1. MvvmCross Introduction
13th December 2012
@slodge

2. Presentation Model
Represent the state and behavior of the presentation
independently of the GUI controls used in the
interface.
http://martinfowler.com/eaaDev/PresentationModel.html

3. In 2005…
Model/View/ViewModel is a variation of
Model/View/Controller that is tailored for modern UI
development platforms where the View is the
responsibility of a designer rather than a classic
developer.
Tales from the Smart Client, John Grossman
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/johngossman/archive/2005/10/08/478683.aspx

4. Also in 2005…
• 10 years of dev – C++, C, VB, Java, JavaScript,
LISP, SmallTalk, Delphi, …
• A year off travelling
– from Argentina to Zambia
• DeveloperDeveloperDeveloper
• 1 conclusion:

5. MvvmCross Introduction
Evolving the dinosaur
13th December 2012
@slodge

6. What we’ll cover…
• MVVM Theory
• .Net MVVM
• A practical example – some code!
• Interface Driven Development
– Portable Class Libraries
– Unit Testing
– Plugins
• Some examples

7. What we’ll cover…
• MVVM Theory
• .Net MVVM
• A practical example – some code!
• Interface Driven Development
– Portable Class Libraries
– Unit Testing
– Plugins
• Some examples

8. M-V-VM

9. Detailed flow

10. What we’ll cover…
• MVVM Theory
• .Net MVVM
• A practical example – some code!
• Interface Driven Development
– Portable Class Libraries
– Unit Testing
– Plugins
• Some examples

11. ViewModels Public Properties
private bool _isSearching;
public bool IsSearching
{
get { return _isSearching; }
set
{
_isSearching = value;
RaisePropertyChanged("IsSearching");
}
}

12. For ViewModel Changes
public interface INotifyPropertyChanged
{
event PropertyChangedEventHandler PropertyChanged;
}
public class PropertyChangedEventArgs : EventArgs
{
public string PropertyName { get; }
}

13. For Collections
public interface INotifyCollectionChanged
{
event NotifyCollectionChangedEventHandler CollectionChanged;
}
public enum NotifyCollectionChangedAction
{
Add, Remove, Replace, Move, Reset,
}
public class NotifyCollectionChangedEventArgs : EventArg
{
public NotifyCollectionChangedAction Action { get; }
public IList NewItems { get; }
public IList OldItems { get; }
public int NewStartingIndex { get; }
public int OldStartingIndex { get; }
}

14. For Actions
public interface ICommand
{
event EventHandler CanExecuteChanged;
bool CanExecute(object parameter);
void Execute(object parameter);
}

15. .Net Implementation
ICommand
Public Property Set
INotifyPropertyChanged
INotifyCollectionChanged
Public Property Get

16. Why?
To Enable
• Awesome UI and Data Development
• Unit Testing of code
• Large applications to have a common
architecture
• Different platforms can share code

17. What we’ll cover…
• MVVM Theory
• .Net MVVM
• A practical example – some code!
• Interface Driven Development
– Portable Class Libraries
– Unit Testing
– Plugins
• Some examples

18. What is MvvmCross?
Code!

19. Code evolution I
• Single Mono for Android Project
• Good separation of UI from ‘Model’ code
• Simple – it works
• But:
– No testing
– No testability
– Portability by cut/paste

20. Code Evolution 2
• MvvmCross Library switched in
– PCL code
– Formal DI/IoC used
• On UI:
– DataBinding arrived
– Code got much thinner!
– XML got bigger
• Not all win:
– External Dependencies got larger
– Code overall increased in size

21. Code Evolution 3
• Cross Platform
• All UIs MVVM
• 100% shared application
logic
• 100% shared test harness

22. Data-Binding
WP/WinRT
99% Xaml
Droid
Mainly Axml
Some .Dialog
Touch
Some .Dialog
Some .XIB
Some C#

23. What we’ll cover…
• MVVM Theory
• .Net MVVM
• A practical example – some code!
• Interface Driven Development
– Portable Class Libraries
– Unit Testing
– Plugins
• Some examples

