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Xamarin Challenge

by jeffpro

Posted on March 19, 2017

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If you’re working the Xamarin Challenge and run into any obstacles, post to this thread and the authors of the challenge will help out.

Comments (314)

314 responses to “Xamarin Challenge”

George Coll

Thanks for launching this forum post. Great challenge and it has been super working with together with your team!

5 years agoLog in to Reply

0
obideleon

Hi, I just want to ask you why I am not getting the Step 2? Earlier today it was just like 44minutes left but after going home from school it's now "0days -4hours -46minutes -36seconds" as in it's now Negative. Why was that?

Click here for the screenshot of I think was error.

5 years agoLog in to Reply

0
Tina

ANSWERS -- IF YOU ARE NOT RECEIVING XAMARIN CHALLENGE EMAILS

Hi All,
We have heard from a few of you that you have not been receiving emails for the Xamarin Challenge. What we have discovered is that you may have actually unsubscribed from receiving marketing emails from our company. Since we need to comply to the law and not send emails to those of you who have unsubscribed, there is a way around this:
You can go to any of the Steps in the challenge at these URL's
https://xamarinchallenge.thurrott.com/step-1
https://xamarinchallenge.thurrott.com/step-2
https://xamarinchallenge.thurrott.com/step-3
Once there, you will receive a form that asks for your challenge email and key phrase. The key phrase is the Challenge Reminder phrase that you gave when you registered. Once you submit these two pieces of information, then you will be given access to the correct step you are in -- in your process.
If you try to use this method to access the wrong step in the process, the screens will communicate that you need to access the correct step and lead you to that step where you will once again have to verify with your email address and key phrase.
If you continue to have a problem, please feel free to email me at [email protected]
Hope this helps a few of you out there.
Tina
P.S. If you do know your challenge code, then you can use the following url pattern to access any of the steps:
https://xamarinchallenge.thurrott.com/step-1/[EMAIL]/[CHALLENGE CODE]
https://xamarinchallenge.thurrott.com/step-2/[EMAIL]/[CHALLENGE CODE]
https://xamarinchallenge.thurrott.com/step-3/[EMAIL]/[CHALLENGE CODE]
Once again, if you try to access a step you are not authorized to access, you will be given on screen instructions to go to the correct step.

5 years agoLog in to Reply

0
- hm-thurrott.com
  
  In reply to Tina: Quote: "...What we have discovered is that you may have actually unsubscribed from receiving marketing emails from our company..."
  Is there any URL/email subject line one could use to opt-in after the fact?
  
  <please ignore, see update below instead> Update: 2017-04-25: Probably too late for this at this point but a suggestion: You currently block the steps that are not yet available to the challengers; how about (if only for next time?) you mark the completed steps in some similar fashion (but just allow the page viewer to continue on to that page. E.g. </please ignore, see update below instead>
  Update: 2017-04-26: Just encountered for the first time my 72-hr count down on my next step (-3); which effectively i) confirms completion of previous step as well ii) letting me know when my 72-hrs are up to the second!
  Update: 2017-04-28 06:49: Waiting on my 72-hr embargo to finish up my last step. I have been relying on the count-down-counter for the next step as verification that the current step is completed - but no next step for the final step. Is there an indirect way to verify (with no emails coming in) that step 3 is completed. Say a "Hall/Page of Fame" where we can look up our ID/Code/? to see if we are accounted for?
  Update: 2017-04-28: Just reviewed my registration; there is nothing about opting out of marketing material as part of the registration process; thinking that this is not the reason that I'm not getting my emails.
  
  5 years agoLog in to Reply
  
  0
- timmiller
  
  In reply to Tina:
  Hi Tina,
  
  Thanks for this. I was able to complete Step 1 and get it running on a Windows emulator. I could not seem to get the Android emulator working. But have added all the appropriate code and files. Will I be allowed to advance to Step 2?
  
  Thanks
  
  5 years agoLog in to Reply
  
  0
- Tim
  
  In reply to James Toalu:
  Go ahead and try again. Your completion date was early this morning and before we ran our updates.
  
  I just tested the URL with your credentials and it's working
  
  5 years agoLog in to Reply
  
  0
- jmeiii75
  
  In reply to James Toalu:
  I'm having the exact same issue when trying to access Part 3 after completing Part 2
  
  5 years agoLog in to Reply
  
  0
Payton

In reply to Payton:
A bit more information: When I reload the application on a new system, clean install, the first (killer) error I get is in the CoolBreeze.Android project, "The referenced component 'System.ObjectModel' could not be found.

5 years agoLog in to Reply

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littlejohnjt
I got a late start on the challenge and was able to complete part 1 pretty quickly but was only able to run the UWP locally. I cannot seem to get either the Windows mobile emulator or Android emulators to run successfully. I can't deploy to the Window Mobile emulator, it returns an error indicating the emulator failed to start. As for the Android emulator, it launches, but the emulator does not have a connection to the network, so the application encounters an exception.

I have attempted, via Hyper-V to set the Andriod VM to an external network, but then the VM/Emulator fails to launch completely. As for the Windows Mobile emulator, not exactly sure, I need to Bing/Google the exact error.

Development platform: Surface Pro 3, build 16170, 8GB RAM, VS 2017 Enterprise

Any help is much appreciated!

Todd
5 years agoLog in to Reply

0
- jt5
  
  In reply to littlejohnjt:
  I had a similar issue with the Android emulator. I fixed it by adding a second virtual adapter in the hyper-v tied to my wireless adapter on my sp3 and setup as an external network. I kept the first adapter as an internal network. I then added the second connection to each Android vm in the hyper-v manager. I made sure the wireless was connected. Then the emulator would connect to the web- and everything worked.
  
  5 years agoLog in to Reply
  
  0
  - littlejohnjt
    
    Thanks for the help! I swear I tried this early on with no luck. I updated the VM with an external network interface and it worked. I believe I tried this early on and the VM simply wouldnt start. Thanks again!In reply to jt5:
    
    5 years agoLog in to Reply
    
    0
RonH

I am still waiting to get the email to start the second part... about 10 days now..

Is this were I should post, or is there somewhere else?

5 years agoLog in to Reply

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- GrizzlyStrong
  
  In reply to RonH:
  I have done Part 1 now 3x and no emails. I also been waiting 10 days
  
  5 years agoLog in to Reply
  
  0
- Tim
  
  In reply to RonH:
  In reply to JaseCutler:
  Hey guys, we're digging into this ASAP. I'll follow up with you via email as soon as I know.
  I'm making an assumption that you're using the same email for the Xamarin Challenge as you do for your Thurrott.com account's, if that's not the case let me know.
  
  5 years agoLog in to Reply
  
  0
  - RonH
    
    In reply to Tim:
    Thanks.. same email for me...
    
    5 years agoLog in to Reply
    
    0
- JaseCutler
  
  In reply to RonH:
  I am looking for this as well.
  
  I have gotten no emails for this at all. I have the challenge code that was generated when I registered, and I've checked my Spam folder but nothing seems to get me emails.
  
  5 years agoLog in to Reply
  
  0
jmeiii75

Alright! Finished Part 2 and was able to get everything working on Android Emulator, the Windows Phone Emulator, and the UWP app running on the local machine. Looking forward to completing Part 3, and the challenge as a whole. Hopefully, I get my email soon.

5 years agoLog in to Reply

0
leonzandman

I've finished part 2, but haven't yet received part 3...

5 years agoLog in to Reply

0
Bigwillt

So I had some issues with part 2 and I had some VS2017 updates available and I thought, "Maybe I need to update?"

Now I have completely borked my project. The UWP will run but the Android will not.

Is there any way to start at Part 2 without having to restart at Part 1?

5 years agoLog in to Reply

0
- siko
  
  In reply to Bigwillt:
  Tried a 'Clean solution'?
  *edit*
  If you updated windows or a windows sdk, check your project file ...uwp.csproj on the supported version:
  <TargetPlatformVersion>10.0.[YourOsVersionHere].0</TargetPlatformVersion>
  <TargetPlatformMinVersion>10.0.[YOVH].0</TargetPlatformMinVersion>
  
  5 years agoLog in to Reply
  
  0
roman203

Receiving Error on "cityPicker" " The 'cityPicker' does not exist in the current context" the built in solutions only seem to make the problem more pronounced. Any assistance will be greatly appreciated.

5 years agoLog in to Reply

0
YEHUDA

After Successfully completing the first 2 parts of the challenge, and most of the 3rd part. I'm at a standstill: When I click on submit challenge in my app running in the emulator it crashes and I get a unhandled exception error. HELP????

5 years agoLog in to Reply

0
- jt5
  
  In reply to YEHUDA:
  I am having the same issue. I have tried the other fixes listed- but no luck. Anyone else with an idea? I also updated visual studio and then did a clean and deploy/build. I went through and redid the step 3 parts- but still no avail. I went through the debugger to see if I could find the line it is crashing on and it is one of these lines in SubmissionInformation.cs:
  
  CloudBlobContainer container = new CloudBlobContainer(new Uri(_submissionLocation));
  
  var blob = container.GetBlockBlobReference($"{App.RegistrationCode}.submission");
  
  I don't think it is getting to the blob line though. I verified registrationCode is passed in correctly. I have verified the submissionLocation is correct. I tried it in another Android emulator as well and it did not work either. Not sure what else to do here. Everything else has worked- just trying to submit my entry and get entered to win a surface studio.
  
  5 years agoLog in to Reply
  
  0
  - timo47
    
    In reply to jt5:
    I had the same problem: the execution failed between those 2 lines. Cleaning the solution did not help. Ultimately I resolved it by reinstalling the WindowsAzure.Storage package.
    
    5 years agoLog in to Reply
    
    0
- GrizzlyStrong
  
  In reply to YEHUDA:
  I finally got it to work. I updated all the nu-GET packages and commented out the following App.xaml.cs
  //using Microsoft.Azure.Mobile.Analytics;
  //using Microsoft.Azure.Mobile.Crashes;
  
  //MobileCenter.Start(typeof(Analytics), typeof(Crashes));
  
  5 years agoLog in to Reply
  
  0
- siko
  
  In reply to YEHUDA:
  Clean the solution
  
  5 years agoLog in to Reply
  
  0
  - YEHUDA
    
    In reply to siko: Thanks siko, that did the trick!! NOW i NEED MY SURFACE STUDIO!! :)
    
    5 years agoLog in to Reply
    
    0
  - Erik
    
    In reply to siko:
    Thanks, cleaning worked for me!
    
    5 years agoLog in to Reply
    
    0
- GrizzlyStrong
  
  In reply to YEHUDA:
  having the same issue. I checked the code correct and it seems to still happen.
  
  04-17 11:03:56.939 E/mono   ( 3543):
  04-17 11:03:56.939 E/mono   ( 3543): Unhandled Exception:
  04-17 11:03:56.939 E/mono   ( 3543): System.NotImplementedException: The method or operation is not implemented.
  04-17 11:03:56.939 E/mono-rt ( 3543): [ERROR] FATAL UNHANDLED EXCEPTION: System.NotImplementedException: The method or operation is not implemented.
  
  5 years agoLog in to Reply
  
  0
  - GrizzlyStrong
    
    In reply to GrizzlyStrong:
    looks like there is an issue receiving the registration code:
    private string _registrationLocation = $"http://traininglabservices.azurewebsites.net/api/weather/register?registrationCode={App.RegistrationCode}";
    
    5 years agoLog in to Reply
    
    0
Payton

After much trouble at every step, I finally got the app finished and was able to submit successfully, according to the "Xamarin Challenge Gods" yesterday early afternoon. Then last night I got a notice from the Xamarin Team ([email protected]) that I should "get started and finish step 3". Is this anything I need to be concerned about or just a timing issue?

5 years agoLog in to Reply

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- Tim
  
  In reply to Payton:
  Definitely a timing issue. The completion time-stamps are updated every morning. I can see that you completed the challenge yesterday. That email was likely triggered before the update went live this morning.
  
