How to Implement "IntPtr Handle and Dispose" in Xamarin.Android

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Now you might have come by some interfaces you want to implement and then all of the sudden they want you to implement a Handle property which is of the type IntPtr and a Dispose method. If you leave them be your code will most likely never get called. Then you scratch your head and wonder why this is, also you might ask yourself what this Handle is. The brief explanation is that the Handle provides an Android Callable Wrapper to Android. All native Android interfaces extend IJavaObject so they will expect that to be implemented. So the simple answer is that you do not implement Handle or Dispose yourself, however you inherit from Java.Lang.Object which does that for you. So your code will end up looking like this:


Given that IStuff extends IJavaObject. More on this topic can be read in the Xamarin documentation on Android Callable Wrappers

New Mobile podcast with a healthy emphasis on .NET and Xamarin

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A wild podcast has appeared, this one is called Gone Mobile and made by some cool guys including Greg Shackles (@gshackles), Nic Wise (@fastchicken) and Jonathan Dick (@redth). The podcast as the title says is about Mobile stuff, including news, interviews with people in the industry and much more. The first episode has already aired, which I though was quite enjoyable and I will listen to it in the future.
If you have not given it a listen, I advise you to and see for yourself if it is interesting. The podcast is also available on iTunes if you are into that kind of stuff.

Apple Y U NO FIX Developer Center?!

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Apple Y U NO FIX Developer Center?! I need a new provisioning certificate and I need to add an App!

Xamarin Activation issues

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I've been having Activation Issues with the Xamarin products numeral times now, although it has become better over time. Today it seems like Xamarin is having issues with their servers. My Xamarin products worked well yesterday. Now when I try to start VS and open up a Xamarin project it tries to call home to Xamarin and Activate my product... Why is it necessary to call home every time I open up a Xamarin project?


Below you see a screenshot of the log, telling me that there is an Internal Server Error when contacting Xamarin Activation Server.


And here is a screenshot of their store page, which just dumps source code.

Why is it that when Xamarin has problem with their servers, I have to stop developing my products and wait till they fix that?

To your information I am running the latest Xamarin Alphas where it is said that these issues should be fixed and should not require Internet connection once activated. I see something different.

Xamarin, please fix these issues. I love your products, except your Activation :(

MvvmCross Plugin Bootstrapping on iOS

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Usually when creating bootstrap files to load Plugins in Mvx, you just write something in the lines of
However this does not work with iOS, because it is not as cool as WP8 and Android, as it does not use cool JIT compilation. Hence, in order to get Plugin Bootstrapping to work you have to use MvxLoaderPluginBootstrapAction instead to tell iOS AOT compiler a bit more about this Plugin.
This way you avoid a nasty MvxException telling you that there is no Plugin registered for a specific type.

Silly iOS...