QuartzCore.framework for Mono Develop - xamarin.ios

I'm fine with Mono Develop's native-supported iOS libraries.
But when I need such as a 3rd party library I get stuck.
QuartzCore is a successful library,but written in Objective-C.
I know there is binding type project supported by xamarin.
http://docs.xamarin.com/ios/Guides/Advanced_Topics/Binding_Objective-C_Libraries
Maybe for a small project has .a extension could be easy to bind. I wonder do I need to try to bind QuartzCore.framework to Mono Develop or Does it take much effort then coding in XCode by Objective C.
Does anyone tried this binding? There are some other projects already bound such as CorePlot https://github.com/mono/monotouch-bindings/tree/master/CorePlot.
I can't decide what I need to do. Will it be easy or bring me much job?
Thanks in Advance.

I'm pretty sure that QuartzCore is already bound in MonoTouch. I think QuartzCore is part of CoreAnimation, which may be why you didn't see it.

Related

How do I implement the GWS library in xamarin for android?

Body: I want to use this library using xamarin so I can run my code on an android device, the page says it's cross-platform. Does anyone have any experience with this? I'm not really sure on how to implement it.
I have done an implementation of the library in Xamarin.Android, you can find the project on github here.
https://github.com/MananAdhvaryu/GWSAndroid
If you have any follow-up questions, please feel free to ask me in the comments.

Convert Objective C project to Xamarin

We have an app written in Objective C. It uses CoreData, RestKit, about 10 viewcontrollers.
We would like to migrate it to Xamarin (so we can target Android and Windows).
I was hoping there was a way to bind the current code to a Xamarin solution and kind of rewrite features step by step within Xamarin (eg: replacing a viewcontroller at a time, and at the end replacing RestKit+CoreData, by SQLite + ServiceStack).
I am aware of the binding to Objective C option that they provide, however, it doesn't look to be the appropriate fit for this (way too complex, probably easier to rewrite the app from scratch).
Is there a way to migrate our current project to Xamarin so we can convert? or do we start from scratch?
Thanks.
Options:
Migrate full project - no;
Automatically create binding for libraries, rewrite business-code, UI-code - yes;
Rewrite from scratch using .Net/Mono classes - yes.
If code size is relatively small, you should rewrite the whole app. Moreover, thus you could have a chance to separate business-logic from UI code and tools libraries (RestKit, CoreData). In perspective, that code will be more reliable and cross-platformish.
This tool can help. It does Obj-c to C# translation (some manual cleanup required):
Automagical
Quite probably, a re-write, from scratch. One thing to keep in mind, if your back-end is .net.. and you are using DTO's.. like with AutoMapper from Entity Framework objects.. you'll be able to re-use those DTO objects on your mobile side with Xamarin. If you are using OData, I'm not sure if this is still a problem, but Xamarin studio wasn't generating OData service clients. So you had to generate them in Visual Studio, then take the generated client code and throw them into your Mobile projects.
sqllite-net is awesome. I've never had any problems with it.
https://github.com/praeclarum/sqlite-net
I currently have a project, with DTO Objects from an Azure WCF service, that I push directly down into SQLLite objects on IOS and Android with Xamarin. I use RestSharp, rather than Service Stack. I should probably go learn the difference.
If you are looking to use SQLCipher from the Component store, to encrypt your sqllite db locally on your device (Good advice to do so), you should be aware that there is an issue in android.. going to 2.2 or 2.3 with SQLCipher. Works for ICS and above though, if I remember right.
Just be careful on your security implementation for allowing clients to connect. I want to say.. don't take too much advice.. and don't take too little either. : )

How well would MvvmCross and CSLA.net work together in a multi-platform strategy (ASP.NET MVC, WP, WPF, WinRT, Win8, Android, iOS)

