Category: Hybrid development

On the front-end, businesses turning towards digitalization are focused on one particular thing, to simplify the user experience and making any solution as user-friendly as possible. At the back-end of this, it meant developers creating strenuous codes and javascript programs to provide easier functionalities. In recent times, however, different platforms are making this easier for developers to create better solutions with in-built components, easier languages and responsive libraries. One such framework that is showing promising results is Blazor, from Microsoft.

Blazor is still fairly new in the world of front-end development, but can be used to develop various client-side web UIs using an assortment of C#, HTML and CSS instead of JavaScript, a feat which has been happily welcomed by developers. This free, open-source web framework makes use of the latest web standards and can build highly interactive web apps, without need of any additional plugins or add-ons to run. It uses the existing HTML Document Object Model (DOM) in CSS Styling to process UI components, but can also be shared across different platforms as it uses C# for processing.

There are two different methods followed today, to develop Blazor applications. The client-side Blazor, which runs directly on the browser, makes use of Web Assembly to run the code, while the server-side Blazor runs the same code, but on a server.

• Blazor Web Assembly:

When building applications using Blazor Web Assembly, the Blazor code can be run inside of the .NET runtime, on top of Web Assembly (Wasm), so that the compiled code is directly running in the browser, acting as the host for the applications. This also enables to run the applications offline, as well as create low latency applications, due to its near-native runtime speed. As Wasm is compatible with all major browsers, Blazor can be run on all major browsers, including web browsers.

• Server-side Blazor:

In the server-side model, the Blazor application is run on top of .NET coretime, with a real-time two-way SignalR connection with the server. The application can surprisingly handle more than 20000 active users concurrently, without any glitch in the performance. The only condition which is required in this case is that the application requires a constant connection to the server.

These types of Blazor applications do come with their own set of challenges, but one can be reminded that the framework is in its very nascent stage and undergoing constant development. However, it does provide with many pros which are helping users to experiment with developing web and mobile apps.

Features of Blazor:

• For Client-side Blazor:
  • Compiles and runs .NET code directly in the browser in C#.
  • Its compiled nature enables it to run faster than a similar logic from Javascript.
  • As it does not pass each action through the server, it enables user to run the app offline.
  • Both the client side and the server side can be applied with the same validation code.

• For Server-side Blazor:
  • It is completely compatible with every .NET library and .NET tooling, as it is it is essentially a ASP.NET core application.
  • Uses the exact same syntax as client-side Blazor, which allows developers to write a class library in either of the two Blazor modes.
  • It is interoperable with Javascript APIs and libraries, so that a developer can continue using them, while writing the logic in C#.

Having two distinct types of Blazor modes, one can choose the right fit for any project based on the nature of the project. Each one has its own pros and cons, but the platform provides the needed flexibility to create applications as desired.

The future of Blazor seems bright, and soon, it might become a single UI Framework for creating any .NET application. This open-source framework has been a dream for many new-age developers, who do not want to learn the javascript to be able to create applications. C# is evolving every day and adapting to the capabilities shown by other languages. Thanks to platforms like Blazor, it is gaining huge popularity.

In the days to come, Blazor will undergo its own fine-tunings but has already shown a lot of promise. Though it is not meant to completely replace JavaScript, the introduction of Blazor has enabled C# and .NET to expect a very exciting road ahead.

If you want to learn more about how Blazor can help you with your new idea, you can connect with us at support@stw-services.com.

Mobile app and web development is one of the most challenging tasks today. With the competition to represent almost every company on the digital front constantly increasing, be it a mobile application or web platforms, developers today are expected to work smarter and more efficiently to develop ideas. With the need of developing mobile apps on both, Android and iOS, the future of mobile apps is without a doubt, turning towards hybrid development.

One of the additions to the hybrid app development scene, since 2015, is Flutter – a powerful UI Toolkit created by Google, for building native applications for mobile and web, from a single codebase. Flutter is an open source framework, providing a simple and powerful SDK to write applications in Dart, a language created by Google. Over a short period of time, it has been widely accepted in the industry as a strong, reliable platform, thanks to some of its unique features and efficiency.

One of the biggest strengths of the platform is the hot reload feature, which helps developers to build UIs, fix bugs, add features and explore possibilities on physical or virtual screens, in the debug mode, by simply injecting the changes in the Dart Virtual Machine (VM) mode.  Flutter then automatically rebuilds the widget tree, while preserving the original state of the app. Thus, the developer can view the effects of the most recent changes in real-time, without eliminating the current state.The advantages which Flutter promises over the other platforms are not only a more streamlined approach in mobile app development, but an overall enhanced experience for both, the developers, as well as the end-users.

The advantages which Flutter promises over the other platforms are not only a more streamlined approach in mobile app development, but an overall enhanced experience for both, the developers, as well as the end-users.

• A single code-base for both Android and iOS applications needs to be written. This also means faster performance, lesser testing time and more efficient maintenance.
• Easy-to-use and great developer tools, with amazing customization capabilities.
• Dart language is simple to learn and comes with a large repository of packages to help extend application capabilities.
• Flutter boasts of a huge catalog of ready-to-use Material Design and Cupertino widgets, along with complete control over the layout. Flutter widgets support hand gestures and animations, for a better app features.
• Beautiful user interfaces for a smooth experience for end-users.

In a competitive market, which is flooded with competition, Flutter has made a name for itself as one of the most promising app development platforms. Through its simplistic development process and higher performance, Flutter gives developers complete freedom to build mobile applications in a way, which is truly platform-independent. The framework has been widely accepted by the mobile application market and is being used by even larger players and renowned tech-companies.

What remains to see in the near future is the capabilities which mobile app developers can bring out through Flutter, to create magic on mobile screens.