCreate(Bundle bundle)
        {
            base.OnCreate(bundle);

            // Set our view from the "main" layout resource
            SetContentView(Resource.Layout.Main);

            // Get our button from the layout resource,
            // and attach an event to it
            Button button = FindViewById<Button>(Resource.Id.MyButton);

            button.Click += delegate { button.Text = string.Format("{0} clicks!", count++); };
        }
    }
}

That’s all. Let’s try to build and run the app to see what will happen: xamarin_error An error alert: Deployment failed due to an error in FastDev assembly synchronization!

Don’t panic. To fix the issue, click project Properties -> Android Options, and uncheck Use Fast Development:

xamarin_config_uncheck

Rebuild the project. It’s successfully running now in the emulator:

xamarin_run

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