MAUI horror

Already messed up some conflicting assembly versions.
When I create a new project I now have to delete some platforms to make it compile.
I think I delete all platforms accept windows to start. Otherwise getting crazy.

Also these downloads for all these platforms I have never heard of costing too much time.

Tizen??  Is that the name of a boxer or something


I just wanted to do  a simpel exercise asking me to run it on android. It failed. I tried to repair going from worse to more and more worse

aaaagggghh


So skip all except windows. But what will then be the advantage of using MAUI instead of WPF. Not much. Maybe better mvvm support?

O wait I can keep android to make it compile

<TargetFrameworks>net7.0-android</TargetFrameworks>

I think problem started when I selected .net 6 (blah, blah) instead of 7 because exercise told me to use .net 6

Finally having hallo world working on an android emulator. Have to wait for ages in debug mode.

Henk wrote:

Finally having hallo world working on an android emulator.

Yay!

Each time I create a new project I have to install android package or something.

So best is to delete net7.0-android in project file.

<TargetFrameworks>net7.0-android</TargetFrameworks>

Because I only want to run a chess program on windows. No phones.
Internet connections are too slow for a chess program and many more applications.

Sick of this downloading and installing. I don't know what is happening after downloading. Or to undo it.

Problem is I hardly know xaml/wpf as well.

Henk wrote:

Because I only want to run a chess program on windows. No phones. Internet connections are too slow for a chess program and many more applications.

Eh? What would the internet connection be for in a chess program?

Also, once you've created a chess program in MAUI, then in theory it ought not to be too difficult to package it up for app stores like Play for use on tablets and smartphones.

Running an engine in the browser is slow. So you have to run it on a server.


By the way debugger not working in MAUI. Maybe I should go back to wpf. Easier to google  wpf than maui. Giving more hits and information.

Looks like no one is using maui.

I am the only maui user in the village.

Exceptions were not caught. But giving no further information.

Have to comment out all to find the cause. So inconvenient,

Does not have a datagrid. So I have to start all over again. Best to read as much documentation as possible. But reading all day makes me crazy. Maybe I can use grid instead. Guessing and gambling.

Is there something like a tutorial available anywhere on the internet?

Complex software often has templates that can build a "typical" app for you to get you started.

Finally, how about trying to follow a video on building a MAUI app? You can always rewind a video and slow it down on the difficult parts.

Having said that:

1. Going through the struggle will greatly increase your expertise, and hence your value

2. Xamarin failed because it was just too difficult to use in general. I was under the impression that Xamarin was dumped and MAUI was a new product - but now I wonder if MS has been sneaky and repackaged Xamarin as MAUI without resolving all the usage difficulty?

Maybe still to early to use MAUI. I don't know yet.

Henk wrote:

Maybe still to early to use MAUI. I don't know yet.

At time of launch, it was already supposed to be a lot simpler than Xamarin, which it replaced:

https://brainhub.eu/library/net-maui-in-nutshell


Another option for a development environment is Blazor: I know this one is successful and growing.

MAUI is for producing cross-platform apps (there are other products for that as well, like Flutter), but Blazor is for producing web applications. It compiles to web assembly (WASM), which runs close to native speed in the browser - making it a good option for a chess computer in a web page.

Also good (IMO) - no JavaScript!

One can compile to WASM from almost any language.

The famous chess.com bots (like "Mittens") use WASM.

IMO Blazor is a good framework from which to produce WASM pages - but when I've used it, I've used C#, which, IIRC, is not entirely to your liking.

WASM slow. Best not to do slow computations in WASM. Haven't compared wpf and maui on windows platform yet. But I guess giving same performance.

CSS may be a nightmare. Might be doing the same in MAUI getting too difficult too.

I don't know yet.

I started with Blazor but saving state is a problem. Only do a refresh in the browser and you lose your data.
Not to talk about caching, security. So you have to store too much  on the server in a database. That means a roundtrip  to the server far too often.

Ok I see console application and MAUI on windows platform almost same performance. Console probably bit faster.

O no all images should be in svg format otherwise they don't scale.

Henk wrote:

O no all images should be in svg format otherwise they don't scale.  

