xamarin/xamarin.forms

★ 5,551C#Audience · developerComplexity · 4/5Setup · hard

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((xamarin.forms))
    What it does
      Single C# codebase
      Deploy to iOS Android Windows macOS
      Native UI controls
    Tech Stack
      C# and .NET
      NuGet packages
      Visual Studio
    Status
      Archived no updates
      Replaced by .NET MAUI
    Use Cases
      Historical reference
      Migration guide
      Framework study

mindmap root((xamarin.forms)) What it does Single C# codebase Deploy to iOS Android Windows macOS Native UI controls Tech Stack C# and .NET NuGet packages Visual Studio Status Archived no updates Replaced by .NET MAUI Use Cases Historical reference Migration guide Framework study

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Things people build with this

USE CASE 1

Study the source code to understand how a cross-platform UI framework maps shared C# code to native controls on each platform.

USE CASE 2

Reference the repository when migrating an existing Xamarin.Forms app to .NET MAUI.

USE CASE 3

Examine the NuGet package structure to understand how large .NET SDKs are split and distributed across platform-specific packages.

Tech stack

C#.NETNuGetAndroid SDKWindows SDKVisual Studio

Getting it running

Difficulty · hard Time to first run · 1day+

Requires Visual Studio 2019+, Android SDKs, and Windows SDK components, setup involves a provisioning script and multiple SDK versions even before writing code.

License details are not specified in the available documentation for this archived project.

In plain English

Xamarin.Forms was a toolkit that let developers write a single C# codebase and deploy it as a native app on iOS, Android, Windows, and macOS. Instead of writing separate code for each platform, you wrote shared UI code once and the framework translated it into the native controls on each target platform. This was particularly useful for teams that wanted to maintain one codebase while still delivering apps that felt appropriate on each operating system. Important note: Xamarin.Forms is no longer supported. Microsoft has replaced it with .NET MAUI (Multi-platform App UI), which is the current recommended path for cross-platform app development using C#. If you are starting a new project or maintaining an existing Xamarin.Forms app, the official recommendation is to migrate to .NET MAUI. This repository contains the source code for Xamarin.Forms itself, meaning it was the codebase that the framework's developers worked on, not a beginner tutorial. Setting it up for development required Visual Studio 2019 or later on Windows, along with Android SDKs, Windows SDK components, and various other tools. A provisioning script was included to help install missing dependencies. The README describes a fairly involved environment setup involving multiple SDK versions and optional emulator tools. The framework was distributed as a set of NuGet packages (a standard way of sharing C# libraries), with separate packages for the core, maps, pages, and platform-specific support. Nightly builds were also available for developers who wanted to test the latest changes before an official release. Because this project is archived and no longer receiving updates, any apps still using Xamarin.Forms should plan a migration to .NET MAUI. The source code here remains available for historical reference or for understanding how the framework was built.

Copy-paste prompts

Prompt 1

I'm migrating a Xamarin.Forms app to .NET MAUI. Given the Xamarin.Forms ContentPage and StackLayout pattern, show me the equivalent .NET MAUI code.

Prompt 2

Using the Xamarin.Forms source as reference, explain how platform-specific renderers worked and how .NET MAUI handlers differ from them.

Prompt 3

I have a Xamarin.Forms NuGet dependency at version 5.x. List the breaking changes I need to address when upgrading to .NET MAUI.

Prompt 4

Show me how to replicate a custom Xamarin.Forms renderer for a map control using the .NET MAUI handler pattern.

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