24. Portable Class Libraries

25. Unit Testing
“I get paid for code that works, not for tests, so my
philosophy is to test as little as possible to reach a
given level of confidence.
…
When coding on a team, I modify my strategy to
carefully test code that we, collectively, tend to get
wrong.”
Kent Beck
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/153234/how-deep-are-your-unit-tests

26. Plugin – Native abstractions
1. Declare common functionality (an interface)
public interface IMvxComposeEmailTask
{
void ComposeEmail(string to, string cc, string subject, string body, bool isHtml);
}
2. Write platform specific implementations
public class MvxComposeEmailTask : MvxWindowsPhoneTask, IMvxComposeEmailTask
{
public void ComposeEmail(string to, string cc, string subject, string body, bool isHtml)
{
var task = new EmailComposeTask() { To = to, Subject = subject, Cc = cc, Body = body };
DoWithInvalidOperationProtection(task.Show);
}
}
3. In apps, use the interface and not the implementation
protected void ComposeEmail(string to, string subject, string body)
{
Cirrious.MvvmCross.Plugins.Email.PluginLoader.Instance.EnsureLoaded();
var task = this.GetService<IMvxComposeEmailTask>();
task.ComposeEmail(to, null, subject, body, false);
}

27. Sphero – Plugin Magic
• Plugin Magic
• Each Plugin:
– 1 PCL
– 1 Assembly per platform

28. Why?
To Enable
• Awesome UI and Data Development
• Unit Testing of code
• Large applications to have a common
architecture
• Different platforms can share code

29. What we’ll cover…
• MVVM Theory
• .Net MVVM
• A practical example – some code!
• Interface Driven Development
– Portable Class Libraries
– Unit Testing
– Plugins
• Some examples

30. MonoCross

31. A team in a galaxy far far away
@imaji @mrlacey @sichy @slodge @touch4apps …

32. Redth in Canada
https://github.com/Redth/WshLst/

33. Rune in Norway
https://github.com/runegri/CrossBox

34. Jason in UK
http://www.aviva.co.uk/drive/

35. CheeseBaron in Denmark
http://blog.ostebaronen.dk/

36. Greg in NYC
http://bit.ly/mvxgshac

37. JSON.Net Downunder (?)

38. Olivier in France
http://www.e-naxos.com/UsIndex.html

39. Dan in Italy
http://bit.ly/mvxDanA

40. Zoldeper in Hungary?
https://github.com/Zoldeper/Blooor

41. Daniel in Redmond
http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Build/2012/3-004

42. What we’ve covered…
• MVVM Theory
• .Net MVVM
• A practical example – some code!
• Interface Driven Development
– Portable Class Libraries
– Unit Testing
– Plugins
• Some examples

43. To join in…
If you want to join in:
• Tool up
• Share
• Reuse
• Test
• Architect

44. MS-PL on GitHub
http://github.com/slodge/MvvmCross

45. Some other talks available
http://bit.ly/mvxTweetPic

46. C# - 1 Stack - Cloud to Mobile
Data Access
Business Logic
Presentation
Service Consumption Local Data/Services
Business Logic
UI Logic
WP7 iOS Droid Win8

47. Not as cool as dinosaurs
Data Access
Business Logic
Presentation
Service Consumption Local Data/Services
Business Logic
UI Logic
WP7 iOS Droid Win8

48. Some credits
Images from Wikipedia Commons:
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Macronaria_scrubbed_enh.jpg
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Human-
eoraptor_size_comparison%28v2%29.png
Diagrams from Java – ZK
• http://books.zkoss.org/wiki/ZK_Developer%27s_Reference/MVVM
Sample projects as credited inline

49. Thanks for listening…
http://cirrious.com
http://slodge.blogspot.com
http://github.com/slodge/mvvmcross
me@slodge.com
@slodge
Stuart Lodge,
I’m a Dinosaur

50. Xamarin
Seminar
Please give us your feedback
http://bit.ly/xamfeedback
Follow us on Twitter
@XamarinHQ
13th December 2012