One advantage of using a .NET framework - there is a boatload of libraries for it* - so bound to be one for scaling images (or convert images to SVG for display).

*Just did a quick search, and it's not very clear to me which libraries would maintain compatibility with Android and iOS.

They do scale but png looking akward. I don't care for now. Problem can be solved later.

By the way I don't like it that I hardly ever use sql. While I see many vacancies where they ask sql experience.
I remember I started with entityframe work. Was easy to use but slow. I am even unable to write a stored procedure.

Ok I could save a chess game in a database or a chess position. But they do not have many foreign keys I suppose.

Chess game has a start position and two players with elo  rating and contain moves. There are about 4000 unique moves or so. I forgot.
Move can be part of many games.

I also don't know git. Have to search how I add my maui project to git. Without version control you are nowhere.
By the way also don't know how to put a database under version control.

Enough problems.

Henk wrote:

By the way I don't like it that I hardly ever use sql. While I see many vacancies where they ask sql experience.
I remember I started with entityframe work. Was easy to use but slow. I am even unable to write a stored procedure.

I was lucky: I've had jobs in which I learned SQL.

Creating a stored procedure is not to be feared: it's basically a SQL query with a bit of wrapping to save that query to the server.

Generally, an SP is used for queries that update the database, whereas SQL functions are used for stored queries for retrieving data.

Installing SQL server on your own device is a big undertaking - but there are places where you can practice SQL online - e.g. link.

Quote :

I also don't know git. Have to search how I add my maui project to git. Without version control you are nowhere.

I very rarely use git commands. The version of Visual Studio I use (Enterprise) has a perfectly good GUI for managing branches. Alternatively, you could download GitHub Desktop.

Quote :

By the way also don't know how to put a database under version control.

This is a VERY serious problem that my company hasn't yet solved.

We backup the data in the database - but not the schema (which really should be under source control). The best way to backup the schema is to use a third party tool - but it can be done without one.

Added maui project to git. Using same old trick. I moved it to the directory which was already under source control. Giving all kinds of errors for project was also included as subproject of first project. So in the solution explorer I had to move it to the top level. After that I had to repair dependenties as well.

Strangely I also had to start configuration manager to mark it deployed. ( this is something new)

Stupid workarounds.


By the way can use grid to paint a chessboard but that's all. Can only bind a cell not the grid. So better use WPF. But WPF has no command class.

Can use slider in MAUI for personality test. Hi hi hi.

Henk wrote:

By the way can use grid to paint a chessboard but that's all. Can only bind a cell not the grid.

You might be right - but that sounds very strange!

Maybe a grid or a list view are not the best options here - they're not really designed for graphics. If you do use them, and the grid contains code to convert data to an image (you can do that in the grids I use using if statements - not sure about MAUI), then the grid's data source would have to be observable so that when the grid data changes, the grid will change:

Maybe ListView of listview then. Or a canvas. By the way my cursor does not show its position when typing this. very inconvenient. i can not correct my typings now. O now it does. Getting paranoid of this. Also when I view something counter gets updated by two. Someone spying me. Maybe microsoft I don't know. Google? Russians. Police.

Last two weeks police car stopped in front of the building. Each time on thursday. Some guy was trying out heavy firework in the weekends. Also someones bike was stolen. Probably I was a suspect because I use to take my bike on my arm for there is often pieces of glass in front of the building.

Already got it working using a chessboard grid. So no need to change it.

I get the impression that Blazor is easier to use. But I don't like creating services. Creating library is already annoying enough.

Binding for a ListView does not work. Now I am using a valueconvertor to debug it. Insane.
Otherwise I have no clue.

Maybe better go back to Blazor.

When you can't fix it take a break and simplify or change your plan.

People are rapidly discovering that Web Assembly (WASM - what Blazor compiles to) can be used everywhere. Experts are saying that on cloud servers, it's a superior alternative to Docker and Kubernetes.

It might be a better choice than MAUI, which is really for making cross-platform apps. Also I hadn't realised how much of the hated Xamarin is still in MAUI.

https://www.google.com/search?q=What+can+you+make+with+Blazor

Example giving in

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/maui/fundamentals/datatemplate

Seems to work. Don't know what is wrong. Maybe incorrect namespace. To be provided (maybe).