  5 years agoLog in to Reply
  
  0
  - Payton
    
    In reply to Tim:
    Thanks, Tim. I actually just received the notification. (Story of my life--I can not find something until I ask my wife where it is, then find it before she can answer. Sigh.)
    
    5 years agoLog in to Reply
    
    0
Bigwillt

I'm a little late to the party but, how do I submit Part 1 now that I have completed it?

5 years agoLog in to Reply

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- jmeiii75
  
  In reply to Bigwillt:
  You do not have to submit. You will simply receive an email acknowledging completion. It may take a couple of days. It did for me. However, in fairness, I finished Part 1 on a Friday. Got my acknowledgement on Monday. Fortunately, the 72 hour waiting period started when I finished, not when I received the email.
  
  5 years agoLog in to Reply
  
  0
  - Bigwillt
    
    In reply to jmeiii75:
    Thanks.
    
    5 years agoLog in to Reply
    
    0
Mike Irving

Hi There.
I completed Step 2 about a week ago.. I have come back to it today and re-ran it all.
How does your system verify I have finished, as I am still awaiting confirmation / instructions about Step 3?
Please advise,
Mike.

5 years agoLog in to Reply

0
- cat
  
  In reply to Mike Irving:
  I'm in the same boat... (step 2 done, not step 3 for over 72 hours) Also, no Step 2 "completed" email nor 'countdown clock' when I attempt to access the download (as mentioned further down the comments).
  UPDATE... 5hrs later... I just got an email that Step 2 is done, Step 3 is 72 hr wait now. What I did (not sure if this was why) was load the android app onto an old android phone and went outside (so the GPS could get it location)... I've had tons of issues with the android emulation, so maybe the thing to do is just not use it (or at least not depend on it to signal the API server that is tracking your challenge tag).
  
  5 years agoLog in to Reply
  
  0
BarryWallis

I finished part 2 over the weekend and was eagerly awaiting part 3 when I got an unexpected e-mail this morning. It said they noticed I hadn't completed part 2 yet. What do I need to make sure I do to trigger part 3?

5 years agoLog in to Reply

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DavidSlade

Completed Part 1, but I cannot get the later version Android emulators to work. I am getting the message "Init: Failed to read from /dev/hw_random: No such device" when I connect in HyperV. It seems they just will not work on my system. None of the fixes suggested in Xamarin forums work.

5 years agoLog in to Reply

0
- robinwilson16
  
  In reply to DavidSlade:
  Hello David, I get the same message if I connect to the VM from Hyper-V but if I load it from inside Visual Studio by going to Tools > Visual Studio Emulator for Android... then it loads fine (also when it is booted up in the emulator, if I connect from Hyper-V it still gives the same error message). Did you try that? I did find the emulator to be pretty unreliable though.
  
  5 years agoLog in to Reply
  
  0
  - DavidSlade
    
    In reply to robinwilson16:
    No, from Visual Studio does not work: "Could not connect to debugger". The emulator has lots of error messages such as "No such file or directory" and "Permission denied. I am going to try again to re-install.
    
    5 years agoLog in to Reply
    
    0
- techieg33k
  
  In reply to DavidSlade:
  I ended up using the x86 emulator for Android as the H-V on broke my network stack. I downloaded HAXM (https://software.intel.com/en-us/android/articles/intel-hardware-accelerated-execution-manager) and after reboot it worked fine.
  
  5 years agoLog in to Reply
  
  0
  - DavidSlade
    
    In reply to techieg33k:
    I setup the challenge on my Surface book with fresh VS2017 and most Android emulators don't work there as well. I will look at your link.
    
    5 years agoLog in to Reply
    
    0
    
    techieg33k
    
    In reply to DavidSlade:
    I just located where I first got the link for HAXM: https://developer.xamarin.com/guides/android/getting_started/installation/accelerating_android_emulators/
    NOTE: Don't try to use the Android SDK Manager to get HAXM, but instead my link. The Manager shows "Not compatible with Windows" which might confuse you otherwise.
    
    5 years agoLog in to Reply
    
    0
    
    DavidSlade
    
    In reply to techieg33k:
    But that means disabling HyperV, I need HyperV for VMs. so I won't do that.
    
    5 years agoLog in to Reply
    
    0
    
    techieg33k
    
    In reply to DavidSlade:
    HyperV is still on in my BIOS and my VMs still work perfectly. Ignore the junk under "Using HAXM and Hyper-V" heading.
    
    5 years agoLog in to Reply
    
    0
GrizzlyStrong

I have done part 1 twice now and still have not received part 2 of this challenge, so if any one running this can give those of us stuck in this part of the challenge some advice that will be a great help. maybe there is something that we have missed. Or is there a way to submit the project that we have done.

5 years agoLog in to Reply

0
- robinwilson16
  
  In reply to GrizzlyStrong:
  Hello. One thing that worked for me was to re-visit the step 1 URL and then change the URL:
  https://xamarinchallenge.thurrott.com/step-1/[OTHER STUFF HERE]
  
  So replace step-1 with step-2 and this should take you to the page with the step 2 zip file. If it tells you that you cannot access it yet then you can view the page source to get the URL but I'm unsure if this will invalidate your competition entry.
  Hope it helps.
  
  5 years agoLog in to Reply
  
  0
tpiselli

Just finished part 1 using Visual Studio for the Mac exclusively. Obviously I could not do the UWP portion but the rest went fairly smooth. Had to figure out the different menu items and options on the wizard screens but, I did get the iOS app running. The Android app crashes after it start so I'll have to look into that a little more. Overall I'd say the tool is nice though it's no Eclipse for Java: right Paul :-)

5 years agoLog in to Reply

0
JaseCutler

I have done challenge 1 twice now start to finish, and still have not received challenge 2. How do I find out how to trigger challenge 2?

5 years agoLog in to Reply

0
jmeiii75

I just successfully finished Part 1. Is there another step that I need to take? A link where I submit my code? I realize that there are others waiting as well and just don't want to miss anything. Thank you and I apologize if the question has been answered and I simply missed it.

5 years agoLog in to Reply

0
- jmeiii75
  
  In reply to jmeiii75:
  Ah. Just got my acknowledgment for completing Step 1. On to Step 2 (in 72 hours).
  
  5 years agoLog in to Reply
  
  0
leonzandman

I think I'm going to have to restart the Challenge (at least from part 2). I've stumbled upon just about every error this thread contains. I haven't been able to get the button to the Forecast page to show up in any emulator. Updated Xamarin Forms NuGet packages, but nothing works. Also deployment/debugging to both Android and Windows Mobile emulators often fails. I'm doing this on my Surface Pro 4, maybe that's problematic hardware (as I also had to enable the Hyper-V compatibility feature on that device).

5 years agoLog in to Reply

0
- robinwilson16
  
  In reply to leonzandman:
  I did mine on a Surface Pro 4 (with Creators Update) and the worst issue for me was the unreliability of the Android Emulator. I found that if Android could not access the internet then CoolBreeze just crashed and it took multiple attempts setting up the emulator until I got it working. Not sure if this is related to the specific hardware or just because the emulator is unreliable. I had no issues with UWP on my PC though.
  
  5 years agoLog in to Reply
  
  0
  - BarretBlake
    
    In reply to robinwilson16:
    I've had multiple problems with the Android emulators. I basically just had to keep uninstalling and re-deploying the app until it finally ran without crashing on one of them.
    
    5 years agoLog in to Reply
    
    0
- BarretBlake
  
  In reply to leonzandman:
  I may end up restarting from the beginning. I completed part 2 a week ago and still have not received an email for part 3.
  
  5 years agoLog in to Reply
  
  0
  - BarryWallis
    
    In reply to BarretBlake:
    That's the same boat I am in.
    
    5 years agoLog in to Reply
    
    0
Cronus

I've just completed Part 2. I did have to manually delete my bin folder for the UWP app to get it to show the Forecast button along with the rest of the changes.

I'm having an issue where my breakpoints aren't working on some files due to mismatching file versions. I've not only cleaned and rebuilt I've also deleted the entire bin folder again. For example Mainpage.xaml.cs gives me the error for breakpoints, but they work fine in LocationHelper.cs. This is for the UWP app, which is running fine, but I'm a bit concerned.

How can I be getting this error even after manually deleting CoolBreeze.UWPbin?

5 years agoLog in to Reply

0
- leonzandman
  
  In reply to Cronus:
  Did you rebuild and redeploy all relevant projects?
  
  5 years agoLog in to Reply
  
  0
Alexander Rothacker
There is a typo in the sample code for ForecastPage.xaml in part 2.
The Label that is displaying the temperature is implemented as follows:
<Label VerticalOptions="Center" Text="{Binding MaxTemperaturem, Converter={StaticResource CharacterLabelConverter}, ConverterParameter=°}" />
But MaxTemperaturem doesn't exist, it should be MaxTemperature
5 years agoLog in to Reply

0
- hm-thurrott.com
  
  In reply to Alexander Rothacker:
  An errata page managed by our challenge organisers would seem like a good idea...
  
  5 years agoLog in to Reply
  
  0
- leonzandman
  
  In reply to Alexander Rothacker:
  
  Indeed. Great find!
  
  5 years agoLog in to Reply
  
  0
leonzandman

So I finally got the forecast toolbar button appearing/working! It now works on every emulator and on a locally running UWP app.

The solution: I guess I missed a step... I didn't wrap the creation of the StartPage in a new NavigationPage in App.xaml.cs. Stupid me. So App.xaml.cs has to have the following line:
MainPage = new NavigationPage(new CoolBreeze.StartPage());

5 years agoLog in to Reply

0
cat
I've done Xamarin projects (pre-Microsoft), so thought using VM-Ware on a Mac to run Windows and VS2017 would be the way to go... but have run into multiple issues.

Ran out of Space on VM for VS2017 on VM
VS2017 uses ONLY /tmp to install (aka couldn't install as /tmp was on C: , yes you can hack around it)
Cannot install emulators when VS2017 is running on VMWare (I'm sure there is a hack for this too)

After I hacked attempting the setup... I gave up an lit up an extra server in my grid then ran into Paul's issues...
Given all this AND that I've had Xamarin running / building 2 years ago... I'd appreciate hearing about the setups (H/W and VM's) that people who've gotten through the challenge used.

Is it Windows 10 setup, VS2017, H/W assumptions ? New Xamarin lib ? or am I getting to 'that age' where I should sit with Paul and Leo yelling about my grass, talking about when 1KB was a lot of memory.

Can we do this via Visual Studio ONLINE ?
5 years agoLog in to Reply

0
shaunhey

Unfortunately it looks like I am among those who is stuck at step 1 without receiving a confirmation message to start step 2. I completed step 1 on 4/3, seeing the weather on both the Android emulator and as a UWP app, so I know that the web service sending the weather info saw my registration code.

5 years agoLog in to Reply

0
- Koen van der Linden
  
  In reply to shaunhey:
  Same here. Started the application and webservice is called. But now email to start step 2.
  
  5 years agoLog in to Reply
  
  0
- shaunhey
  
  In reply to shaunhey:
  FYI: This morning I finally received an email indicating completion of part 1 (with no other action on my part).
  
  5 years agoLog in to Reply
  
  0
robinwilson16

For anyone not receiving the next part of the challenge, I have found that to access the other parts you can just modify the URL:
https://xamarinchallenge.thurrott.com/step-1/[OTHER STUFF HERE]

Change step-1 to the step you are up to and then when you get a message telling you that you cannot access it yet just view the source of the page and search for "Download" and you will see the URL to download the zip file.

However if you follow this approach I am not sure if this would disqualify you from the challenge so use with caution! I tested it with another account and was able to access all 3 parts one after the other.

Robin

5 years agoLog in to Reply

0
robinwilson16

Hello

I have now completed the challenge, however the option to submit my solution is greyed out in the UWP app for some reason, so pressing it does nothing and on the Android app I am able to submit my solution more than once but I notice there is no code to catch any errors from what I can tell and it just moves to the success message. Is there a way to confirm my entry has been accepted?

