Are you a Sitecore developer with no experience with mobile development? Neither did Pieter while writing this synopsis. Join Pieter in his quest to become a mobile Go Go starting from a Mobile No No.
He will share his expectations and lessons learned of mobile development. Focussing on the why mobile development matters and the different technologies that are available. Ending with and introduction of the Sitecore mobile SDK and Xamarin.
21. 21
All digital experience is mobile
Mobile is how,
when and
where digital
interactions
occur
Websites
Apps
Commerce
Email
SMS
Social
Media
We need to understand the
importance of the experience of
the mobile interactions, having a
bad experience will instantly end
the conversation with your visitors.
23. Perfect! Letâs start!
23
3 questions I had asked myself before starting my mobile journey:
1. How does Sitecore see Mobile?
2. What is the value of Sitecore in the App space?
3. There are numerous of different mobile technologies I can use.What technology should
I choose and is supported by Sitecore?
25. 25
âMobile is critical to
delivering digital customer
experience, and Sitecore is
committed to helping our
customers fully leverage
both the mobile web
opportunity and now also
mobile appsâ
- Darren Guarnaccia,
Sitecore Chief Strategy Officer
26. 2.What is the value of Sitecore in the App space?
26
Benefits
⢠Apps connect directly to Sitecore content and allows marketers direct control over the in-app
experience like they do today with the web
⢠Apps can fetch updated online content without having to go through the typical app marketplace
deployment process, putting content in customers hands faster
Examples
⢠Great for line of business apps with a web counterpart
⢠Real potential for all types of apps that need strong content governance
⢠1 game? Probably not
⢠Lots of games?Yes, for common content and consistent functionality
27. 3.What mobile technology should I choose and is supported by Sitecore?
27
Responsive web
SC Products &Technology
⢠Sitecore XP
⢠HTML, JS and CSS
Adaptive mobile web
SC Products &Technology
⢠Sitecore XP
⢠Device detection
⢠Mobile HTML5
Platform specific
native apps
SC Products &Technology
⢠Sitecore XP
⢠ItemWebAPI
⢠Device specific SDK; iOS,
Android,Windows Mobile
Cross platform
native apps
SC Products &Technology
⢠Sitecore XP
⢠ItemWebAPI
⢠Mobile SDK for Xamarin
Pros
+ Easy development
+ Device specific content
+ Centralized updates
+ Access to device features
Pros
+ Device experience
+ Access to native API
+ Faster app performance
+ AppStore distribution &
payment
Pros
+ Device experience
+ Access to nativeAPI
+ Faster app performance
+ AppStore distribution
+ Centralized updates
+ Single codebase
Cons
- No access to native API
- Browser experience
- Basic UI
- Content re-usage
Cons
- No access to nativeAPI
- Browser experience
- Basic UI
Pros
+ Easy development
+ Works across every
channel
+ Centralized updates
Cons
- Device specific
development
- De-centralized updates
- Multiple code bases
Cons
- Additional development
costs
28. Sitecore mobile SDK family
Sitecore Mobile
SDK .NET PCL
Windows
Sitecore Mobile
SDK Android
Android
Sitecore Mobile
SDK iOS
Sitecore Mobile SDK
Xamarin Forms PCL
iOS
Android
.NET
28
Platform Specific native app Cross platform native appsOr
iOS
30. Why Xamarin?
⢠Xamarin cross-platform compilers and tools provide development advantages in C#
usually reserved for C++
⢠Develop apps inVisual Studio
⢠Share code between native apps on different platforms saving time and money
⢠Native apps look and perform great
30
31. What do you need for Xamarin App development?
⢠Xamarin Studio (free for individuals ) â C# IDE forWindows and Mac
⢠Visual Studio integration ($999 year subscription per device platform)
⢠Build and debug iOS and Android apps directly fromVisual Studio
⢠Xamarin license required - 30 day trial
⢠Android SDK & Emulators (free from Google) and/or Xamarin Mac build agent (required
for iOS apps)
⢠Xcode and Apple iOS developer subscription (required for iOS apps)
ďŽ 99$ USD / year subscription
⢠Pay close attention to my lessons learned at the end
31
33. Sitecore Mobile SDK for Xamarin
⢠Single package on NuGet (also available in the Xamarin Store)
⢠Powered by the Mobile SDK for .NET portable class library (PCL)
33
34. PortableClass Library in .Net
⢠the Portable Class Library (PCL) allows
the targeting of a set of platforms.
⢠Itâs similar concept as within Xamarin,
but only supports .Net framework.
⢠Windows moves towards the Internet
ofThings (IOT) mindset huge potential.
⢠Sitecore mobile SDK for .Net can be
compiled along with any application
that targets the Microsoft PCL
⢠Xamarin = target framework
34
35. Sitecore Mobile SDK for .Net
35
Sitecore Mobile SDK for .Net
Request builder
ItemWebApiRequest
ScApiSession
Developer
Sitecore
Instance
to create
Item Objects Response
HTTP Request
Sitecore ItemWeb API 1.0
HTTP Response
Sitecore ItemWeb API
2.0
43. 43
⢠100% cross device compatible
⢠Work with Xamarin UI components
that are consistent across devices
⢠Developers work with XAML and C#
Start with Xamarin.Forms
5
48. 48
Sitecore Mobile SDK is
an abstraction layer that
ensures backward
compatible integration
with Sitecore for your
apps.
10
49. Whatâs next
49
1. Go and see Mark van Aalst his session today.
2. Follow the console app tutorial from
doc.sitecore.net (no Xamarin required).
3. Start reading about MVC and MVVM.
4. Now build an simple app; either Windows 8 app without the use of Xamari or anAndroid/Ios app
with Xamarin
5. Have questions?Ask your questions using the tag âMobile SDKâ on
community.sitecore.net