when do you also support the same functionalities in xamarin.android or ios as in xamarin.forms and why forms first? in Xamarin Android Calendar

Marco

11 posts

Member since:
Dec 2011

Posted 20 Dec 2018 Link to this post

Hello Telerik Support I am using Mobile apps with Xamarin and after my first app I have to write with Forms Native apps as I am more flexible there. Now I need a calendar like you already implemented it in Wpf and Asp.Net. I'm a bit sad that you offer in form more functionalities than Native (Android, IOS) will come in the future and what if and when?

Lance | Manager Technical Support

Admin

1186 posts

Posted 20 Dec 2018 Link to this post

Hi Marco,

Thank you for the question, let me answer by explaining some key facts:

Takeaways

1 - The Xamarin.Forms Calendar actually implements the native Calendar controls

When you use the Xamarin.Forms RadCalendar, we use custom renderers that actually implements the native calendar controls you're referring to. If the app is Android, then you get the RadCalendarView, if it's iOS then you get the TKCalendar and if it's UWP you get the RadCalendar.

2 - You can use a Xamarin Custom Renderer or Platform Effect and enable all the native features you want

As an example of this, take a look at my Range Selection demo on GitHub (code here). You'll see that I simply use an effect so I have access to the properties of the native Calendar control.

We have a section in the Calendar's documentation on how to create custom renderer. You can find the documentation for the native controls in the documentation. Here's a screenshot on where to find it:

Note: For the UWP controls, they have their own documentation here. UI for UWP.

3 - Why do we not have all the features in the Xamarin Forms API?

The simple answer for this is that not all the native controls have the same features. You must have platform feature parity if you're going to implement it in the Xamarin.Forms API.

Summary

We give you the best of both worlds, the ability to easily implement the RadCalendar in Xamarin.Forms, but also use a custom renderer to implement advanced feature per-platform if necessary.

Regards,
Lance | Tech Support Engineer, Sr.
Progress Telerik

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Marco

11 posts

Member since:
Dec 2011

Posted 04 Jan 2019 in reply to Lance | Manager Technical Support Link to this post

Okey I'm sorry I mispronounced I'm etwickle for Xamarin.Android and Xamarin.IOS Native. I have seen that you have more to offer in Forms in the documentation than Native. When will there be new functionalities also in Xamarin.Android and Xamarin.IOS Native?
Do you know when the new version will arrive in 2019?
Recurring events should I implement myself or is there something else?

Marco

11 posts

Member since:
Dec 2011

Posted 04 Jan 2019 in reply to Marco Link to this post

This is in Xamarin.Android not documented or not implemented ?

xamarinformsweekView.png

Lance | Manager Technical Support

Admin

1186 posts

Posted 04 Jan 2019 Link to this post

Hi Marco,

Let me get right to your questions:

1 - If the feature is in Xamarin.Forms wrapper, by default it must be available in the native platform.

The Xamarin.Forms controls are a wrapper around the native control. Therefore, if you see something in Xamarin.Forms Calendar, it must be available in the native control (otherwise it wouldn't exist in Xamarin.Forms in the first place).

To directly answer your question on how to use MultiDayView in the native Android calendar, you set the DisplayMode: radCalendarView.DisplayMode = CalendarDisplayMode.MultiDay

2 - Recurring events are not currently possible at this time.

There is a current feature request open for this, I have added an upvote on your behalf. If you would like to subscribe to get updated when the status changes, go to this link and click "Follow": https://feedback.telerik.com/xamarin/1365961-calendar-add-recurring-appointments

3 - We are not actively adding native-only features unless it benefits the Xamarin.Forms controls

A good example of this is the new MultiDayView. In order for a feature to be available in Xamarin.Forms, it has to be implemented in the native control first. In this case, the native calendar controls had to have the new feature added, then we add the feature to the wrapper.

4 - Finding resources when the documentation doesn't explain everything

I recommend using the demo applications. These will always have more features and scenarios implemented than the documentation could show. You'll find the demos here: C:\Program Files (x86)\Progress\Telerik UI for Xamarin R3 2018\Examples

Regards,
Lance | Tech Support Engineer, Sr.
Progress Telerik

Do you want to have your say when we set our development plans? Do you want to know when a feature you care about is added or when a bug fixed? Explore the Telerik Feedback Portal and vote to affect the priority of the items

Marco

11 posts

Member since:
Dec 2011

Posted 04 Jan 2019 in reply to Lance | Manager Technical Support Link to this post

OK thanks for the answer !

