Brief Summary
This presentation covers the latest updates and features in .NET MAUI, emphasizing its role in cross-platform application development. It highlights the growth in the .NET MAUI community, showcases successful app implementations, and introduces new tools and templates designed to improve developer experience. The speakers also discuss the support lifecycle for .NET MAUI releases and encourage developers to explore the new capabilities in Visual Studio and VS Code.
- .NET MAUI enables native cross-platform app development with a single codebase.
- Significant growth in community contributions and app releases.
- New project templates and tools enhance developer productivity.
- Focus on performance improvements and native platform integrations.
- Introduction of workload sets for version control and native library interop for leveraging native code.
Intro
The presentation introduces .NET MAUI as a solution for building cross-platform applications with native integrations. It contrasts .NET MAUI with web-based solutions like Blazor, noting that .NET MAUI is ideal for applications requiring deep native features such as local storage and Bluetooth. The speakers mention the availability of Blazor Hybrid for scenarios needing a mix of web and native functionalities, directing viewers to a session later in the day for more details.
.NET MAUI Overview
.NET MAUI creates an abstraction layer on top of native platforms, allowing developers to use a single codebase for deploying applications on Windows, Android, iOS, and Mac. It leverages native UI frameworks like WinUI on Windows and Mac Catalyst for macOS desktop applications. Developers can customize the application behavior and UI for each platform as needed, sharing code across UI and services like GPS and Bluetooth. The past year has seen substantial growth and contributions to .NET MAUI, with a significant increase in active users and merged pull requests.
App Successes and Community Contributions
The number of apps released in the Google Play Store has grown 2.6 times since .NET 8. Fidelity has adopted .NET MAUI for their Active Trader Pro application, citing its performance, stability, and user experience benefits. Other companies like Cincinnati Children's Hospital and GE Digital are also using .NET MAUI for new applications, some of which are hybrid. These applications are critical to these businesses, driving the focus on quality, stability, and performance of .NET MAUI.
Syncfusion Open Source Controls
Syncfusion has open-sourced a set of 14 controls for .NET MAUI, collaborating with the .NET engineering team to improve product quality and resolve bugs. These controls include charts, Shimmer control, and pull-to-refresh, built primarily on MAUI Graphics for native performance and UI fidelity across platforms. The UI from these controls is primarily based on Maui Graphics, offering performance benefits and consistent UI across platforms.
New .NET MAUI Project Template
Syncfusion is collaborating on a new .NET MAUI project template in .NET 9, leveraging the Syncfusion toolkit, .NET MAUI Community Toolkit, and MVVM Community Toolkit. This template includes sample content demonstrating MVVM, dependency injection, and Shell-related features. The template initializes both the Maui Community Toolkit and the Syncfusion toolkit, streamlining dependency injection and Shell routing.
Component Vendors and Community Growth
The .NET MAUI ecosystem includes component vendors creating UI controls and other capabilities like AI prompts. Community contributions have grown significantly, with a 57% increase in merged pull requests in two months. Syncfusion's team has contributed 55% of these community pull requests, demonstrating a strong commitment to the open-source project.
New Features in .NET 9
.NET 9 includes new features for .NET MAUI developers, such as updates to controls and the Handler architecture for improved memory management and performance. Developers now have more control over how controls behave. App lifecycle updates and performance improvements are also key focuses. Native AOT (Ahead-of-Time Compilation) work benefits iOS and Mac, with potential future benefits for Android.
Release Support and VS Code Extension
.NET MAUI releases have an 18-month support lifecycle to keep up with updates from Apple and Google. The .NET MAUI extension for VS Code includes features like IntelliSense, color swatches, and hot reload for both XAML and C#. A new XC sync tool is available for syncing project updates.
Visual Studio 2022 Updates
Visual Studio 2022 17.12 includes the new .NET MAUI sample project template and tooling improvements like full-page hot reload and GitHub Copilot improvements. Version 17.13 preview 1 allows XAML Live Preview outside the debugger.
VS Code Demo and Xcode Sync
A demo showcases XAML Live Preview in Visual Studio 17.13 preview 1, displaying a title bar with new controls. GitHub Copilot is used to improve .NET MAUI project context. The XC sync tool allows editing of storyboards and asset catalogs in Xcode, syncing changes back to the .NET MAUI project.
Native Library Interop and Workload Sets
Native Library Interop provides a new approach for binding to native libraries, requiring native Xcode and Android Studio projects and a .NET class library. Workload sets in .NET 9 offer more control over workload versions, which can be pinned using Global JSON or installed with specific versions.
Upgrade Assistant and Survey
The .NET Upgrade Assistant is ready for .NET 9 updates, updating TFMs and assisting third-party library maintainers. Viewers are encouraged to fill out a survey to provide feedback on .NET MAUI. The presentation concludes by promoting additional .NET Conf sessions.
