Welcome to the Wonderful Wacky World of .Net Maui

What, where, how and why

What springs to mind when you hear the word Maui? Palm trees and cocktails being enjoyed on amazing beeches in Hawaii? Well, that sounds like so much fun. Still hopefully .Net Maui is just as much fun. What is is is a cross-platform programming language that leverages existing skills like C# to easily build powerful apps. Currently it is not live but it is supported by Microsoft. What this means is that by the time it goes live things may change a little. With that said, you can feel comfortable using it in a production environment today!!!!

What does MAUI stand for

/Well, like all good acronyms .Net Maui has a real name.... .Net Multi-platform App UI .Of course, .Net Maui sounds so much cooler. I have to admit, every time I say it in my head I see palm trees swaying to calypso music in my head. To me, what  it stand for is an amazingly easy entry into the world of app development. After all I have been writing C# programs for 20+ years and have been using XAML for the last few. So, .Net Maui is the perfect language for me, and hopefully you. 

Getting Started.

So, how do you get started with .Net Maui? That's an easy one. Simply download it from https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/maui/get-started/first-app?pivots=devices-windows. This is more than just a place to down load it, it is a tutorial for getting started and it is where I first dipped my toe into it. 
So, the key here is that you need Visual Studio 2022 Preview addition to write .Net Maui apps. It is available both on Windows and Mac. I have it on both. I'm not made of money so I use the free Community Edition. Go ahead and download and install it. I'll grab a Pina Colada while you do it:)

Hmm my templates for Maui are missing

Hopefully the version you download has all the templates and they display nicely, if not, don't worry 'bout a thing, 'Cause every little thing gonna by alright.


 The templates are available as an extension. Simply go to https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=egvijayanand.maui-templates and download them from there. Once download open the file and follow the directions. Once finished open Visual Studio 2022 Preview and you will see all the available templates under MAUI (by the time MAUI goes live they will probably live under the .NET MAUI folder.

Should I walk you through the tutorial?

Well, I suppose I could, but Microsoft has done a pretty good job and I would probably be just redoing a lot of what they have done, so go to https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/maui/get-started/first-app?pivots=devices-android
and follow along with the tutorial that is shown on the page. By then end you will get to run your first app on an Android simulator.
When you run it you should see something like this.
Ah, isn't he cute.

Happy Hacking fellow Parrot Heads

If like me, the Microsoft tutorial will make you want to write your own app. In coming posts I will share my experiences of connecting to REST services, storing junk in Secure Storage and regular storage, hiding the navigation bar that lives at the top of the page (you know, that bar that says Home), creating a custom template, using biometrics in fact all the things I've gone through in building the app I am in the middle of building. So, until I find a few hours go ahead, play around with .Net Maui and if you find yourself banging your head against a coconut tree, leave me a comment and I will do my best to help y'all out. Let's take this journey together, because after all it's not much fun drinking alone.




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