Long time lurker, first time questioner here :)
I have been looking into our company's next software system architecture. We have been using CSLA.net, to some extent, as our business object framework and are thinking of building our new architecture around it. CSLA.net has support for the platforms mentioned in the title and we are looking for mvvm framework that would work well with it.
At the moment we only support windows environments but are also looking to support at least Android and iOS (also mono in general is under consideration). We are looking to share as much of the code as possible between the platforms and MvvmCross seems like really nice piece of mvvm (+) framework, especially in that context. I have watched few n+1 videos and what I have seen so far has been very impressive. I also like the Stuart's style of introducing the framework and concepts around it.
Has anyone tried to build a cross platform application that uses both of these frameworks (CSLA.net and MvvmCross)? If yes, what have been your experiences like? Also if Stuart could comment on the issue of how to merg the viewmodels of the two frameworks. I remember Rocky (Rockford Lhotka) recommending, as a general tip when working with mvvm frameworks, to inherit CSLA.net viewmodelbase(not viewmodel) and implement also mvvm framework's requirements into that class. You can find source of the viewmodelbase from https://github.com/MarimerLLC/csla/blob/master/Source/Csla.Xaml/ViewModelBase.cs.
Any input would be much appreciated.
Regards,
Harri
ps. I think, that this would make a great n+ video. Wouldn't it ;)
I've personally never used CSLA, but I have talked with it's original author, Rocky, both by email and in person.
CSLA presents itself as a business model object layer and that it can very successfully interoperate with independent Mvvm frameworks - see Rocky's post on CSLA+Mvvm
MvvmCross provides the more application and UI level support - and leaves application authors free to choose how they write their business services and models.
Because of this, yes I think it should be possible and even straight-forward to use both of the frameworks together if you want to. To get started, it might be useful to write some prototypes - and perhaps to look at the way other integration has been done - e.g. CSLA+Caliburn integration
ps. I think, that this would make a great n+ video.
I'd much rather see this type of article from someone who understands and uses CSLA. I would encourage all members of the MvvmCross community to contribute their own blog posts, articles, videos and github samples.
One caveat to this advice: I don't know if CSLA support Portable Class Libraries - if it doesn't then you'll probably need to use file-linking rather than PCLs in your app
Yes, you can use a multitude of MVVM frameworks; I've used CaliburnMicro and our own custom MVVM with success. If you haven't checked out Rocky's eBook series, you should definitely do so. One of the big gotchas is the limitations on reflection in Silverlight, hence also in WP8 and WinRT, so some reading up on that is well-advised.
Regarding Portable Class Libraries, you can't those for CSLA business objects (they require more stuff than is available in PCLs), so you do have to do the project linking. Typically, write the complete class in the .NET libary w/ pre-compiler directives, such as
#if !SILVERLIGHT
around code that can't be complied for Silverlight/WP8. I do use PCLs for some basic stuff, like enums and constants, but not for the business classes.
Xamarin have just released some updates that mean the latest framework 4.5 with async features can shortly be implemented...

How to develop for MRP (Mythroad, platform for chinese mobile application)?

Hello dearest community
I just given a task to develop a mobile application for chinese mobile phone, Nexian NX-G920. At first, I think it can just run the J2ME application. But it didn't, it only support MRP application. Having read about it here : MRP, I think my best case is, if any, convert my *.JAR application into *.MRP. Is there any tool that can do it?
My Plan B is, to develop using specific MRP SDK. But that is just to costly, in term of effort to be use.
As far as I know there are only Java to C translators or Java bytecode to assembly translators like those listed in this question.
These include JCGO, Toba, gcj and llvm. However a Java to C translator or similar is only part of the solution because it would only help you if you were translating classes that didn't interact with Java libraries that are not part of the MRP platform. This is because MRP platform won't have the libraries you link to and will have different GUI and hardware API calls than J2ME.
The only SDK for MRP is the OpenSDK which you have already mentioned.
I think I've found one solution, but I have to use my C languages, not the plain J2ME as first I thought it will. Here is the SDK, Open SDK by Sky Mobi.
Haven't try it though, but I think this is one solution that fit the problem.
Sky-Mobi SDK is saved this archive on Wayback Machine
The Sky-Mobi is saved this page of site in the Internet Archive

Ready-to-use NPAPI-Plugin to launch external application?

I need to launch an external application from a Google Chrome extension. I need to pass a few parameters from javascript, wait until the external application is done and then use its output in javascript.
I did some reading and this should be possible using an NPAPI plugin (I only care about Windows so far).
Since my C/C++ got very rusty over the years and my requirements are quite simple I was wondering if somebody knows about a ready-to-use NPAPI DLL that does just the one thing I need: Launch an EXE with several parameters and return its output?
I tried Google of course, but didn't find anything. Thanks a lot.
It should be rather easy to write such a plugin in C++ with Firebreath. Writing a NPAPI plugin from scratch can be tricky, but luckily Firebreath abstracts away most of the details and makes it much easier.
As a plus, if you base the plugin on Firebreath, in addition to NPAPI on Windows you pretty much get free support for NPAPI on Mac/Linux and ActiveX on Windows.
http://www.firebreath.org

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