I enjoyed the challenge and the only issue I had was getting the Android emulator to just boot and load correctly and also to detect the external network and it was very flaky. Even now CoolBreeze will sometimes open and I will be able to access all the screens and other times it will just exit immediately and it often exits on the forecast page saying "Unfortunately, CoollBreeze.Android has stopped." but other times it works. It seems if the external network connection isn't working it just crashes as the API calls don't work.
Interestingly though. on the Visual Studio Mobile Centre these crashes are not detected and only the one error relating to the date format is listed (part of the exercise).

The only way to get the Android Emulator to work was to set it up first from the tools menu then go into Hyper-V settings and add a second network adaptor to the VM which pointed to the external network. Doing anything else just resulted in the emulator sticking on the loading screen indefinitely and never booting. When it did load it seemed to sometimes only check the other internal adaptor and I had to keep deleting it and re-creating it until it eventually decided to work.

Thanks
Robin

5 years agoLog in to Reply

0
- siko
  
  In reply to robinwilson16:
  The UWP app is not supported for the mobile monitoring stack... and apparently azure mobile is not supported either. Submitting only works in Android (or iOS, but I cannot confirm).
  
  Confirm that crashes in Android are not all registered in the mobile centre.
  
  The (google) android emulator and supporting tools are very, very buggy and hardly serious stuff IMHO.
  
  I would also like to know if my submission really made it to azure?!
  
  5 years agoLog in to Reply
  
  0
  - robinwilson16
    
    In reply to siko:
    Hello Siko
    Thanks for the reply. It is surprising that Microsoft's development tools don't yet support UWP but I can see you are right and like you I can't test the iOS development.
    
    UWP was working well at least but since my PC updated on the fast ring to 16170, UWP debugging is broken now too it seems, at least for me.
    
    Robin
    
    5 years agoLog in to Reply
    
    0
techieg33k

FIXED: I had forgotten to Deploy the app again for Step 6. I was messing around and got the warning I needed to Deploy, so once done it works perfectly in the UWP app. So anyone else just remember to Deploy before trying to run it with the UWP.

So I got to the end of Exercise 6 (Part 1 of this challenge) and when I run the UWP (Simulator or local) it launches with the splash screen as expected and still just say "Welcome to Zamarin Forms!" and I do not see any of the options to select the city or see the weather. This app displays perfectly on the Android Emulator. I can not test the iOS as I don't have a Mac.

I've tried to just close out, Build, Rebuilt, and nothing changed. No errors showing. The only thing I am seeing under the Debug section is a bunch of "...Skipped loading symbols. Module is optimized and the debugger option 'Just My Code' is enabled." I will note that the defaults when I setup the project for the UWP part was:

Target Version: Windows 10 Creators Update (10.0; Build 15063) (no other choice can be picked!)
Min Version: Windows 10 November Update (10.0; Build 10586)

I am on Windows 10 Pro with Update 1607 installed currently.

5 years agoLog in to Reply

0
jmeiii75

I was able to finish the challenge and successfully submit my solution today. This was a great learning experience. Thank you to the challenge designers and to all of those who have posted helpful information on this thread.

5 years agoLog in to Reply

0
Nic
I’ve been trying to work my way through the challenge, and have spent many hours getting frustrated, and now I have reached a point where I am completely stuck.

Aside from not being able to run an Android emulator in anything lower than Marshmallow, I’ve been able to get everything to work, up to a point.

As soon as I perform the tasks for exercise 3, in part 2, to add toolbar navigation, everything stops functioning in Android.
The drop-down list selection is not honored on the “Now” tab
The current location async call never returns results (just stuck with the spinning wait icon, despite the fact that it worked prior to this step)

This is the third time I have started from scratch, and I get exactly the same result each time, so at this point I do not believe that it is something I am explicitly doing wrong, based on the instructions.

It’s my understanding that there is a bug with the current version of Xamarin and the Windows app, so that the forecast does not show, however, I have been able to get this to work with Windows Mobile, but it does not seem as though anything other than the default location is being pulled (this may be correct, I cannot see a way to force location in that emulator). And despite hitting the forecast in that it does not appear as though this piece of the challenge is being marked complete for me.

So, there is obviously some issue here that I am unable to resolve. Are there any pointers that anyone can provide as an assist here?
5 years agoLog in to Reply

0
- robinwilson16
  
  In reply to Nic:
  Hello Nic
  Just a thought but could the Location service be disabled on your PC?
  You could check the settings in Settings > Privacy > Location
  Just an idea.
  Robin
  
  5 years agoLog in to Reply
  
  0
  - Nic
    
    In reply to robinwilson16:
    Tne Location services were enabled, but still no dice
    I ended up spinning up a VM on my laptop and going through steps 1 & 2. As soon as work starts on Step 2 then the Android app crashes, but the UWP one works just fine.
    To say this stuff is finnicky is an understatement. I even copied over the project from one machine to another, just to see if was a copy pasta problem for me, but got the exact same results, which indicates to me that there's either something up with the software, or funky in windows.
    
    5 years agoLog in to Reply
    
    0
Brett Barbier

So here's a crucial question - after I win one of these Surface Studios (I'm being a positive thinker!), which I assume will be the i5 8GB model, could I upgrade it to the next model up (i7 with 16GB) by paying $500 out of pocket?

5 years agoLog in to Reply

0
- techieg33k
  
  In reply to Brett Barbier:
  Good question. I read through everything and the model they are giving is the base model (it matches the prize value and the specs listed - can't remember where I saw them listed).
  
  5 years agoLog in to Reply
  
  0
- Tim
  
  In reply to Brett Barbier:
  
  If you win, send us an email about this. I don't know the answer but we can certainly look into it!
  
  5 years agoLog in to Reply
  
  0
Erfan Mehrvash

I am struggling with first challenge. Please help me.
I have many many ERROR.

5 years agoLog in to Reply

0
- robinwilson16
  
  In reply to Erfan Mehrvash:
  Hello Erfan
  I had a similar issue the first time I tried to do step 1 which happened after receiving a warning when Visual Studio was attempting to create a new project and it seems it didn't copy all the required DLL files for some reason. I then started with another new project and it worked the second time.
  Also it looks like Visual Studio has pending updates (orange flag) so you could try updating and then starting a new project.
  Good luck!
  
  5 years agoLog in to Reply
  
  0
Jay Kimble

I finished step 2 Monday night, and have been waiting since then to get step 3. I realize that I needed to wait 24 hours for a response and then 3 days for it to unlock.. (but it's been a busy week).

Is there anyway you can help me out?

Jay Kimble

5 years agoLog in to Reply

0
- hm-thurrott.com
  
  In reply to Jay Kimble: FYI:
  24-hrs & 72-hrs are concurrent
  See Tina's post below; "your" step-3 will have a count down for when you'll have access to the next step (and by implication that step-2 was successfully completed (sooner than 24-hrs).
  
  5 years agoLog in to Reply
  
  0
gf

in Exercise 2, Step 19. I get an error message. The first line of the error message says "Unable to activate Windows Store App" Then it has what appears to be the GUID for my app followed by this text "The CoolBreeze.UWP.exe process started, but the activation requested failed with error 'The app didn't start'.

Then there is an OK button and a Help button. When I click on the help button I get taken here - https://msdn.microsoft.com/query/dev15.query?appId=Dev15IDEF1&l=EN-US&k=k(vs.debug.error.app_activation_failure);k(TargetFrameworkMoniker-.NETCore,Version%3Dv5.0)&rd=true This page does not appear to really be related to my error since there are no error numbers and when I looked in the event log as suggested, I could not find anything related to what the page was telling me. I am running Windows 10, VS 2017 Community Edition on an HP Envy laptop that is about 1.5 years old. I would really like to complete the challenge but I am not sure how to get past this error so that I can finish Step 2 and receive Step 3

I have reviewed all of the steps in Exercise 2 and did not find any mistakes.

5 years agoLog in to Reply

0
mdb17

I am also running into an issue when trying to submit the challenge. Whenever i click the submit but in the app i get the following error: An unhandled exception occured.

5 years agoLog in to Reply

0
- YEHUDA
  
  In reply to mdb17: Try cleaning your solution
  
  5 years agoLog in to Reply
  
  0
  - jt5
    
    In reply to YEHUDA:
    Cleaning has not worked for me. I have poked around further and believe the issue is related to a mismatch in an assembly reference to Newtonsoft.json. I have not figured out how to resolve it yet- but it seems to be looking for something from json that is not there. Which seems to fit with the error. If I find a solution I will post.
    
    5 years agoLog in to Reply
    
    0
Cristian Rodriguez

Hi all,

First of all I want to mention the challenge has been great. However, I've run into a few issues, hope you can help out.
I completed step 3, but when submitting it hangs and throws an exception in App.g.i.cs:

#if DEBUG && !DISABLE_XAML_GENERATED_BREAK_ON_UNHANDLED_EXCEPTION
      UnhandledException += (sender, e) =>
      {
        if (global::System.Diagnostics.Debugger.IsAttached) global::System.Diagnostics.Debugger.Break();
      };
#endif

I can't seem to move forward...

Thanks in advance for any help.

5 years agoLog in to Reply

0
Bruce Lane
I have completed Part 3 right up to submitting the code. At that point I get an unhandled exception error.

The mobile center shows the following crash info:

SubmissionInformation+<SubmitChallengeAsync>d__19.MoveNext ()
System.NotImplementedException: The method or operation is not implemented.
The method or operation is not implemented.
1 SubmissionInformation+<SubmitChallengeAsync>d__19.MoveNext ()
2 ExceptionDispatchInfo.Throw ()
7 SubmissionInformation+<<get_SubmitChallengeCommand>b__18_0>d.MoveNext ()
8 ExceptionDispatchInfo.Throw ()

Any help would be appreciated.
5 years agoLog in to Reply

0
- timo47
  
  In reply to Bruce Lane:
  If a "clean solution" as suggested by others doesn't work, try reinstalling the WindowsAzure.Storage package in the NuGet Packages manager.
  
  5 years agoLog in to Reply
  
  0
  - jt5
    
    In reply to timo47:
    I have tried cleaning and your suggestion. I still can not get it to work. Any other ideas?
    
    5 years agoLog in to Reply
    
    0
YEHUDA

I succesfully submitted and got the finished message but never recieved a confiramtion email, this was a week ago and now i reran the project and submitted again.

5 years agoLog in to Reply

0
Dan Hartwigsen

Oh well, gave it shot... and maybe learned something along the way. In the end, succumbed to all the errors. Wasn't too bad the first time through but got stuck on Step 3, so decided to restart fresh, then got new errors I didn't have before... 'no reference for system.objectmodel', 'must install Microsoft.BCL... (I just did!)'... But I resign, thanks anyway.

5 years agoLog in to Reply

0
- techieg33k
  
  In reply to Dan Hartwigsen:
  The BCL error is just something to be ignored (I decided after hours of research). I'd say almost all of my trouble/errors (there were a LOT of them!) were caused by using different (newer) versions of of Plugins than listed in the screenshots or sometimes just forgetting to do something simple (like when first making changes to UWP I needed to Deploy before trying to run it to see the change). I'll be honest though that these difficulties didn't "run me away" but instead still left me torn between learning C#/XAML to use this or Lua/Corona SDK to use Atom (or another IDE)...
  
  5 years agoLog in to Reply
  
  0
Paul Young

Can anyone tell me where "Exercise 3 (OPTIONAL): Create an authenticated challenge submission experience" mentioned at https://xamarinchallenge.thurrott.com/step-3 can be found? I'd really like to get an insight into authentication in Xamarin.

5 years agoLog in to Reply

0
cedricl

Were the winners announced ?
The email link to the winners does not work for me, landing on a page informing me the challenge closed & please come back may 1st.