Marco

11 posts

Member since:
Dec 2011

Posted 03 Apr 2019 Link to this post

Hello, Telerik Support

1. The new Releas 2019 r1 is now available. I wanted to extend my calendar with Recurrence Appointments for my Native Android project. But unfortunately I could not find a single documentation. I found everything only in Xamarin.Forms. I also searched for "C: \ Users \ support \ Downloads \ Telerik_UI_for_Xamarin_2019_1_318_1_Dev \ Examples \ Android" and found nothing.

2. And in Xamarin.Forms, although I do not use it anymore, I've seen that the recurring events have a different interface than this with my Wpf Project. Have you already implemented something or do I have to do that myself with ical.Net? I hope for a detailed answer. thank you for your understanding

Lance | Manager Technical Support

Admin

1186 posts

Posted 04 Apr 2019 Link to this post

Hi Marco,

Let me get right to your questions:

1. This is only a feature in Xamarin.Forms API surface area as this is where the engine and logic is.
2. The recurrence feature uses the Recurrence Rule and Recurrence Pattern concepts, visit the Recurrence Overview topic to learn more. If you have a different interface or setup (i.e. ical.NET), you'll need to write an adapter class that can map the properties to the Calendar's expectations

If you still have trouble after mapping the other interface to the expected Xamarin.Forms recurrence properties, you can open a Support Ticket here. Include the classes you're using to do the conversion and a demo that replicates the issue.

Regards,
Lance | Technical Support Engineer, Principal
Progress Telerik

Do you want to have your say when we set our development plans? Do you want to know when a feature you care about is added or when a bug fixed? Explore the Telerik Feedback Portal and vote to affect the priority of the items

Marco

11 posts

Member since:
Dec 2011

Posted 08 Apr 2019 in reply to Lance | Manager Technical Support Link to this post

1. Will you also implement this feature for Android and IOS Native?

2. OK I understood that and also implemented it

Lance | Manager Technical Support

Admin

1186 posts

Posted 08 Apr 2019 Link to this post

Hi Marco,

We have discontinued the native UI for iOS and discontinued the native UI for Android components and spend all out attention on the Xamarin.Forms components. Therefore, since the Recurrence feature has already been implemented as a Xamarin.Forms API, it is unlikely that they'll work backwards to implement it in the standalone native components.

However, I can't speak on behalf of the development team. You can open a Feature Request in the UI for Xamarin Feedback Portal to get a definitive answer from them (be sure to make it clear that you're requesting the feature is implemented natively).

Regards,
Lance | Technical Support Engineer, Principal
Progress Telerik

Do you want to have your say when we set our development plans? Do you want to know when a feature you care about is added or when a bug fixed? Explore the Telerik Feedback Portal and vote to affect the priority of the items

Marco

11 posts

Member since:
Dec 2011

Posted 09 Apr 2019 in reply to Lance | Manager Technical Support Link to this post

Ich konnte solch eine Aussage nirgendwo finden, warum auch sollte ich das wissen? Ich finde es echt schade warum sie Android und IOS Native eingestellt haben, da sich auch viele Vorteile damit ergeben. Wissen sie was der Grund dafür gewesen ist? Warum tut man so etwas wo es so viel Potenzial gibt ?

screenShot.png

Lance | Manager Technical Support

Admin

1186 posts

Posted 09 Apr 2019 Link to this post

Hello Marco,

First let me translate for anyone visiting this forum (using Bing Translate):

I couldn't find such a Statement anywhere, why should I know that? I think it's a real shame why they hired Android and IOS Native, as there are also many Advantages with it. Do they know what was the Reason for this? Why do you do something like this where there is so much Potential?

Please read those two blog posts I've linked to, the decision was not taken lightly and the reasons why this decision was made was explained in those posts.

What you've highlighted in that screenshot are the Xamarin.iOS and Xamarin.Android wrappers APIs around the native controls, not the native controls themselves (you can't use it in Xcode or Android Studio). These are required for us to use the control in Xamarin.Forms, but it also lets you use them in a non-Forms Xamarin application.

However, they are still wrapper APIs around the native control's features and functionalities. There are cases where the native controls needed to be updated to help support a Xamarin.Forms implementation. However, any new development is going to be invested in the Xamarin.Forms APIs and controls suites.

We've take this approach because we believe that we can deliver the best cross platform value and functionality by using the cross platform APIs available through Xamarin. Examples of this are controls like BarCode, ConversationalUI, PdfViewer, Popup, Rating, and many more.

