Xamarin Forms与本机移动应用程序开发

Question

What are the limitations in app development with Xamarin forms as compared to native iOS/Android app development?

Can Xamarin forms be used for CRM or enterprise level applications?

Answer 1

Native vs Cross

Cross platform development

Pros - Development time: It can be potentially faster to develop a cross platform mobile app rather than a native app for iOS and Android. You can leverage one codebase and customise for multiple platforms instead of creating a new codebase for each platform. Making one cross-platform app functional across all platforms can also be more efficient than building multiple native apps from scratch.

• Costs: In theory, its more cost effective to build a cross platform solution for multiple platforms because it leverages one codebase. This is generally true unless, the application requires a lot of customisation for each platform.

• Simplicity: Updates to your cross-platform app would, naturally, be instantly synced across all platforms and devices. There are also a number of technologies like PhoneGap and Appcelerator offering a cross-platform solution that one team of developers can more easily handle to deploy changes.

Cons

• Platform limitations: Each platform has its own unique style and affords certain flexibilities missing in others. This may put you at a disadvantage because you may not be able to leverage the unique functionality and tools of the respective native platform when developing an app for multiple platforms. Limited access to advanced features such as gyroscopes, geolocations, cameras, and much more.

• User Experience: iPhone and Android operating systems, screen layouts, functions, etc. are different so designing and developing a cross-platform app that offers a good user experience on two or more platforms will undoubtedly be challenging. The majority of successful consumer apps are built on either Native iOS or Android.

Performance and secure - Native application provides the high performance and best user experience in secured environment.

• Integration challenges: Integrating the app with preferences, local settings, and notification apps can be quite a task. Diverse storage options may also require engaging a third-party cloud service. Clearly, there's lots to consider when deciding whether to build native or cross-platform. Consider these pros and cons when assessing your resources and the level of expertise of your team to make the decision easier.

Overall cross platform application would be better for simple application for displaying content with less user interaction.

Answer 2

Xamarin.forms can be used to develop CRM or other enterprise level applications.

If you need to create highly customizable UI, it's better to use native iOS and Android. Because you have to create custom renderers for your custom controls and implement them in each platforms by yourself(Or use some third-party libs for Xamarin.forms, but the resources are far less than the ones for native).

But, for CRM or other enterprise level applications, UI is not the important point. Thus, you can directly use the Xamarin.forms controls in PCL to achieve your targets and just need to write the code once in the PCL without implementing renderers in each platforms. And you can save much time with Xamarin.forms instead of writing the same logic in each native platform.

More information on Xamarin.Forms, please refer to its official documentations here: https://developer.xamarin.com/guides/xamarin-forms/getting-started/ .