5 years agoLog in to Reply

0
- RamblingGeek
  
  In reply to cedricl:
  It's says after 1st May https://xamarinchallenge.thurrott.com/
  
  5 years agoLog in to Reply
  
  0
- techieg33k
  
  In reply to cedricl:
  They just updated the page earlier today. They said they will announce the winners this Friday on the podcast. Refresh the https://xamarinchallenge.thurrott.com page to see the details.
  
  5 years agoLog in to Reply
  
  0
Rashid Akhtar

"Could not load type 'Xamarin.Forms.Xaml.XamlFilePathAttribute' from assembly 'Xamarin.Forms.Xaml, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=null'."
I am getting this error everytime I try to run the App. Then I clean the whole solution build it and then it works fine. But after few minutes again this error comes while running the application. Please help how to get over with this permanently.

5 years agoLog in to Reply

0
Rashid Akhtar

Completed Challenge 2 on 28th April, yet not received email for Challenge 3.

5 years agoLog in to Reply

0
- techieg33k
  
  In reply to Rashid Akhtar:
  I'd guess it's because you had to complete the whole thing by April 30th and each step had 72 hours in between, so there wouldn't have been enough time to wait 72 hours and still finish.
  
  5 years agoLog in to Reply
  
  0
  - Rashid Akhtar
    
    In reply to techie
    Is there any way I could get the lab files for practice?
    
    5 years agoLog in to Reply
    
    0
    
    techieg33k
    
    In reply to Rashid Akhtar:
    I assume it's OK to share them since the files themselves aren't special to the individual. Unless someone can tell me why that's not a good thing to do I'll post back a download link to them at the end of the week.
    
    5 years agoLog in to Reply
    
    0
    
    Rashid Akhtar
    
    In reply to techieg33k: If possible please do post the download link. Thanks.
    
    5 years agoLog in to Reply
    
    0
    
    techieg33k
    
    In reply to Rashid Akhtar:
    I put all 3 parts in a ZIP: https://www.dropbox.com/s/tkrj3jgyqigod27/Xamarin%20Challenge%20%281-3%29.zip?dl=0
    
    Mods, If I need to take this down please let me know and I will do so. Just putting this out there for people who want to use it and still learn.
    
    5 years agoLog in to Reply
    
    0
Rashid Akhtar

I am getting the forecast functionality working for Android, but for UWP its not showing the ToolBarItem to get the forecast for the UWP. Any help is appreciated. I even used break points to debug. The ToolBarITem is working alright for Android, but not for UWP. Please help.

5 years agoLog in to Reply

0
- techieg33k
  
  In reply to Rashid Akhtar:
  Did you remember to Deploy the UWP version before trying to run it? I had this exact same issue over and over and then realized I just kept running it which did nothing but use the version currently compiled and installed on my machine. Once I did a Deploy it rebuilt it with the changes and then I was able to run and see it in action.
  
  5 years agoLog in to Reply
  
  0
  - Rashid Akhtar
    
    In reply to techieg33k: I cleaned the whole solution, built it and then deployed to my local machine which is running windows 10. But still the toolbar item is not working for UWP but I see that it is working fine for Android.
    
    5 years agoLog in to Reply
    
    0
    
    techieg33k
    
    In reply to Rashid Akhtar:
    Not to beat this to death but you are using the Right Click > Deploy on UWP, correct? I kept "deploying" it by clicking on the run button in the toolbar (green arrow then it says Local Machine next to it) when I had the problem you are describing. That is I was doing wrong for 30 or 40 minutes until I reread the entire 1st part and realized where I was going wrong.
    
    5 years agoLog in to Reply
    
    0
Mohammed Thabet Zaky

Anyone know when we know the winner of the challenge ?

5 years agoLog in to Reply

0
- techieg33k
  
  In reply to Mohammed Thabet Zaky:
  I tweeted Brad and Paul this AM about that. Brad said the following:
  "This is a good q, need to compile all the data for who completed it...will know something hopefully soon-ish." so I'd guess we might have to wait post-EDU event tomorrow if Brad or Paul are involved since I'm sure they are busy covering it.
  
  5 years agoLog in to Reply
  
  0
Lerch

I completed Challenge 2 and I'm awaiting the confirmation email. I'm worried my 72 hour wait won't start until my Challenge 2 is registered as completed. How will I know if my completion is not registered? Did I miss something in the challenge? Waiting!

5 years agoLog in to Reply

0
- wyldebill00
  
  In reply to Lerch:
  Look for the post below from Tina with this line of text. ANSWERS -- IF YOU ARE NOT RECEIVING XAMARIN CHALLENGE EMAILS
  The url will be similar to this: https://xamarinchallenge.thurrott.com/step-3/youremail/yourchallengecode
  
  She also says that there is some checking of your progress when you request that url - if you aren't considered complete for the prior challenge, you can't download the materials for the next one.
  
  Good luck.
  
  5 years agoLog in to Reply
  
  0
Rashid Akhtar

Completed step 1 , when will I receive instructions for step 2. Do I need to to send my completion status to anyone ? If yes, then who?

5 years agoLog in to Reply

0
siko

In reply to James Toalu:
Clean solution?

5 years agoLog in to Reply

0
- James Toalu
  
  In reply to siko:
  I cleaned the solution in addition to modifying the Min Version and Max Version, but it did not solve the problem.
  Which version of Xamarin Forms do you use?
  Please see the screenshot below for more information.
  
  5 years agoLog in to Reply
  
  0
timmiller

Finally got an email with Step-2. Was successfully able to complete it and got functioning code on the UWP. But Android has still been a pain point for me and I am never able to get the Android emulator up and running. These are my current warnings that seem to be crashing the deploy. I'm hoping I can still move on to Step 3.

```
Warning The referenced component 'Xamarin.Android.Support.Animated.Vector.Drawable' could not be found.
Warning The referenced component 'Xamarin.Android.Support.Compat' could not be found.
Warning The referenced component 'Xamarin.Android.Support.Core.UI' could not be found.
Warning The referenced component 'Xamarin.Android.Support.Core.Utils' could not be found
Warning The referenced component 'Xamarin.Android.Support.Fragment' could not be found.
Warning The referenced component 'Xamarin.Android.Support.Media.Compat' could not be found.
Warning The referenced component 'Xamarin.Android.Support.Transition' could not be found.
Warning The referenced component 'Xamarin.Android.Support.v7.AppCompat' could not be found.
Warning The referenced component 'Xamarin.Android.Support.v4' could not be found.
Warning The referenced component 'Xamarin.Android.Support.v7.CardView' could not be found
Warning The referenced component 'Xamarin.Android.Support.v7.MediaRouter' could not be found.
Warning The referenced component 'Xamarin.Android.Support.v7.Palette' could not be found.
Warning The referenced component 'Xamarin.Android.Support.v7.RecyclerView' could not be found.
Warning The referenced component 'Xamarin.Android.Support.Vector.Drawable' could not be found.
```

5 years agoLog in to Reply

0
j3ffc0ll1ns

So what began with great enthusiasm has been replaced with a great deal of disappointment.
This challenge seemed an ideal way to become exposed to the tool and the concepts behind replacing the other toolsets we use with Xamarin.

Myself and 5 other developers in our office attempted the challenge and none of us have been able to get past the first challenge. We are not Microsoft Visual Studio experts so we had hoped following the provided instructions would be sufficient.

Looking down through this blog I can see the errors we encountered (compile/deployment) are a common experience with a number of folks (even some who indeed ARE Visual Studio experts) so I am not sure there is value in reiterating the same issues again.

My take away from this experience is the Xamarin development environment is so delicately fragile that the slightest change in any of the myriad of components needed results in a 100% dead stop in progress. For a production software development shop, that is a death sentence.

Perhaps some sort of Visual Studio environment analyzer or configuration validation comparing what is needed for successful Xamarin development to what currently exist would help.

In the meantime the limited amount of time we had set aside to learn Xamarin has now been exhausted and we have to get back to our full time activities.

I will keep looking for something that addresses this concern, and sincerely hope to see some progress in this area soon.

There is great promise here.

5 years agoLog in to Reply

0
- Elindalyne
  
  In reply to j3ffc0ll1ns:
  The instructions could have been a bit more clear as it seems like there are a lot of gotcha's when using the emulators. Realistically though... its not a whole lot different then setting up any development environment for the first time.
  If you're still interested, check out this https://xamarinhelp.com/debugging-xamarin-android-build-and-deployment-failures/ as it helped me out quite a bit.
  
  5 years agoLog in to Reply
  
  0
jedlicki

Class WeatherHelper
post HttpClient client = new HttpClient();
URL = http://traininglabservices.azurewebsites.net/api/weather/current/city?cityName=Amsterdam&countryCode=HL

404 error from service

+  $exception {System.Net.Http.HttpRequestException: Response status code does not indicate success: 404 (Not Found).
  at System.Net.Http.HttpResponseMessage.EnsureSuccessStatusCode()
  at System.Net.Http.HttpClient.<GetContentAsync>d__32`1.MoveNext()
--- End of stack trace from previous location where exception was thrown ---
  at System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter.ThrowForNonSuccess(Task task)
  at System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter.HandleNonSuccessAndDebuggerNotification(Task task)
  at System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter`1.GetResult()
  at CoolBreeze.Helpers.WeatherHelper.<GetCurrentConditionsAsync>d__0.MoveNext()
--- End of stack trace from previous location where exception was thrown ---
  at System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter.ThrowForNonSuccess(Task task)
  at System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter.HandleNonSuccessAndDebuggerNotification(Task task)
  at System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter`1.GetResult()
  at CoolBreeze.MainViewModel.<RefreshCurrentConditionsAsync>d__29.MoveNext()} System.Net.Http.HttpRequestException

5 years agoLog in to Reply

0
- Lerch
  
  In reply to jedlicki:
  Your WeatherHelper should look as follows (taken from Exercise 4, point 7) :-
  namespace CoolBreeze.Helpers
  {
     public class WeatherHelper
     {
         public async static Task<WeatherInformation> GetCurrentConditionsAsync(string cityName, string countryCode)
         {
             string url = $"http://traininglabservices.azurewebsites.net/api/weather/current/city?cityName={cityName}&countryCode={countryCode}&registrationCode={App.RegistrationCode}";
             HttpClient client = new HttpClient();
             var response = await client.GetStringAsync(url);
             var result = Newtonsoft.Json.JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<WeatherInformation>(response);
             return result;
         }
     }
  }
  
  5 years agoLog in to Reply
  
  0
wedumas

I am still getting email to start step 1. Had to buy larger SSD to install VS. Then one error after another. Fixed those.

Now stuck with these warning and cannot move on; so starting over again:
Severity Code Description Project File Line Suppression State
Warning  The $(TargetFrameworkVersion) for Xamarin.Forms.Platform.dll (v7.1) is greater than the $(TargetFrameworkVersion) for your project (v6.0). You need to increase the $(TargetFrameworkVersion) for your project. CoolBreeze.Android F:UserswedumDocumentsVisual Studio 2017ProjectsCoolBreezeCoolBreezeCoolBreeze.AndroidCoolBreeze.Android.csproj
Warning  The $(TargetFrameworkVersion) for Xamarin.Forms.Platform.Android.dll (v7.1) is greater than the $(TargetFrameworkVersion) for your project (v6.0). You need to increase the $(TargetFrameworkVersion) for your project. CoolBreeze.Android F:UserswedumDocumentsVisual Studio 2017ProjectsCoolBreezeCoolBreezeCoolBreeze.AndroidCoolBreeze.Android.csproj
Warning  The $(TargetFrameworkVersion) for FormsViewGroup.dll (v7.1) is greater than the $(TargetFrameworkVersion) for your project (v6.0). You need to increase the $(TargetFrameworkVersion) for your project. CoolBreeze.Android F:UserswedumDocumentsVisual Studio 2017ProjectsCoolBreezeCoolBreezeCoolBreeze.AndroidCoolBreeze.Android.csproj

5 years agoLog in to Reply

0
hm-thurrott.com

Waited for a a reply via '[email protected]' about my port-registration/first-challenge email being re-sent , but no response so far. Time-frame to complete all challenges in time for the contest is nearly here; re-posting my query here; how do I arrange to get my first/confirmation email resent?
Update: 4-hours later: Saw post by "Tina Alpha Member #21" regarding accessing the steps directly using URLs and entering the login or POST the credentials. This has got me at least going on "Step 1" now; hopefully the rest will follow.
Hopefully there was nothing else in that first response email that I will need?... HM
Update: 1-day later: Completed the Step-1 exercises
Update: 2-days later: Have yet to receive my step-1 completion email
Update: 3-days later: My direct URL link to step-2 is still not working.
Update: @ 2017-04-24 12:32: Still waiting for a reply to any of my posts or [email protected] emails. I am presuming that since my I'm able to access the URL for step-1 with my email/code I am registered.
Is the "24-hr" and "72-hr" tasks manually done? Is someone down with the flu? I is my email too complex (I'm use sub-addressing and it is longish...)?
Update: @ moments later; 12:39: Wouldn't you know it; Step-2 URL is now working! Onto finishing it up!