The best way to provide those controls to all three main plaforms is to develop it once in Xamarin.Forms. The alternative is to develop it 7 separate times (Android native, Xamarin.Android wrappers, iOS native, Xamarin.iOS wrappers, UWP native, UWP wrappers and finally the Xamarin.Forms platform renderers).

I hope I was able to help explain this, if you would like to see new features added to the native controls, please leave a Feature Request in the Feedback Portal. The more interest we see in a useful feature, the higher the chance the development will add it to the furture development plans.

Regards,
Lance | Technical Support Engineer, Principal
Progress Telerik

Do you want to have your say when we set our development plans? Do you want to know when a feature you care about is added or when a bug fixed? Explore the Telerik Feedback Portal and vote to affect the priority of the items

Marco

11 posts

Member since:
Dec 2011

Posted 10 Apr 2019 in reply to Lance | Manager Technical Support Link to this post

I'm sorry I did not pay attention. I work with Xamarin.Android and Xamarin.IOS Native Wrapper and I really want to stick to it.

I like the limitations not in Xamarin.Forms the abstraction does not always benefit the user experience. I know I could mix it, but that does not make it any easier. So if I want to further develop with Telerik Framework for Mobile Native do I have to switch to Xamarin.Forms?

Or I think they first had to write the (IOS, Andriod) wrapper before they could implement Xamarin.Forms? I saw when downloading on Android is the new feature available (PDF Viewer,) only on the website is not documentary to find?

Marco

11 posts

Member since:
Dec 2011

Posted 10 Apr 2019 in reply to Marco Link to this post

I'm sorry I did not pay attention. I work with Xamarin.Android and Xamarin.IOS Native Wrapper and I really want to stick to it.

I like the limitations not in Xamarin.Forms the abstraction does not always benefit the user experience. I know I could mix it, but that does not make it any easier. So if I want to further develop with Telerik Framework for Mobile Native do I have to switch to Xamarin.Forms?

Or I think they first had to write the (IOS, Andriod) wrapper before they could implement Xamarin.Forms? I saw when downloading on Android is the new feature available (PDF Viewer,) only on the website is not documentary to find?

Lance | Manager Technical Support

Admin

1186 posts

Posted 10 Apr 2019 Link to this post

Hi Marco,

Correct, the PDFViewer is not available as a native control. It is a Xamarin.Forms component and leverages Xamarin.Forms SkiaSharp APIs.

This is what I was referring to in my last reply where our development efforts are focusesd on cross platform experiences. The RadPdfViewer, RadBarCode and other new controls will be Xamarin.Forms components.

Xamarin.Forms Embedded

You can embed and use Xamarin.Forms UI inside a native Xamarin.Android project, please read up on Embedded Xamarin.Forms by starting here: https://devblogs.microsoft.com/xamarin/unleashed-embedding-xamarin-forms-xamarin-native/

If you embed a Xamarin.Forms view inside your Xamarin.Android applicaiton, you can use Xamarin.Forms controls in that view.

Getting Help with Embedded Forms

Embedding is not a Telerik ferature, so we don't have any resources available to assist with understanding embedded forms. Once you get embedded working in your project, you can then move forward and try adding components like the PdfViewer within the embedded view.

If you have any trouble using the embedded feature, reach out to the Xamarin folks (StackOverflow or Xamarin Forums). If you have trouble with the Telerik Xamarin.Forms controls inside of your embedded view, feel free to open a support ticket here and request the development team review the advanced scenario.

Regards,
Lance | Technical Support Engineer, Principal
Progress Telerik

Do you want to have your say when we set our development plans? Do you want to know when a feature you care about is added or when a bug fixed? Explore the Telerik Feedback Portal and vote to affect the priority of the items

Lance | Manager Technical Support

Admin

1186 posts

Posted 10 Apr 2019 Link to this post

Hi Marco,

I reached out to Microsoft and spoke with the Program Manager of Xamarin.Forms and asked what would be the best resource I could share on using embedded Xamarin.Forms.

He provided me with the following documentation tutorial: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/xamarin/xamarin-forms/platform/native-forms

I hope this is helpful if you decide to pursue the embedded approach.

Regards,
Lance | Technical Support Engineer, Principal
Progress Telerik

Do you want to have your say when we set our development plans? Do you want to know when a feature you care about is added or when a bug fixed? Explore the Telerik Feedback Portal and vote to affect the priority of the items

Marco

11 posts

Member since:
Dec 2011

Posted 10 Apr 2019 in reply to Lance | Manager Technical Support Link to this post

okey many thanks for their quick and detailed Response. I will read in