{"id":2040,"date":"2015-12-16T01:01:42","date_gmt":"2015-12-16T01:01:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.couchbase.com\/blog\/?p=2040"},"modified":"2021-01-13T04:49:46","modified_gmt":"2021-01-13T12:49:46","slug":"build-mobile-apps-with-xamarin-and-couchbase-mobile","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.couchbase.com\/blog\/build-mobile-apps-with-xamarin-and-couchbase-mobile\/","title":{"rendered":"Build Mobile Apps with Xamarin and Couchbase Mobile"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"xamarin-logo\"
\nImplementing a Xamarin solution with Couchbase Mobile is the perfect combination in creating a cross-platform mobile application in C# that has local persistence.\u00a0 This allows your content and data to not be ephemeral but better yet, your mobile application is not dependent on a network connection at all times.\u00a0 In this blog we will explore how to get started with <\/span>Xamarin<\/a> and begin to implement the Couchbase Lite components from the Couchbase Mobile stack to create a storage layer.<\/span><\/p>\n

New Xamarin Solution<\/h3>\n

Xamarin allows you to have the write once and run anywhere approach where it has a Native User Interface with Native performance.\u00a0 With the Xamarin Couchbase Lite NuGet package, you are able to share code across platforms using the C# and .NET Framework with full API support.\u00a0 Upon downloading and installing the iOS and Android components of Xamarin; when you open up Xamarin Studio, you will be presented with the Developer Center materials and some example solutions on the right hand side.\u00a0 You can try those at your leisure but we will be instead creating a new project and inserting Couchbase Mobile solution.\u00a0 Click ‘New Solution’<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nYou will now be presented with a Xamarin Solution page.\u00a0 For this blog we will focus on creating an Android Application and to do that we will..<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Choose ‘Android’ in the C# dropdown and then ‘Android Application’ as our project.<\/li>\n
  2. Provide a name for your project like below where the name is \u2018CouchbaseMobile_Xamarin_App\u2019<\/li>\n
  3. Click ‘OK’<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    \"android_project\"
    \nAdd Couchbase NuGet Package<\/h3>\n

    Now you have an empty Android Application project and we will be adding Couchbase Mobile as our next step.\u00a0 Xamarin now has first class support for NuGet which is built in and fully integrated.\u00a0 NuGet is a package management system for .NET that simplifies the process of using third party libraries within your mobile application such as Couchbase Lite.\u00a0 We will now download the latest Couchbase Lite.NET package from NuGet within Xamarin Studio.<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Right click on your project within the \u2018Solution\u2019 explorer section.\u00a0 I defined and created a project called \u2018CouchbaseMobile_Xamarin_App\u2019<\/li>\n
    2. Select \u2018Add\u2019<\/li>\n
    3. Select \u2018Add Packages<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      \"Couchbase<\/p>\n

      With the \u2018Add Packages\u2019 dialog prompt now displayed like below, we will:<\/p>\n

        \n
      1. Type in on the top right search field \u2018Couchbase Lite\u2019 and press enter to search for the package to install from within the Official NuGet Gallery<\/li>\n
      2. Select the Couchbase Lite package from the list of return results<\/li>\n
      3. Click on \u2018Add Package\u2019
        \n\"\"<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        Package Console & Folder<\/h3>\n

        Xamarin Studio now will add the packages and all of the dependencies for Couchbase Lite where at the time of writing we are using V1.1.2.0. \u00a0To verify and see the progress of the installation, click on the:<\/p>\n