Thanks for attending my first session today! I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did and are now eager to move on to more Android development!
Questions from today's session:
- Q: Can we attach UI event handlers everywhere or does it have to be in OnCreate()? A: No. You can attach them whenever you like. However there is a life cycle for Android apps. So make sure you don't keep on adding new handlers to the same control over and over again. You can find out about the app life cycle at http://docs.xamarin.com/guides/android/application_fundamentals/activity_lifecycle/
- Q: Do we have to create a new ListActivity every time or can we recycle to save memory? A: When an activity is left, it will be destroyed by the OS. So you don't have to worry about recycling it manually. Just create a new Intent and that will lead to a new instance of the Activity.
- Q: What are "Office Hours" and how can you attend them? A: Office Hours are meant to be 1:1 talks where you can get code reviews, have specific questions answered and so on. You can book them at https://university.xamarin.com/officehours
What I noticed and would like to share with all students that have registered for upcoming sessions:
- Xamarin Studio sometimes refuses to update the list of devices/emulators. For me the only thing that helps is to quit and restart Xamarin Studio.
- If you have your microphone open, please make sure you are in a quiet environment.
- I would love to make the sessions as interactive as possible, given the limitation that we cannot see each other. If everybody participates via audio, we can achieve a more vivid exchange of information.
- Please have your environment set up. You will need an Android Emulator and SDK with API level 18 installed to follow all examples. Be sure to check out https://university.xamarin.com