Evolve 2016: Becoming a XAML Master

Layouts

Xamarin.Forms has several layouts for organizing on-screen content. StackLayout, Grid, AbsoluteLayout, ScrollView, and RelativeLayout can each be used to create beautiful, responsive user interfaces.

Navigation

Xamarin.Forms provides a number of different page navigation experiences, depending upon the Page type being used.

Styles

Font, color, and other attributes can be grouped into styles which can be shared across controls, layouts, or the entire application using ResourceDictionaries.

ListView

Xamarin.Forms provides a list view control to display scrolling rows of data. The control includes contextual actions, HasUnevenRows automatic sizing, separator customization, pull-to-refresh, and headers and footers.

Maps

Adding maps requires an additional NuGet package download and some platform-specific configuration. Maps and pin markers can be added in just a few lines of code once the configuration is done.

TableView

The table view is similar to a list view, but rather than being designed for long lists of data it is intended for data-entry-style screens of scrolling controls or simple scrolling menus.

WebView

Xamarin.Forms uses the native web browser control on each platform, and can display websites, local resources, and generated Html strings.

Text

Xamarin.Forms has several views for presenting and receiving text. Text views can be formatted and customized for platforms. Specific font settings can enable compatibility with accessibility features.

Gestures

The Xamarin.Forms GestureRecognizer class supports tap, pinch, and pan gestures on user interface controls.

Animation

Xamarin.Forms includes its own animation infrastructure that's straightforward for creating simple animations, while also being versatile enough to create complex animations.

Native Views

Native views from iOS, Android, and the Universal Windows Platform can be directly referenced from Xamarin.Forms XAML files. Properties and event handlers can be set on native views, and they can interact with Xamarin.Forms views.

Platform-Specifics

Platform-specifics allow you to consume functionality that's only available on a specific platform, without requiring custom renderers or effects.