Starting today, Microsoft has released Azure Storage Client Library for Xamarin via general availability. Xamarin is a leading mobile app development platform that Microsoft is offering for free through Visual Studio. Xamarin allows developers to use a shared C# codebase to create iOS, Android, and Windows 10 apps with native user interfaces.
The Azure Storage Client Library for Xamarin will be a great addition, allowing an “end-to-end mobile-first, cloud-first experience” for developers. Microsoft used feedback from Azure Storage for Xamarin Preview to create Azure Storage Client Library for Xamarin. Microsoft laid out all the information and sources on GitHub.
“The sources for the Xamarin release are the same as the Azure Storage .Net client library and can be found on Github. The installable package can be downloaded from nuget (version 7.2 and beyond) or from Azure SDK (version 2.9.5 and beyond) and installed via the Web Platform installer. This generally available release supports all features up to and included in the 2015-12-11 REST version.
Microsoft provides a quick, three-step guide on how you can get started using Azure Storage Client Library for Xamarin:
- Install Xamarin SDK and tools and any language specific emulators as necessary: For instance, you can install the Android KitKat emulator.
- Create a new Xamarin project and install the Azure Storage nuget package version 7.2 or higher in your project and add Storage specific code.
- Compile, build and run the solution. You can run against a phone emulator or an actual device. Likewise you can connect to the Azure Storage service or the Azure Storage emulator.
If you would like to learn more about on Azure Storage Client Library for Xamarin, view Microsoft’s “Getting Started” documentation and other reference information on the Xamarin client library and how to build applications using Azure’s Storage features. You can also check out Microsoft’s Xamarin image uploader sample. If you want to see specific scenario samples, you can reach out to the Azure Storage team (@AzureStorage or @AzureSupport) on Twitter or through their Azure Storage MSDN community forums.