5 years agoLog in to Reply

0
etturbo

Stuck on Step 2. The app will not display the Forecast weather data. I have re-done the code several times and resolved all the errors I was getting. Both the Widows UWP and android versions run fine and do not break anymore, but they will not display the data? any suggestions?

UPDATE: I rebuilt the app from the ground up and did several save file versions as I went. I only had to go back twice and I succeeded getting the app to work properly. Looking forward to getting my Step two completed email.
Anyone having trouble, I would recommend perseverance! It was quite frustrating at times, but I am a complete novice at any kind of coding, so when I got it to work, it was very satisfying.

5 years agoLog in to Reply

0
cedricl

I successfully did part I a few days ago.

Since then, Windows 10 Creators update happened, then updates to Visual Studio 2017.

I opened my solution today to do the Xamarin Challenge part 2, but Visual Studio crashed, even after the updates.
A repair later, then a full uninstall/reinstall later, I can't get the solution to work.

I get dozens of build errors such as:

3>C:Program Files (x86)MSBuild15.0Microsoft.Common.targetsImportBeforeMicrosoft.Net.CoreRuntime.ImportBefore.targets(17,3): warning MSB4011: "C:Program Files (x86)MSBuild15.0.NetCoreRuntimeMicrosoft.Net.CoreRuntime.Settings.targets" cannot be imported again. It was already imported at "C:Program Files (x86)Microsoft Visual Studio2017EnterpriseMSBuild15.0Microsoft.Common.targetsImportBeforeMicrosoft.Net.CoreRuntime.ImportBefore.targets (17,3)". This is most likely a build authoring error. This subsequent import will be ignored. [F:devLabsCoolBreezeCoolBreezeCoolBreeze.UWPCoolBreeze.UWP.csproj]

Even starting back from scratch part One, I get 280 errors and 6 warnings at step 6 (!)
In Solution Explorer, right-click the CoolBreeze solution and select Build Solution to build the solution. Confirm that the solution builds without errors.

Following the advice of code IDE0006 I get for CoolBreeze.UWP_Compile_bf79ec46.designtime.log:
Target "DesignTimeMarkupCompilation" in file "C:Program Files (x86)Microsoft Visual Studio2017EnterpriseMSBuildMicrosoftWindowsXamlv15.08.2Microsoft.Windows.UI.Xaml.Common.targets":
Task "CallTarget"
   Target "GetXamlCppIncludeDirectories" skipped, due to false condition; ('$(ManagedAssembly)'=='false' and '$(XamlCppIncludeDirectories)' == '') was evaluated as (''=='false' and '' == '').
   Target "DesignTimeMarkupCompilationCT" in file "C:Program Files (x86)Microsoft Visual Studio2017EnterpriseMSBuildMicrosoftWindowsXamlv15.08.2Microsoft.Windows.UI.Xaml.Common.targets":
     Task "MakeDir"
     Done executing task "MakeDir".
     Using "CompileXaml" task from assembly "C:Program Files (x86)Microsoft Visual Studio2017EnterpriseMSBuildMicrosoftWindowsXamlv15.08.2Microsoft.Windows.UI.Xaml.Build.Tasks.dll".
     Task "CompileXaml"
       F:devLabsCoolBreezeCoolBreezeCoolBreeze.UWPCoolBreeze.UWP.csproj : XamlCompiler warning WMC1006: Cannot resolve Assembly or Windows Metadata file 'System.Runtime.dll'
       The previous error was converted to a warning because the task was called with ContinueOnError=true.
       C:Program Files (x86)Microsoft Visual Studio2017EnterpriseMSBuildMicrosoftWindowsXamlv15.08.2Microsoft.Windows.UI.Xaml.Common.targets(204,5): Xaml Internal Error warning WMC9999: Type universe cannot resolve assembly: System.Runtime, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a.
       The previous error was converted to a warning because the task was called with ContinueOnError=true.
       Build continuing because "ContinueOnError" on the task "CompileXaml" is set to "True".
     Done executing task "CompileXaml" -- FAILED.

This is a nightmare. What can I do ?

5 years agoLog in to Reply

0
JoeyPanda

I've run into trouble with just the setup.
When I go to the VS Installer under Emulators neither The Android or WIndows Mobile show up. I made sure I installed the Xamarin. I've checked under other areas. I'm at a loss.
Probably won't finish the challenge before the contest is over, but that's ok. I'd still like to try.

I am using the community version of 2017

5 years agoLog in to Reply

0
- j3ffc0ll1ns
  
  In reply to JoeyPanda:
  
  I would check to see if you are running Windows Pro or Enterprise as they are the only ones which will support the emulators.
  
  5 years agoLog in to Reply
  
  0
- Elindalyne
  
  In reply to JoeyPanda:
  You need to enable virtualization in your bios. If that's already enabled you need to install Hyper-V.
  
  5 years agoLog in to Reply
  
  0
- hm-thurrott.com
  
  In reply to JoeyPanda: See my comments to jsc_iii in "https://www.thurrott.com/forums/microsoft/dev/thread/xamarin-challenge#99602". Are you installing using VS within a VM?
  
  5 years agoLog in to Reply
  
  0
bggnet

Getting stopped at the Android Emulator. The Emulator appears to be running OK after a minute or two, but the project won't deploy. After about 20 minutes the build is still at:
1>C:Program Files (x86)Androidandroid-sdkbuild-tools23.0.3zipalign.exe 4 "C:ProjectsLabsCoolBreezeCoolBreezeCoolBreeze.AndroidbinDebugCoolBreeze.Android-Signed-Unaligned.apk" "binDebug\CoolBreeze.Android-Signed.apk"

Hard to believe it is supposed to take longer than this.

5 years agoLog in to Reply

0
DavidSlade

I am on the final stretch: Part 3. But I cannot see Crash Data in the Visual Studio Mobile Center because the app crashes when running in Android Release mode, which is supposed to upload crash data. (How ironic).
How do I find why it crashes in Release mode? It works fine in Debug mode. I just get the message on the emulator:
Unfortunately, CoolBreeze.Android has stopped.

5 years agoLog in to Reply

0
- techieg33k
  
  In reply to DavidSlade:
  
  I haven't gotten it to upload to the VS Mobile Center ether and after some taking stuff in and out I got to the point where it would crash like that even with the "crash" code removed. I ended up going through all the files and removing everything from Part 3 from the project, doing a Clean on the project, then Build, and then closed/opened VS and launched it - and it worked again...now off to try and start Part 3 all over again.
  
  UPDATE: I also found the code in Part 3 to work perfectly if I made sure following Packages were 0.7.0 (as shown in the Challange) and NOT the 0.8.1 that I installed to start. If you had installed anything other than 0.7.0 go back in and change the following to 0.7.0: Microsoft.Azure.Mobile, Microsoft.Azure.Mobile.Crashes, and Microsoft.Azure.Mobile.Analytics - I had to do this and afterwards it worked perfectly with the EXACT code listed in Part 3.
  
  5 years agoLog in to Reply
  
  0
- RamblingGeek
  
  In reply to DavidSlade:
  You need to remove the code which breaks it. It didn't upload for me either. I read the documentation for the mobile centre and added the following:
  
  MobileCenter.Start("{APP CODE}", typeof(Analytics), typeof(Crashes));
  
  In the Andrioid project, in the file MainActivity.cs before the line :
  
  Microsoft.Azure.Mobile.MobileCenter.Configure("212bad50-a828-416a-833c-4e4f73857c25");
  
  I don't think the line above works any longer, I assume because of changes in the platform.
  
  5 years agoLog in to Reply
  
  0
cat

In reply to James Toalu:
So... it SHOULD be up in the top... (light grey bar... with "...") I had the same issue and did what siko mentioned AND updated a bunch of packages... and did the resource hack mentioned below... and corrected the typo mentioned below... I'm not sure which one really did it, but I think that in the instructions where the icon resources go may be 'iffy'...

oh... and I did various target changes as siko also mentioned below

5 years agoLog in to Reply

0
- James Toalu
  
  In reply to cat:
  I modified the Min Version and Max Version in addition changing to the Dark theme, but it did not solve the problem.
  Which version of Xamarin Forms do you use?
  Please see the two screenshots below for more information.
  
  5 years agoLog in to Reply
  
  0
Randy Baker

I have completed step 1last night. How did I sent my status or completion?

5 years agoLog in to Reply

0
hm-thurrott.com

A comment about a possible error in the "official rules" for completing this challenge and qualifying for the prize draw.

Re: https://xamarinchallenge.thurrott.com/rules

Quote (italics mine): 3. Campaign Period: Entries will be accepted online starting on March 16, 2017, 12:00 am Eastern Standard Time and ending April 30, 2017, 12:00 am Eastern Standard Time. All online entries must be received by March 31, 2017, 12:00 am Eastern Standard Time.

To me there could be two ways to interpret the "March 31" date:
1) Its wrong and should have been "April 30", being the last day to complete challenge #3
2) It is referring the last day one can "register" for the challenge at the URL "https://xamarinchallenge.thurrott.com/#registration".

I registered on April 1st after some initial difficulties and having presumed #1 scenario above - an error in the rules. My confirmation webpage implied that I was registered for both the challenge and prize draw (still haven't have anyone respond to my missing step-1 email query I posted earlier https://www.thurrott.com/forums/microsoft/dev/thread/xamarin-challenge#99094 or email to [email protected]).

While I hope to work the challenges as an exercise in Xamarin; it be nice to clarify if I am officially able to enter the draw (once I've completed all the challenges...)

Since the registration page is still accepting registration as April 22nd, and still promoting winning the Surfaces, I presume March 31st date is error.

5 years agoLog in to Reply

0
Randy Baker

my android. Emulato r list is much smaller. How can I get a recommended AVD?

5 years agoLog in to Reply

0
SilentHero117

I just completed the first step yesterday and have not received the confirmation email within the 24 hour timeframe. One feedback I would like to add is to have the app receive and display a confirmation message with a reference number.

5 years agoLog in to Reply

0
wedumas

FYI:
Windows 10 Pro Build 16179 arrived; Restart required. Then I shutdown PC. Turned PC on.
Then ran Visual Studio Community 2017 v15.1. Did VS updates for (6403.7) Release.
Exit VS. Move visual studio files from onedrive to the harddrive. Restart PC.
Run VS change file paths. Load CoolBreeze. Do Nuget packages updates. ReBuild Solution.
CoolBreeze.UWP missing file "packages.config". Copy CoolBreeze/packages.config to CoolBreeze.UWP.
Then run CoolBreeze.UWP and it WORKS!!!
Set startup to Android
Run: 5" KitKat (4.4) XXHDPI Phone ...
There were deployment errors. Continue? Yes or No
??? ...
Select: VisualStudio_android-23_arm_phone (Android 6.0 - API 23) from the list
Run and wait for the emulator a looooooooooooong time (minutes) before apps appear.
Click the CoolBreeze icon and it WORKS!!!
VS is a hard to use and learn IDE. I did a weather app with HTML5 and JavaScript in a few hours.
I began the Xamarin Challenge on April 1 and days later; requires a VS reinstall but crashes because the SSD is full; get a larger SSD; clone Win 10 to the new drive; install VS again; put up with errors and warnings getting to end of step 1 with nothing running.
Start over from the beginning again and today I have Step 1 UWP and Android running.

