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hamedkermani-7721 avatar image
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hamedkermani-7721 asked RobCaplan edited

Choosing proper technology for building multi platform application for both Desktop and Mobile

I want to create an application that runs on both desktop and mobile with minimum effort. for this purpose, I decided to develop app in .NetCore or .Net5 and use WPF for Desktop UI and Xamarin for mobile UI.

my first question: I haven't any experience in Xamarin so I doubt I could utilize my .Net behind code in Xamarin easily or without any more effort. does this migration is easy?

second: nowadays I hear about .Net MAUI and building multi-platform UI and it confused me for choosing the proper technology. could MAUI could help me and does MAUI is a better option for me? does it have any constraints?

last: if you have any better solution for developing an app that runs on both Desktop and Mobile, I will appreciate you if you tell me your idea.

dotnet-xamarindotnet-wpf-xaml
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Castorix31 avatar image
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Castorix31 answered lextm commented

From : The New .NET Multi-platform App UI :

Should I use Xamarin.Forms today, or wait for .NET MAUI?
Use Xamarin.Forms! You’ll have a migration path to .NET MAUI when everything is ready.

What is the migration path from Xamarin.Forms?
First, you do NOT need to rewrite your application. The first step will be to update your project and solution files to use the standardized SDK Style. You’ll then update the namespace from Xamarin.Forms, and update your NuGet packages. Any obsolete or deprecated APIs should be updated at this time since this is a major version release. That’s it!






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if I understand correctly, your suggestion is to use Xamarin form for Mobile and update it when MAUI comes, but what about Desktop? use WPF? if I use WPF when MAUI comes it would be useless?

0 Votes 0 ·

Xamarin is cross-platform (UWP on Windows)
(Cross-platform with Xamarin)
Xamarin.Forms is an open source mobile UI framework from Microsoft for building iOS, Android, & Windows apps with .NET from a single shared codebase.

Xamarin.Forms supported platforms

Cross-Platform for Desktop Developers


But you can also use WPF : WPF platform setup


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lextm avatar image lextm hamedkermani-7721 ·

MAUI is already there in .NET 6 preview 2, https://devblogs.microsoft.com/dotnet/announcing-net-6-preview-2/ Try it and you know it.

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ChrisMorris-5705 avatar image
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ChrisMorris-5705 answered

The difference between a native app and a progressive web app (PWA) is in the way users access them. For instance, progressive web apps are delivered through the web and are accessible for cross platform development. They are created by using a certain programming language, such as HTML, Javascript, or CSS.

On average, Americans spend 5 hours a day on their mobile phones. Because the trend of mobile devices overtaking the presence of other devices is growing, businesses are rapidly adapting to it.

What is a PWA?

The progressive web app approach is somewhere between mobile apps and mobile websites. These web apps can run within a browser.

PWAs are available and can be opened on almost any device, desktop, or mobile. The PWA cross-platform development tools and technologies that are used to build apps are HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and JS frameworks such as Vue or Angular. A great example of PWAs is Twitter Lite and Uber.

Some benefits that users and businesses get if they choose PWA:

Quick page loading
No need for installs or updates
Taking up less space
How does PWA work?

The progressive web application development is done on service workers in JavaScript. The needs and tasks of service workers are defined beforehand and kept separately as a script. As a result, there is a proper configuration of the elements, so the PWA can load content even before the user clicks on the URL link.

My thoughts:

Progressive Web Application (PWA) is truly considered the future of multi-platform development because of its application on several devices, the improved speed, and the easiness that requires no installation or updates. Its availability on both Android and iOS makes PWA an app of the future.


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