The brand new sensation in the Xamarin app development field with the Xamarin forms alternative in the form of the new .NET MAUI which was announced in 2020 by Microsoft is the popular topic of discussion among software developers and experts. It is a good time to say bid to the almost seven years old Microsoft Xamarin forms for the Xamarin mobile application development as the new toolkit with better Microsoft cross-platform app development advantages is in the market. These advanced features focus on improving speed and performance in mobile app development or desktop app development.
Microsoft .NET with Xamarin Toolkit – .NET MAUI
.NET MAUI or Multi-Platform App UI is a cross-platform UI kit, also considered as the evolution of Xamarin forms. It shows high compatibility with multiple Operating systems including Linux, Windows, macOS, Tizen, etc., and also supports Android as well as iOS app development. MAUI cross-platform activities got high performance and extensible rebuilds of UI controls from scratch and wide-range support from mobile to desktop scenarios. Xamarin toolkit is completely replaced by .NET MAUI which is a single framework for mobile app development services on different platforms and devices.
Some essential prerequisites are needed to be incorporated for the .NET app development as mentioned in the below-given points:
- Ability to select multiple files from the device.
- Sensors availability and enablement on devices.
- Device information on which the application is running.
- Built-in text-to-speech recognition engines.
- Copy and paste facility to the system clipboard for running applications.
.NET MAUI offers the developers to work with a single code and use it on multiple platforms by their integration into a single API. Xamarin to MAUI transfer has got much in its offerings like hot reload, cross-platform graphics library, single project development, and more which we are going to discuss in detail in the next section.
Features and Advantages of .NET MAUI Compared to Xamarin
.NET MAUI includes multiple added advantages when compared to Microsoft Xamarin which leads to performance, flexibility, and speed enhancements in native app development, cross-platform app development, mobile app development, and more. Let us have a quick discussion over the top MAUI Xamarin features and advantages altogether.
Single Project Development
Unlike Microsoft Xamarin Forms, .NET MAUI lets developers work with a single project and handles different issues associated with multiple projects easily.
Advantages
- Handling multiple platforms and devices
- Organizing images, fonts, and platform-related codes from a single location
- Adding different dependencies
- Shows compatibility to .NET CLI toolchain for building, developing, running, as well as publishing .NET applications
- Easy deployments with a single click to simulators, desktops, and emulators.
Slim Renderers Pattern
In the replacement of customer renderers which were available with Xamarin Forms, .NET MAUI provides the latest new slim renderer pattern to use in the application development.
Advantages
- Helps in developing the customized, light-weight mobile and desktop applications
- Delivers a brand new, easier, and efficient development experience
- Loosely coupled structure with no dependencies like Xamarin Forms on Xamarin application
Full Hot Reload Support
Xamarin Forms included some exceptions for both XAML hot reload and .NET hot reload categories whereas .NET MAUI is the powerful toolkit that contains no such exceptions and supports all available hot reload packages for the development purpose.
Advantages
- .NET MAUI shows complete support for .NET Hot Reload and XAML Hot Reload packages
- Allows live editing in the .NET MAUI applications while it is running
- Helps in cutting off the rebuild time of MAUI applications
- In-future support for iOS, macOS, Android, and integration of Live Visual Tree along with XAML Hot Reload.
Libraries Unification
This is another remarkable feature that comes up with .NET MAUI. Here, different critical libraries are unified such as Xamarin.Essentials library merge into .NET MAUI for inclusive benefits.
Advantages
- Ease of using regular services like application, storage, authentication, security, etc.
- Convenient for utilizing other devices capabilities like sensors, images, contacts, videos, etc.
New Development Patterns
.NET MAUI supports two additional development patterns apart from Xamarin Forms MVVM or model-view-viewmodel and RxUI or ReactiveUI patterns. The modern development patterns are called Blazor development pattern and MUV or model-update-view pattern. Both new patterns come with new features and ease of application development.
Advantages
Blazor
- Most adaptive programming models for the development of web applications
- BlazorWebView allows hosting a Blazor web application into the .NET MAUI application directly
- Uses native platform functionality and user interface controls which can be added to the XAML pageand pointed to the developed application
MVU
- Offers a unified pattern to develop cross-platform native front ends via a single code base only
- Lets coders write app UI logics and codes in C#
Splash Screen View
.NET MAUI integrates a Splash Screen feature especially for all mobile platforms to provide an exclusive first screen experience to the application viewers.
Advantages
- Offers to display the first screen of the mobile application quickly with the static splash screen
- Stores splash screen views for all mobile platforms at a single storage location
All these new features and benefits of the newest app development toolkit or .NET MAUI bring great hope for the development market with quick and efficient app development without much rebuild requirements. But that is not it, the future of application development with .NET MAUI is bright with all new proposals, indications, and forecasts made in the present.
Future for Xamarin Cross-platform App Development with .NET MAUI
With .NET.MAUI, the game of Xamarin mobile app development will become strong in front of Xamarin alternative like React, Native, etc. cross-platform app development market. It got the capacity to accelerate the Microsoft brand name popularity in developing highly efficient, quickest cross-platform development for multiple platforms including mobile, websites, and desktop applications smoothly. A simple migration path for Xamarin Forms to MAUI without the need of rewriting codes is an exceptional way to integrate the best possible features from the new toolkit. A single interface and project file will be apt with .NET MAUI to work for the application development on any specific platform or cross-platform devices. It will be possible to implement complex, cross-platform experiences by modeling the same APIs of the Android, iOS, and macOS platforms.
The new .NET MAUI Community Toolkit is replacing the Xamarin Community Toolkit with two NuGet packages, CommunityToolkit.Maui and CommunityToolkit.Maui.Markup is all set up for the revolution and the secured future of web application development as well. And, the inclusive cross-platform graphics library with a standard API for different platforms will help developers to reuse their 2D drawing code to mix and match graphics implementations in a single project which is just brilliant. Rich libraries, .NET Hot Reload compatibilities along modern development patterns are new assets that add to the pride of Microsoft cross-platform mobile app development. So, the continuous development of the .NET, .NET MUI toolkit this time is a sure shot hit in the coming future, no doubts.
Conclusion
A number of unique advantages and new features integrated with .NET MUI definitely work for performance enhancement and extensive integrations in cross-platform and native app development. This open-source framework for Windows and all mobile platforms uses a single project to handle multiple requirements and resources on different platforms quite easily. Get more knowledge about the .NET MAUI framework and assistance in the different types of cross-platform app developments from our experts.