Xamarin is an open-source, cross-platform framework developed by Microsoft. Built on the .NET framework, Xamarin is used to create native mobile iOS, Android, and Windows applications.
The need for mobile application development has skyrocketed over the past decade and is not slowing down anytime soon. This, in turn, also calls for the need for skilled developers who can develop native and cross-platform applications.
The following Xamarin interview questions and answers will help you learn more about the framework and help you in your Xamarin interview preparations.
Open-source - Xamarin is open source and its core libraries are available on GitHub. Although some of the tools used to develop may be proprietary to Microsoft and not available as open-source.
Cost-effective as the framework uses a single technology stack (C# and .NET) and reusable code. This also makes the maintenance and updates easier.
Fast development process due to shared codebase and the ability to maintain one set of codes that works across multiple platforms.
Code-sharing across multiple platforms - The majority of the code of an app built using Xamarin can be shared across multiple platforms. This allows the developers to write most of the code once and deploy it on Android, iOS, and Windows,
Consistent UI across devices using Xamarin.Forms and without using much native code.
Incredible support and well-documented to help in the development process.
Xamarin profiler is a tool developed by Microsoft that helps developers analyze the app’s behavior and understand its memory allocation and other performance-related aspects. This helps in identifying performance and memory-related issues and further optimizing the app.
Xamarin.Forms is a UI framework based on Xamarin. It allows developers to build user interfaces in a single shared codebase. Xamarin.Forms eliminates the need for creating native UI codes for separate platforms and allows developers to create a single UI codebase written in XAML (or C#). This code can then be rendered across different platforms.
Below are some of the basic layouts in Xamarin:
StackLayout positions its child element in a stack which can be vertical or horizontal
Grid arranges the child elements in rows and columns
AbsoluteLayout positions the child element according to the position of the parent element
Relative layout positions a child element relative to itself or any other child element
ScrollView adds scrolling to your page
Frame is used to show a rectangle around its child
ContentView acts as a container for a single child view
FlexLayout arranges the child elements similarly to that of CSS Flexbox
CollectionView is used to display a collection of data items
ListView shows the elements in a stack
TableView organizes the data in a table format
The following are the common types of pages in Xamarin.Forms:
ContentPage: A simple blank page that holds content
MasterDetailPage: A page consisting of a Menu that contains a list of pages and Details that show the currently selected state. MasterDetailPage is replaced by FlyoutPage in newer Xamarin.Forms versions.
NavigationPage: It manages the navigation between the pages
TabbedPage: Contains multiple tabs and enables navigation between the tabbed pages
TemplatePage: It is the base class for the ContentPage
CarouselPage: It provides navigation between pages with a right or left swipe
FlyoutPage: Manages a flyout menu and a detail area mainly used for navigation and layout flexibility
Xamarin Android is part of the Xamarin framework that allows the creation of Android apps with C# and .NET instead of Java or Kotlin. Xamarin.Android provides integrations with Android API allowing developers to interact with Android features and services
Data binding in Xamarin is used to synchronize the user interface with its underlying data layer. Data binding in Xamarin ensures that the UI is always in sync with the data and minimizes the need for manual updates in the UI every time the data changes.
Components (controls) in Xamarin.forms can be rendered differently on different platforms using a renderer class. This renderer class is responsible for mapping a Xamarin.Forms control to a native control on each platform. By creating a custom renderer you can customize the behavior and appearance of a control to align with the look and feel of each platform.
MVVM stands for Model-View-ViewModel framework. An MVVM is a software design pattern that separates an application's UI (View) from its underlying business logic and data (Model) through an intermediary (ViewModel). Fresh MVVM is a lightweight and flexible MVVM model specifically designed for Xamarin.
Navigation between pages in Xamarin can be achieved by Navigation.PushAsync() and Navigation.PopAsync() methods.
Navigation.PushAsync() method is used when navigating from one page to another.
Navigation.PopAsync() method is used to move back to the previous page from the current page.