# XamExpertDay 2021 Recap [XamExpertDay 2021](https://xamexpertday.com/) took place on 1st October with a great line-up of speakers and interesting topics for Xamarin and .Net MAUI developers. Organised by [Gerald Versluis](https://blog.verslu.is/) who you probably know from Channel 9 and his awesome YouTube videos, [Kerry Lothrop](https://kerry.lothrop.de/en/) who you may know from the excellent DevTalk podcast, [Tobias Hoppenthaler](https://hot33331.github.io/) and [Glenn Versweyveld](https://blog.depechie.com/), this was the fifth year of XamExpertDay and the second event to be completely virtual. Unfortunately I've never attended a XamExpertDay in-person but I watched a livestream a few years ago and was immediately impressed. This is a conference that specialises in deep-dive content and real-life scenarios presented by experienced members of the community, and the 2021 event was no exception. There were 15 sessions from 17 speakers on the day. I was only able to watch a few sessions live but fortunately [Gerald has posted them all on his YouTube channel](https://www.youtube.com/c/GeraldVersluis). If you can only watch one session make it Maddy Ledger's [closing keynote](#closing-keynote-hello-net-maui-expert-day) from the end of the day. If you have more time then must-see sessions include Charlin & Rendy's [UX session](#improving-the-ux-of-our-xamarin-forms-apps), Mark's session on [Authentication](#adding-authentication-to-your-mobile-app) and Allan Ritchie talking about [background services and Bluetooth Low Energy](#theres-more-to-xamarin-than-ui-lets-do-some-background-magic-with-shiny-net). I haven't watched Rachel Kang's session about the new [Accessibility features in .Net MAUI](#building-accessible-apps-with-net-maui) because I recently saw her present that topic elsewhere but if you're writing MAUI apps it will be another must-see session. XamExpertDay 2021 was a great conference and I look forward to what next year brings for the event - a new name? an in-person event? Whatever the team plan for 2022, I'm sure it will be fun and educational and I hope to see you there. ### Adding Authentication to your Mobile App **Mark Allibone** Adding Authentication to your app can be intimidating. Mark shows us how to implement authentication using the OpenID Connect & OAuth standards and how to keep the user authenticated without repeatedly asking for credentials. %[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pf7hnH0JbFc] ### Building a mobile game with Xamarin.Forms **Shaun Lawrence** Shaun shows us how he built a wordsearch game for Android and iOS with Xamarin.Forms. He explores some of the key elements of the game, how he used SkiaSharp and Lottie for a better user experience and trade-offs made to improve performance. %[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBc08chqon8] ### Creating PDF files in mobile apps with PdfSharpCore and MigraDocCore **Luis Beltran** Luis shows us how to create complicated PDF documents including paragraphs, tables, styles and images in our Xamarin apps using open source .Net libraries PDFsharp and MigraDoc. %[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0wmCkF8iTM] ### There's more to Xamarin than UI, let's do some background magic with Shiny .Net **Allan Ritchie** Shiny 2.0 makes working with background tasks and device services easy. Allan shows us how to set up Shiny in our app, do basic background jobs and takes a look at what else Shiny has to offer. %[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5f8Gruz28DM] ### Porting your Custom Renderer to a Handler **Pedro Jesus** .Net MAUI has a new architecture, replacing Custom Renderers with Handlers. Pedro shows us how to migrate our Renderers to Handlers and take advantage of the improved architecture. %[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWdilOWAEt4] ### MVVM vs MVU **Sam Basu** Sam explores two popular design patterns that you can use with .Net MAUI – MVVM and MVU. How much of the design pattern is open to interpretation? How much is baked in? When to bring in other frameworks? And, the state of the ecosystem. %[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtyNRW2zSyc] ### Building Your Next .Net MAUI App **David Ortinau** In this introductory session, David shows us how to get started building a new app for Android, iOS, MacOS and Windows using .Net MAUI. %[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wOlYwapNHY] ### Raspberry-Pi Hand Sanitizer controlled by Mobile Apps **Saamer Mansoor** Saamer demonstrates how to set up a Raspberry Pi so that it can be controlled from a Xamarin or .Net MAUI app and used to control an IoT device. If you love getting out your soldering iron and building hardware, this is a great session to watch. %[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4aAyYPoi_o] ### Drawn Controls in .Net MAUI **Javier Suárez Ruiz** In this session Javier demonstrates .Net MAUI Graphics, a new cross-platform graphics library included with .Net MAUI and how to use it to create fully drawn custom controls. %[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPnh_r9l7pI] ### An introduction to modern desktop app development with .Net and MAUI **Konrad Müller** Konrad shows us the desktop development updates .Net MAUI will bring and other modern ways to develop for desktop with .Net: UWP, WPF, Mac Catalyst, Blazor, PWAs and more. Desktop apps used to be my bread and butter but I've not worked on one for a while, this session helped get me up to date on the options available. %[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OytyTna9qqk] ### From WPF to MAUI: Porting a web server based GUI **Daniele Fontani, Andrea Marcelli** Daniele and Andrea show us how they ported a WPF Windows application to .Net MAUI, the open source app manager [JSOS](https://github.com/zeppaman/jSOS). They demonstrate all the steps to update the project, the compatibility issues they encountered and how they solved them. %[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nv2AnaQWbPU] ### Improving the UX of our Xamarin Forms Apps **Charlin Agramonte, Rendy Del Rosario** User experience is one of the most important considerations when developing a mobile app. In this packed session, Charlin and Rendy show us how to improve the UX of our Xamarin.Forms apps with loads of useful tips and techniques. This is a must-see session for all Xamarin and .Net MAUI developers. %[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqPqTcXgTZw] ### Building Accessible Apps with .Net MAUI **Rachel Kang** Rachel shows us how to build accessible apps more easily than before by leveraging new APIs in .Net MAUI. %[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=meDw7eYLPXQ] ### MAUI Blazor - One App that runs everywhere **Jose Javier Columbie** .Net MAUI enables us to host Blazor components in our cross-platform native apps. In this introductory session, Jose covers everything you need to get your MAUI Blazor app running everywhere: Windows, Mac, iOS and Android. %[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSyOcLctrpE] ### Closing Keynote: Hello, .Net MAUI Expert Day! **Maddy Leger** In an emotional session to end the day, Maddy takes a look back on some of the major highlights of the past decade of Xamarin and shares her vision for the future of .Net. %[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlAyNu-4VZM]