Start your Xamarin project using a pre built template
Introduction
In this section you learn how to get started with a Visual Studio template and get ready to use Back4App in 5 easy steps.
Prerequisites
To complete this quickstart, you need:
- Visual Studio and Xamarin Dependency.
- An app created at Back4App. See more on New Parse App tutorial.
Step 1 - Get the template
Download the template at
Back4App’s GitHub repository.
You can do that using the following command line:
$ curl -LOk https://github.com/back4app/xamarin-quickstart-example/archive/master.zip && unzip master.zip
Step 2 - Open the project template
- Open Visual Studio.
- Click on
Open Project / Solution
. - Navigate to the project folder and click on
Open
.
Step 3 - Install Required NuGet Packages
We need some additional libraries for this example. We will get them through Nuget Packages.
- Right click on App’s name in the Solution Explorer and click on
Manage NuGet Packages...
. - Press on Browse, search and install the packages
parse by Parse
andXamarin.Android.Support.v7.AppCompat by Xamarin Inc.
. - Wait for the installations to complete.
Step 4 - Setup app’s credentials
Update your strings values to set up the app’s credentials. Parse Xamarin SDK uses these settings to connect to the Back4App servers.
- Open your strings file:
.../App1/Resources/values/strings.xml
- Go to your App Dashboard at Back4App website.
- Navigate to app’s settings: Click on
Features
>Core Settings
and pressSettings
. - Return to your
strings.xml
file and paste yourapplicationId
anddotNetKey
.
See more at our Back4App’s Creating New App guide.
Step 5 - Testing your connection
- Build your app in a device or virtual device (
Shift
+F10
). - Wait until the
Hello Word!
screen appears as below. - Login at Back4App.
- Find your app and click on
Dashboard
. - Click on
Core
. - Go to
Browser
.
If everything works properly, you should find a class named Installation
as follows:
Next Steps
At this point, you have learned how to get started with Android apps. You are now ready to explore Parse Server core features and Back4App add-ons.
Learn more by walking around Parse open source documentation for .NET SDK.