Hope to inspire people to push on with the Xamarin Challenge. It can work.

5 years agoLog in to Reply

0
Asif Siddiqi

I completed step #2 two days ago. Unfortunately, as I can see a consistent issue in the messages, the emulator experience is really flaky. I was only able to run the Android version on the built in ARM emulator - which worked for Step 1 as well as step 2. But even after running both WUP and Android version - using both the forecast and "now" based on location detection, I have not received the completion email. Wondering if there is any specific requirement to use a specific emulator version. I am using ARM API level 23. Thanks.

5 years agoLog in to Reply

0
robinwilson16

It really is hard to be sure whether I have completed the Xamarin challenge or not as on 12th I received an email to tell me I had completed the whole challenge (a week after actually completing it in Visual Studio) as well as a link to a feedback survey. However a week later on 18th I received an email to tell me I had completed step 1 and should start step 2 (2 weeks after completing everything).
Since Windows 10 upgraded itself neither the Windows app or the Android app will work now so I'm hopeful I don't need to repeat anything.

5 years agoLog in to Reply

0
ArmoredDragoon
I just spent three hours trying to troubleshoot why the deployment was failing, and never could get it to work with the built in emulator. I'm running creator's update of Windows 10, fresh install, fresh visual studio install, no registry tweaks or anything. There shouldn't be any reason this should fail.

I did notice two major problems while troubleshooting:

Hyper-V doesn't correctly set up its network drivers, so the emulator doesn't even run correctly. The VM freezes before the kernel even finishes loading.
As far as I can tell, the visual studio setup isn't able to properly register the emulator with ADB (your first clue of this being the problem should be that no debug messages show up in the bottom pane. And given that there are no actual debug messages, finding out that this is the actual problem will be difficult even for seasoned developers.)

After this point, anybody who wants to try to use this for production should just stop right here and stick with other tried and tested IDEs. The first problem requires deleting the virtual switch, deleting the Hyper-V NIC drivers, and then re-creating the virtual switch and configuring the emulator to use it.

I honestly have no idea how to fix the second problem because VS just doesn't do anything to tell you what exactly is going on here.

Nonetheless, I pushed on, and I do have a workaround that allows you to complete the challenge.

This will solve almost any deployment problem you should ever run into with this (IMHO quite alpha) Android IDE which worked for me: Connect a real Android phone to your PC, enable developer mode on it, and then go ahead and build. Your app will show up on your phone and you can resume from there. Feel free to remove Hyper-V if, like me, you prefer other VM software (IMO Hyper-V is the Ford Pinto of hypervisors...they just included it with Windows like a cheap kids toy in a cereal box. The least Microsoft could have done is support VT-x/AMD-V passthrough so that you can have other hypervisors installed along with it; alas, they didn't. Did I mention VMware DOES support this? Too bad Windows doesn't support making THAT the host VM...)

Alternatively, (and I haven't tried this route) install Android Studio and use its emulator, or any other Android emulator that gets properly recognized by ADB.

Don't get me wrong, Visual Studio is a very nice IDE, but they've got a loooooooong way to go if they want to make a true "write once, run anywhere" environment (and to be honest, historically that never works out very well.)
5 years agoLog in to Reply

0
jsc_iii

I've gotten to the point of testing the results of Step 1.

But, all I got was the "Welcome to Zamarin Forms" message, not the weather in Amsterdam. So I rechecked everything and now when I try to run it "Set as Start Project" is grayed out.

So, any hints about what is wrong. Or in the alternative, can you tell me how to delete everything and start over.

BTW, I almost didn't get this far because it took me a while to realize that the Android emulator wasn't running because I have to be running as an Admin to start a virtual machine.

5 years agoLog in to Reply

0
- hm-thurrott.com
  
  In reply to jsc_iii: Be sure you "Deployed" your newly compiled code to the WinMobile emulator prior to running, especially if the you haven't restarted the VM emulation (vs. saving it). You "run" action against the emulator will run the currently present code.
  The Android emulation appears to always deploy the latest compile. (or so it has seemed to me).
  
  Update 2017-04-28 06:38: I've taken to starting the "Visual Studio Emulator for Android..." and ensuring that the appropriate emulation is launched (and even running) prior to deploying or debugging the app. And even then I'm might restart VS if it gets out of "sync" as to whether or not the emulation needs a redeployment.
  For WinMobile, I use the Hyper-V MMC to launch the VM, and also monitor the Android VMs as started.
  BTW: For others reading this post, be sure to scan for other post discussing Hyper-V issues for non-Pro versions of Windows re: running as Admin.
  
  5 years agoLog in to Reply
  
  0
Starzuft

Having difficulty installing Visual Studio. The two checkboxes under the Emulator category do not exist. Neither in the Community nor Pro version of Visual Studio when downloaded. Are there further instructions?

5 years agoLog in to Reply

0
- hm-thurrott.com
  
  In reply to Starzuft:Also, this caught me; if you are running a VM to run your VS, then you'll won't be able to run a nested instance of the Hyper-V VMs.
  
  There probably a way to get the VM instance of VS to talk to the host it is on, but I haven't figured out how make it work.In any case it would involve installing the emulators separately, and I've only figured how to get the Android ones to work (they have an clear cut independent installer).
  
  5 years agoLog in to Reply
  
  0
- Elindalyne
  
  In reply to Starzuft:
  You need to enable virtualization in your bios. If that's already enabled you need to install Hyper-V.
  
  5 years agoLog in to Reply
  
  0
Tim Daborn

Ok I THINK I have completed the challenge!! I assume there us a confirmation email, so I shall wait for that.

Thanks to those who have posted their progress and solutions – it was helpful. For my experience I had numerous errors especially around the Android emulator.

Although I only installed VS 2017 a few weeks ago - I found checking for updates and installing them (Look for the flag in the topmost corner of VS) fixed some of earlier problems.

But still the Android emulator would not play ball, but restarting the pc sometimes sorted this out, but it became particularly difficult after I added the crash support dlls and right at the end I had to give up on it. Although I did get it to upload some crash reports.

To make my final submission I had to overcome an error in the UWP version.

It may be the week’s delay between the different parts that caused this issues and the vagaries of Nuget. The upload was failing on a discrepancy between 2 different versions of the Json package, which somehow had crept into the project. Installing over 40 updates in Nuget resolved this.

Many thanks for running this challenge –this was very useful and worthwhile. I just wish modern development did not feel like trying to dance on a mile high stack of chairs with a leg missing on the bottommost one!

5 years agoLog in to Reply

0
RamblingGeek

Ok... I have completed the challenge.... Good Luck.

https://1drv.ms/i/s!AifJdGNeyqk9kbNix_0trrsIOJaRqg

5 years agoLog in to Reply

0
Paul Thurrott

Nice!

5 years agoLog in to Reply

0
Codesmith

Just wanted to say congrats to those of you rolling in yesterday and today that have completed all 3 phases of the awesome Xamarin Challenge! Hope you had fun, learned alot, and you now have all kinds of cool ideas for cross platform apps of your own! (And of course CoolBreeze is yours to adapt and enhance forever, too...coo!)

Anyway, congrats so far and good luck! I would LOVE to be a winner of one of the Surface Studios! But, it won't be me...maybe you? :)

5 years agoLog in to Reply

0
BarryWallis

At the end of Part 1 when I run the finished app, the UWP version runs fine; however, the Android version starts and puts up a modal dialog that says, "Unfortunately, CoolBreeze Android has stopped."

Any ideas what I can do to resolve this?

5 years agoLog in to Reply

0
- Glyn
  
  In reply to BarryWallis:
  Interesting.
  I have a 1607 PC where the Android app works fine and a 1703 PC where it produces the same error dialog you're getting.
  What's your setup?
  See below.
  
  5 years agoLog in to Reply
  
  0
  - BarryWallis
    
    In reply to Glyn: It looks like a possible issue with the emulator on 1703. I'm on the latest Fast Ring build (15063).
    
    5 years agoLog in to Reply
    
    0
darrix

Hi, I completed the first phase of the contest. I didn't receive the email for the second phase, but did receive an email for the third phase of the contest, followed, a few hours later, by another email indicating I had completed the contest, even though I've only completed the first part. How do I get this straightened out?

Thanks

5 years agoLog in to Reply

0
Glyn

Hi,
This one has got me foxed.
I’ve followed the Part 2 instructions to the letter.
Everything works fine in the Android App emulator.
I have no access to iOS so I can’t report anything about that version of the app.
However, the UWP app (deployed to either the Emulator, Local Machine or Device) does not show the FORECAST ToolbarItem or the LOCATION and NOW icons.
The result is that despite completing Exercise 3, the UWP version looks no different than it did at the conclusion of Exercise 2.
I’ve tried cleaning the solution, refreshing references, restarting Hyper V and deleting the app. I rebuild and redeploy the UWP app and nothing has changed from the interface at the conclusion of Exercise 2.
This was done on a fully patched 1607 current release PC.
I've also tried this on the latest Insider Fast Ring 1703 build on a laptop. I got the same UWP issue and additionally the app would deploy, but not open/run on the Android emulator.
Oh dear. Any clues?
Glyn.

5 years agoLog in to Reply

0
- adityanag
  
  In reply to Glyn:
  Heh, read the comment thread directly below this one..
  
  5 years agoLog in to Reply
  
  0
  - Glyn
    
    In reply to adityanag:
    Yup, saw that. I was asked to post anyway by @Geeksmith on twitter, so I obliged.
    
    5 years agoLog in to Reply
    
    0
    
    adityanag
    
    In reply to Glyn:
    
    you don't see the icons in the Windows Mobile Emulator either? That's a new bug - I can see the icons in the Emulator, but not on the desktop app.
    
    5 years agoLog in to Reply
    
    0
    
    Glyn
    
    In reply to adityanag:
    I've used a fresh install of Visual Studio 2017 Community on both machines, alongside existing Visual Studio 2015 Community installations.
    I wonder if that has any implications?
    
    5 years agoLog in to Reply
    
    0
    
    Codesmith
    
    In reply to Glyn:
    Yes, the "TabItems not showing" on UWP Desktop is a known Xamarin Forms bug in the last week or so...however if you don't see the TabItems on Windows Mobile, my guess is you're looking at the top, and not the bottom AppBar...I'll bet if you tap the [...] at the bottom AppBar on Windows Mobile you will see the TabItems...check and see. :)
    
    5 years agoLog in to Reply
    
    0
    
    Glyn
    
    In reply to Codesmith:
    Ok, I'm not sure what changed, but...
    VS2017 updated today. Nothing was listed/documented, but it was a long, long restart. Version unchanged at 15.0.0+26228.9, so it must have been an extension(s) update rather than product.
    Anyhow, after rebuilding the Xamarin Challenge project, on my 1607 14393.969 PC, I now get the Forecast icon and functionality in the usual bottom location on the Windows emulator and physical device, but not on the local machine desktop app (as per the bug). Icons do not appear for Location and Now. I'm not sure if they're supposed to, but why supply the assets otherwise?
    On my 1703 15063.0 machine the Android App deploys and opens, but when you click "Now" the app crashes with the message "Unfortunately, CoolBreeze.Android has stopped.".
    Two suggestions.
    1) It might be useful to mention the Xamarin Forms bug in the Part 2 and 3 documentation.
    2) How about providing pictures of what the app should look like for all the target generic devices: Android Phone; iPhone; Windows Phone; and Desktop?
    
    5 years agoLog in to Reply
    
    0
    
    Codesmith
    
    In reply to Glyn:
    Good comments. I actually believe the "ToolbarItems" bug note was supposed to be added to the content. I'll follow up.
    
    RE: The images/icons that don't show. Can you clarify "where" they don't show? Is this still ONLY on Windows Desktop version?
    
    5 years ago
    
    0
    
    Glyn
    
    In reply to Codesmith:
    In the Android app there are icons above the "LOCATION" and "NOW" text labels.
    Since icons were also included for the UWP app I assume they're supposed to appear in a similar position, but they do not. There are just the words "LOCATION" and "NOW" at the top and the forecast icon at the bottom. The behaviour is the same in the emulator and on a physical phone. In the desktop app there are no icons and no forecast as previously discussed.
    Hence my suggestion that the documents include pictures of how each generic platform device should look at the end of significant UI modification.
    
    5 years ago
    
    0
    
    Codesmith
    
    In reply to Glyn:
    Ah, okay, I get it. The Challenge got finalized the day VS2017 moved to Release and the icons always showed up in 2017 RC...hoping a VS2017 update would resolve the bug, but not yet. Now that we see UWP Desktop having this issue would be good to make a note and add in. I think originally they were going to require submission only via iOS or Android but I convinced them to allow UWP folks to submit as well...my bad (sort of) but I did think we needed a scenario where you didn't need an emulator.
    
    5 years ago
    
    0
andrewtechhelp

Anyone else found this issue?

I've successfully completed Part 1 and got the email to complete Part 2. I've got all of part 2 working as expected, but for whatever reason, it hasn't triggered in the system that I've completed Part 2 and so I haven't got any of the emails for Part 3 :'(

5 years agoLog in to Reply

0
- Patrick Abadi
  
  In reply to andrewtechhelp:
  I'm in the same boat. Haven't received anything to start Part 3 in over 24 hours.
  
  5 years agoLog in to Reply
  
  0
- andrewtechhelp
  
  In reply to andrewtechhelp:
  So last night I sat down and got this working. I'm assuming that the calls to the service are what triggers the system to know if you've completed a part of the challenge or not. So I loaded up the apps on each platform and kept using them over and over until I had ensured there'd been probably a dozen or more calls to each of the 4 services you have at the end of part 2. Sure enough I woke up this morning and part 2 was completed. :)
  
  5 years agoLog in to Reply
  
  0
  - scotttech1
    
    In reply to andrewtechhelp:
    I think I read that you have to wait 72 hours between challenge steps? Somewhere...or maybe Paul said it on windows weekly... I forget
    
    5 years agoLog in to Reply
    
    0
kiwiglen

Hi, I'm having a problem that I was hoping someone could help.

I'm up to the Exercise 5 - Test the App of part 1, the build is OK but I get a deployment error. The error is "The referenced component 'System.ObjectModel' could not be found.

I've checked that I followed all the steps correctly but I can't see what is wrong, anyone got any ideas?

Glen

5 years agoLog in to Reply

0
- Codesmith
  
  In reply to kiwiglen:
  That is a pretty generic message and could be anything or nothing. Can you try:
  1. Copy the entire CoolBreeze solution somewhere for backup
  2. Close the entire solution in VS 2017
  2. Open the solution in File Explorer and removing any bin and obj folders in all four (4) projects
  3. Open the solution and do a rebuild
  Let me know!
  
  5 years agoLog in to Reply
  
  0
  - halvey
    
    In reply to Codesmith:
    Thanks that worked for me.
    
    Cheers Halvey.
    
    5 years agoLog in to Reply
    
    0
    
    jmeiii75
    
    In reply to halvey:
    I tried all of the above and am still facing the same issue. I've even started the project completely over. Same issue remains.
    
    5 years agoLog in to Reply
    
    0
  - kiwiglen
    
    In reply to Codesmith:
    OK I have no idea what the issue was, I tried what you suggested and a few other things but nothing worked. So in the end I just uninstalled Visual Studio and re-installed it and it's now working.
    
    Glen
    
    5 years agoLog in to Reply
    
    0
    
    Codesmith
    
    In reply to kiwiglen:
    We will just call this a "hiccup". :) Glad you're good to go!
    
    5 years agoLog in to Reply
    
    0
- techieg33k
  
  In reply to kiwiglen:
  I had this happening with deploying the Android version (Exercise 3, Step 18) though it might still apply to your problem. Long story short I've fixed this by Right-click on References (under the CoolBreeze.Android part) and choose Add Reference then I had to browse to the following location (adjust yours as needed for the correct path) E:\\Projects\\CoolBreeze\\CoolBreeze\\CoolBreeze.Android\\obj\\Debug\\linksrc\\System.ObjectModel.dll and then I did a Right-click of the CoolBreeze.Android and selected Rebuild. After that was done I saved, closed VS2017 and then went back in and it no longer gave me this error.
  
  NOTE: For some reason I can't do single backslash, so I used double above in my location.
  
  5 years agoLog in to Reply
  
  0
Codesmith

Hey folks, if you are experiencing an issue when first provisioning the Xamarin Forms app, with a dialog related to a "Package Error" for "Microsoft.NetCore.UniversalWindowsPlatform", this is almost always related to a VS2017 workload installation problem.

Here is the (most common) quick fix:

   1. Close the dialog and let the process finish
   2. Go to the CoolBreeze (Universal Platform) project and open project.json.
   3. See if you are missing the following reference in the dependencies node: "Microsoft.NETCore.UniversalWindowsPlatform": "5.1.0"
   4. If you are, add it in to the node, make sure your JSON looks right
   5. Close the entire solution and reopen it
   6.You should be good to go!

Let me know!

5 years agoLog in to Reply

0
lwetzel

I don't get it. I have not really completed the second part and have had nothing but fits with the Simulators as well as trying to run the app on my desktop. Have not attempted Exercise 3 in Part 2.
BUT! I have an email that says I completed and have to wait to start Part 3. Bet that would go well since I've not finished Part 2. When I have gotten the android emulator to work I'm seeing the button Forecast button but it blows up. I don't even see the Forecast button on the desktop when I try to run it under windows and that is when It runs on windows
Fails to deploy on anything.
IS it just me or are others experiencing a mess?

5 years agoLog in to Reply

0
- Glyn
  
  In reply to lwetzel:
  [I'm re-posting my reply as when I try to edit and update an existing post on here, it vanishes!]
  The lack of Forecast button in the UWP desktop app is down to a bug introduced in Xamarin Forms on the day VS2017 'shipped'. The bug is known, but I have not heard when a fix is due.
  I've successfully completed all three parts of the Xamarin Challenge on a 1607 14393.969 PC, but on my Insider Fast Ring 1703 15063.0 machine, the Android App deploys, but the emulator crashes if I try to open it.
  So, it is possible to complete all three parts of the challenge, albeit without the Forecast or Submit functionality in the UWP desktop app.
  There was also a slight glitch with VS Mobile Centre in the error data exercise in Part Three, where data capture did not occur. However, when I returned to the project the next day error capture and reporting was working and refreshed in just a few seconds. I suspect a little time has to elapse between provisioning a new account and all the knitting getting done ready to deliver the goods.
  So apart from a few niggles and one bug, if you're running the current released version of Windows 10 (patched up to date) and using VS2017 with all the right bits installed, the competition is doable in the Android or Windows emulator. I can't comment on the iOS emulator as I don't have rich parents.
  (I ended up sticking with the Android Emulator as the Windows Emulator has a see you next Tuesday of a delay to start up.)
  
  5 years agoLog in to Reply
  
  0
  - Nic
    
    In reply to Glyn:
    Thanks for posting this. I spent a half hour scratching my head and double checking my work wondering why I could not find the forecast tab on UWP even though it was working just fine on Android.
    
    5 years agoLog in to Reply
    
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Glyn

Just completed Part Three and done the competition submission.
The crash data is taking a while to show up in the VS Mobile Centre. Thirty minutes have passed so far and it still says "Collecting Data..."
"Near real time" indeed :-)

5 years agoLog in to Reply

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- adityanag
  
  In reply to Glyn:
  I had a similar experience - the data showed up after about 40 min (when I ran the crashing app 40 min or so after creating my account). Maybe it just takes Mobile Center a little while to wire everything up.
  
  I've submitted as well.
  
  Kudos to the team for this challenge. It's been fun, and I've learnt about proper project structure for cross-platform apps. This is very useful cause it's not properly explained when you look for it on random blog posts.
  
  5 years agoLog in to Reply
  
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- Codesmith
  
  In reply to Glyn:
  Did you make sure the 2nd time you ran the app (after the fake crash) you DIDN'T run with debugger attached? It doesn't send crash data if you are in a debugging session.
  
  5 years agoLog in to Reply
  
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  - Glyn
    
    In reply to Codesmith:
    Yes, a recompile and Ctrl+F5.
    The same again after Exercise Three and my competition entry submission.
    It's been over an hour now and still no sign of the error data.
    I'll try again tomorrow if nothing appears in the meantime.
    
    5 years agoLog in to Reply
    
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    Codesmith
    
    In reply to Glyn:
    Okay, I agree that the first run could sometimes be flaky for VSMC Crash data. In the past I have repeated this step at times and it shows after just a minute or two. You may want to try that just for kicks, as it will never take more than a few minutes to show up if VSMC gets the info the first time.
    
    5 years agoLog in to Reply
    
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    Glyn
    
    In reply to Codesmith:
    I tried it again today and the data showed up in a matter of seconds.
    Did nothing different to yesterday when nothing appeared! :-)
    Perhaps it takes time for the knitting to get completed when an account has just been created in the Mobile Centre?
    Anyhow, that's me done and in the draw. Fingers crossed.
    
    5 years agoLog in to Reply
    
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lwetzel
Ok I decided to give this a shot. Not familiar with C#, or Xamarin. Very little experience with Visual Studio. But somewhere in the invite it made me think I could do this.

Right off the bat I noticed in Exercise 2 step 4 I don't match. Supposedly I am to

Confirm that the solution appears in Solution Explorer and that it contains four projects:
CoolBreeze (Portable) - Contains shared logic for your Xamarin Forms app
CoolBreeze.Android - Contains assets, resources, and logic specific to Android
CoolBreeze.iOS - Contains assets, resources, and logic specific to iOS
CoolBreeze.UWP (Universal Windows) - Contains assets, resources, and logic specific to the Universal Windows Platform (UWP)
Well I see this in my Solution Explorer
CoolBreeze
CoolBreeze.Android
CoolBreeze.iOS
CoolBreeze.UWP (Universal Windows)
So am I already hozed??
5 years agoLog in to Reply

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- adityanag
  
  In reply to lwetzel:
  No, you're good. CoolBreeze (the first one) is the portable project. I followed the tutorial and was able to get it working.
  
  5 years agoLog in to Reply
  
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  - lwetzel
    
    In reply to adityanag:
    Thanks but I did not have Visual Studio installed correctly. Went back to the beginning and this time it does show the "(Portable)". So I am one step further now.
    Thanks again.
    
    5 years agoLog in to Reply
    
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    adityanag
    
    In reply to lwetzel:
    Interesting. That must mean that I didn't have it correctly installed either. Maybe I did something else to get it working.
    
    5 years agoLog in to Reply
    
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    Codesmith
    
    In reply to adityanag: Question, did you possibly leave Shared Solution selected (the default) instead of selecting Portable Class Library (PCL)? That's the only time CoolBreeze would show without the (Portable).
    
    5 years agoLog in to Reply
    
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    lwetzel
    
    In reply to Codesmith:
    I believe that was one of my problems. I also went back to VS install and had not checked everything there correctly due to not understanding instructions.
    
    5 years agoLog in to Reply
    
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Codesmith
Folks, if you're having issues (or even misleading warnings) the first time you try and run the CoolBreeze app in the Android Emulator, here are a few tips and tricks:
In general, you can ignore warnings related to "TargetFramework" or "MonoDroid" versions. This is typically (not always, but typically) not the reason you are having issues, and you will actual still see these at times, and are really just "informational".
Some computers have an issue with Hyper-V, where the actual cause of the issue is actually that the Emulator isn't loading or communicating with Hyper-V. 95% of the time you can simply go to Tools > Visual Studio Emulator for Android, and start the Emulator from there, first, and then all your deployments will go perfectly.
IF you think the VS Emulator for Android is slow, it's probably not. The VS Emulator for Android is actually faster (in general) than UWP, the Mobile Emulator, and of course the iOS Simulator. What I have found is the FIRST time you are deploying to the Emulator it takes forever, but it's actually a bogus delay. Instead, try this: Start deploying to the Emulator, then almost immediately go to Build > Cancel Build. The run it again at it will be very fast, and will continue to be very fast.

Although technically not required, I like to make sure I have API 19, 21, and 23 installed. If you still have issues you may want to update all your Android SDK versions to have at least 21 and 23, and then delete your CoolBreeze solution completely, and start it from scratch. Xamarin Forms will then see they API version it likes.
Hope you're having fun! It's a cool Challenge, and well worth the effort to become a pro!
5 years agoLog in to Reply

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Paul Thurrott

Another follow-up ... I think I'm on the path to fixing this. I did just get the new test app I created to run on both Android and UWP/local machine, but only after I changed the target of the Android version to API 23. I used the built-in (slow) emualtor. And there are still several warnings. But they did come up. Hm.

5 years agoLog in to Reply

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- Codesmith
  
  Paul, in general you can ignore those warnings, as although true, are not typically related to any actual compile issue or emulator scenario. In fact, I almost always have those warning with Xamarin Forms on the lates build with VIsual Studio 2017.
  
  There is typically (as you said) as possible Android SDK issue, OR I have seen where Hyper V has a hiccup.
  
  Although I rarely have any issues on my workstations, and the built in VS Android Emulator is SUPER FAST for me, one thing that "often" works for me is:
  
  In VS 2017, go to Tools > Visual Studio Emulator for Android
  Start the Emulator directly first, and have it running
  Select the Emulator (such as Kit Kat 5") and deploy
  
  Most of the time this seems to get around it. Let me know if this helps, or if you find any other issues!
  
  5 years agoLog in to Reply
  
  0
  - Paul Thurrott
    
    In reply to Codesmith:
    I just tried this and it worked. :) Thanks!
    
    5 years agoLog in to Reply
    
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  - rancoras
    
    In reply to Codesmith:
    Thanks much for this. The same issue had me stumped.
    
    5 years agoLog in to Reply
    
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    Codesmith
    
    In reply to rancoras:
    Glad to hear: there are SO many little tiny undocumented things I have only learned by trial and error...the Xamarin Platform pulls off an amazing feat IMGO. I'm actually suprised things are smooth so much of the time!
    
    5 years agoLog in to Reply
    
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  - Paul Thurrott
    
    In reply to Codesmith:
    Thanks, I will try this. I'm traveling, so I'm a bit late getting back to this.
    
    5 years agoLog in to Reply
    
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Paul Thurrott

So here's one.

I'm traveling and I just realized I had completed Step 1 for the CoolBreeze app on a different PC. So I figured I'd just redo it on this laptop. I'm not sure if this is related to the fact that it's running the Insider Preview, but I get the following three errors when I attempt to run the UWP version of the app locally (this is steps 21 and 22 in Exercise 3).

Severity Code Description Project File Line Suppression State
Warning The $(TargetFrameworkVersion) for Xamarin.Forms.Platform.dll (v7.0) is greater than the $(TargetFrameworkVersion) for your project (v6.0). You need to increase the $(TargetFrameworkVersion) for your project. CoolBreeze.Android c:userspauldocumentsvisual studio 2017ProjectsCoolBreezeCoolBreezeCoolBreeze.AndroidCoolBreeze.Android.csproj

Severity Code Description Project File Line Suppression State
Warning The $(TargetFrameworkVersion) for Xamarin.Forms.Platform.dll (v7.0) is greater than the $(TargetFrameworkVersion) for your project (v6.0). You need to increase the $(TargetFrameworkVersion) for your project. CoolBreeze.Android c:userspauldocumentsvisual studio 2017ProjectsCoolBreezeCoolBreezeCoolBreeze.AndroidCoolBreeze.Android.csproj

Severity Code Description Project File Line Suppression State
Warning The $(TargetFrameworkVersion) for Xamarin.Forms.Platform.dll (v7.0) is greater than the $(TargetFrameworkVersion) for your project (v6.0). You need to increase the $(TargetFrameworkVersion) for your project. CoolBreeze.Android c:userspauldocumentsvisual studio 2017ProjectsCoolBreezeCoolBreezeCoolBreeze.AndroidCoolBreeze.Android.csproj

They're all obviously related. I'll root around, but where can I change the target Framework version to 7.0 so that this deploys and then runs locally?

I'll also try running it in a Windows phone emulate. I bet that works fine.

5 years agoLog in to Reply

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- jeffpro
  
  In reply to Paul Thurrott:
  Paul, can you try changing the Android settings described in the following post and let me know if it resolves the errors? I should note that I have seen similar errors crop up on my machines for no apparent reason after the Android project built and ran fine the first few times.
  https://github.com/jamesmontemagno/GeolocatorPlugin/issues/21
  
  5 years agoLog in to Reply
  
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  - techieg33k
    
    In reply to jeffpro:
    I'm getting the same issue Paul is/was, but on Step 18 of Exercise #3 (Part 1). Trying the fix I found on that link:
    "Go to C:Program Files (x86)Androidandroid-sdk
    run SDK Manager.exe (right-click Run as Administrator if on Windows 10 Pro at least)
    Click on Update the Packages. (It will download necessary updates)
    Go to Application properties
    Set the Target Android version (6 or 7 according to the error).
    I need to let them download the updates over night so I'll reply back tomorrow if that fixed it. I searched all over the web before finding the post here by Paul.
    
    5 years agoLog in to Reply
    
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  - Nic
    
    In reply to jeffpro:
    Given my constant failures with the first attempt at this I started a new project and get the same warnings that Paul was getting. I'm unable to start debugging the android emulator in anything below Marshmallow, whereas previously I could start with KitKat.
    
    5 years agoLog in to Reply
    
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- Paul Thurrott
  
  In reply to Paul Thurrott:
  
  Quick followup: I decided to test this with a blank/test Xamarin cross-platform app. And ... same exact warnings, basically, though now there are four of them. Now I'm really confused :)
  
  5 years agoLog in to Reply
  
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adityanag

Xamarin Step 2 - the app works on Android (simulator), iPhone (physical device), and on UWP ... but on UWP, I don't see the location and now icons, and can't see the forecast page either.
I have copied the icons to the root UWP folder. Not sure why I can't see the forecast page.
Works perfectly on iOS and Android!

5 years agoLog in to Reply

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- Codesmith
  
  In reply to adityanag:
  You're not doing anything wrong. This is a known issue on the current build of Xamarin Forms...the Tabs and icons will show in Windows Mobile emulator, but not on the Desktop. This bug was introduced in VS the day the Challenge went live. :/
  
  5 years agoLog in to Reply
  
  0
  - adityanag
    
    In reply to Codesmith:
    Good to know - I was baffled by this.
    
    5 years agoLog in to Reply
    
    0
    
    adityanag
    
    In reply to adityanag:
    
    Confirming that it works in the Windows Mobile Emulator.
    
    5 years agoLog in to Reply
    
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Steve Russell

In the step:

Still in App.xaml.cs, replace "<YOUR CHALLENGE REGISTRATION CODE>" with the registration code you received when you registered for the Xamarin Challenge

Do you think we need to keep the quotation marks since it's a string?

5 years agoLog in to Reply

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- Codesmith
  
  In reply to Steve Russell:
  Yes, the Registration Code needs to be in quotation marks. :)
  
  5 years agoLog in to Reply
  
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DMAdust

I registered on the 18th and never received an email. Not in my spam either.

5 years agoLog in to Reply

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- Brad Sams
  
  In reply to DMAdust:
  Can you email [email protected] and we can make sure you get your token and emails.
  
  Thanks!
  
  5 years agoLog in to Reply
  
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Eric Jutrzenka

Thought I'd share this link as I found it very helpful with project setup issues:
https://redpillxamarin.com/2016/12/23/202-starting-on-the-right-foot-2/

It describes a sort of dance you can do with VS to get things running smoothly when setting the project up, reminds me of when I used to work in Eclipse. Worked well for me although I don't have the android emulator working, but haven't look into it yet. I might try and run that part on a real device anyway.

5 years agoLog in to Reply

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- rancoras
  
  In reply to Eric Jutrzenka:
  Thanks! The part of that link that helped me was that build and deploy weren't checked in Configuration Manager. Once I ticked those, the UWP app worked correctly.
  
  5 years agoLog in to Reply
  
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mickeygousset

So I can't get the UWP app to work. When I try it, it tells me the System.Runtime.dll is missing. Any thoughts?

5 years agoLog in to Reply

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- siko
  
  In reply to mickeygousset:
  
  For some reason, the most important package is missing from the UWP project, and can be installed by:
  
  Install-Package Microsoft.NETCore.UniversalWindowsPlatform
  
  Or right click on the uwp project, browse and search for Microsoft.NETCore.UniversalWindowsPlatform, and it will run.
  
  5 years agoLog in to Reply
  
  0
- Eric Jutrzenka
  
  In reply to mickeygousset:
  I got this error a few times when creating the solution. Creating a new solution fixed the problem for me. Also, this link has some useful info: https://redpillxamarin.com/2016/12/23/202-starting-on-the-right-foot-2/
  
  5 years agoLog in to Reply
  
  0
- Nic
  
  In reply to mickeygousset:
  I get the same thing. Also a warning around needing to have Microsfot.Bcl.Build installed. After installing that I get an error saying it can't find the packages.config file.
  
  5 years agoLog in to Reply
  
  0
  - Nic
    
    In reply to Nic:
    I restarted from scratch, and found that if I started off with VS running as administrator then UWP build worked without an issue.
    
    5 years agoLog in to Reply
    
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Saeed212

I already wrote about this issue and it seems it only affecting me after I registered I did not receive any email
I thought there are problem with my registration
but I rechecked my email it is correct and when I want to register again by the same email it is telling me that I am already registered

Is it ok if I register with another email ?

5 years agoLog in to Reply

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- StephenCWLL
  
  In reply to Saeed212:
  
  Yup, I had that. I signed up on saturday, but no email reply since. However, I've just signed up with another email address and got the part 1 email within seconds. I suggest trying another email addy if you have one :) Can't start challenge yet though as it wants 40GB worth of VS2017 downloaded and I'm on metered connection during week :/
  
  5 years agoLog in to Reply
  
  0
- Simard57
  
  In reply to Saeed212:
  did you check junk email folder?
  
  5 years agoLog in to Reply
  
  0
  - andyj612
    
    In reply to Simard57:
    Exactly the same thing happened to me.
    I got my XBWW number but no email.
    When I tried to re-register, it tells me I'm already registered.
    Nothing in spam or junk mail folders.
    Anything I can do?
    Thx.
    
    5 years agoLog in to Reply
    
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maethorechannen

Not sure why I need to enter Industry and Company Name when I'm not doing the challenge as part of the day job.

5 years agoLog in to Reply

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lwetzel

Ok I have gone all the way through this thing. Have not been able to get android or UWP deploy on emulators since Part 1. Have only been able to get local Machine deploy. Of course as others have pointed out there is a but that does not allow the Forecast button in the toolbar or the Submit Challenge either. Now how am I supposed to get may chance at the prize?

5 years agoLog in to Reply

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