Get Started with MAUI and Xamarin

The App Center SDK uses a modular architecture so you can use any or all of the services.

Let's get started with setting up App Center .NET SDK in your app to use App Center Analytics and App Center Crashes. To add App Center Distribute to your app, have a look at the documentation for App Center Distribute.

1. Prerequisites

Before you begin, make sure that the following prerequisites are met:

• Your project is set up in Visual Studio or Visual Studio for Mac.
• You're targeting devices running iOS 11.0 or later or Android 5.0 (API level 21) or later.
• You're not using any other SDK that provides Crash Reporting functionality.

Supported platforms:

• MAUI iOS
• MAUI Android
• MAUI Windows
• .NET 6.0 macOS
• Xamarin.Android
• Xamarin.iOS
• Xamarin.Mac
• Xamarin.Forms (iOS, macOS Android, UWP and Windows Desktop applications)

1.1 MAUI

1.2 About Xamarin.Android

Create an app on the App Center portal with the Android as the OS and Xamarin as the platform.

1.3 About Xamarin.iOS

Create an app on the App Center portal with iOS as the OS and Xamarin as the platform.

1.4 About Xamarin.Mac

Create an app on the App Center portal with macOS as the OS and Xamarin as the platform.

1.5 About Xamarin.Forms (iOS, macOS, Android, UWP and Windows Desktop)

Create 5 apps on the App Center – one for each OS.

You need to select Xamarin as the platform for Android, iOS and macOS applications (UWP and Desktop applications doesn't have a Xamarin option).

For the Windows Desktop and macOS applications you have to configure your project for compatibility with the Xamarin.Forms platform.

2. Create your app in the App Center Portal to obtain the App Secret

If you've already created your app in the App Center portal, you can skip this step.

1. Head over to appcenter.ms.
2. Sign up or log in and hit the blue button on the top right corner of the portal that says Add new and select Add new app from the dropdown menu.
3. Enter a name and an optional description for your app.
4. Select the appropriate OS and platform depending on your project as described above.
5. Hit the button at the bottom right that says Add new app.

Once you've created an app, you can obtain its App Secret on the Settings page on the App Center Portal. At the top right hand corner of the Settings page, click on the triple vertical dots and select Copy app secret to get your App Secret.

3. Add the App Center SDK to your solution

The App Center SDK can be integrated using Visual Studio or the Package Manager Console.

Visual Studio for Mac

• Open Visual Studio.
• Click File > Open and choose your solution.
• In the solution navigator, right-click the Packages section, and choose Add NuGet packages....
• Search for App Center, and select App Center Analytics and App Center Crashes.
• Click Add Packages.

Visual Studio for Windows

• Open Visual Studio.
• Click File > Open and choose your solution.
• In the solution navigator, right-click References and choose Manage NuGet Packages.
• Search for App Center, and install Microsoft.AppCenter.Analytics and Microsoft.AppCenter.Crashes packages.

Package Manager Console

• Open the console in Visual Studio. To do this, choose Tools > NuGet Package Manager > Package Manager Console.
• If you're working in Visual Studio for Mac, make sure you've installed NuGet Package Management Extensions. For this, choose Visual Studio > Extensions, search for NuGet and install, if necessary.
• Type the following command in the console:

Install-Package Microsoft.AppCenter.Analytics
Install-Package Microsoft.AppCenter.Crashes

Now that you've integrated the SDK in your application, it's time to start the SDK and make use of the App Center services.

4. Start the SDK

To use App Center, you must opt in to the module(s) that you want to use. By default, no modules are started and you must explicitly call each of them when starting the SDK.

4.1 Add the using statements

Add the appropriate namespaces in the following files:

• MAUI and Xamarin.Forms - App.xaml.cs
• Xamarin.iOS and Xamarin.Mac - AppDelegate.cs
• Xamarin.Android - MainActivity.cs

using Microsoft.AppCenter;
using Microsoft.AppCenter.Analytics;
using Microsoft.AppCenter.Crashes;

4.2 Add the Start() method

4.2.1 MAUI and Xamarin.Forms

You need to create different applications for each platform on the App Center portal. For each app you will have a different app secret. Open the project's App.xaml.cs file and add the following line in the constructor (or in the OnStart() method for Xamarin.Forms).

AppCenter.Start("ios={Your App Secret};macos={Your App Secret};android={Your App Secret};uwp={Your App Secret};windowsdesktop={Your App Secret}", typeof(Analytics), typeof(Crashes));

If you need to start App Center services separately, you should:

1. Configure or start it with the App Secret.
2. If the code can be called multiple times, check if the App Center is already configured.
3. Start the required service(s) without the App Secret.

AppCenter.Configure("ios={Your App Secret};macos={Your App Secret};android={Your App Secret};uwp={Your App Secret};windowsdesktop={Your App Secret}");
if (AppCenter.Configured)
{
    AppCenter.Start(typeof(Analytics));
    AppCenter.Start(typeof(Crashes));
}

4.2.2 Xamarin.Android

Open the project's MainActivity.cs file and add the Start() call inside the OnCreate() method

AppCenter.Start("{Your App Secret}", typeof(Analytics), typeof(Crashes));

4.2.3 Xamarin.iOS and Xamarin.Mac

Open the project's AppDelegate.cs file and add the Start() call inside the FinishedLaunching() method

AppCenter.Start("{Your App Secret}", typeof(Analytics), typeof(Crashes));

4.3 Replace the placeholder with your App Secret

Make sure to replace {Your App Secret} text with the actual value for your application. The App Secret can be found on the Getting Started page or Settings page on the App Center portal.

The Getting Started page contains the above code sample with your App Secret in it, you can copy-paste the whole sample.

The example above shows how to use the Start() method and include both App Center Analytics and App Center Crashes.

If you don't want to use one of the two services, remove the corresponding parameter from the method call above.

Unless you explicitly specify each module as parameters in the start method, you can't use that App Center service. In addition, the Start() API can be used only once in the lifecycle of your app – all other calls will log a warning to the console and only the modules included in the first call will be available.

For example - If you want to onboard to App Center Analytics, you should modify the Start() call as follows:

4.3.1 MAUI and Xamarin.Forms

AppCenter.Start("ios={Your App Secret};macos={Your App Secret};android={Your App Secret};uwp={Your App Secret};windowsdesktop={Your App Secret}", typeof(Analytics));

4.3.2 Xamarin Native

AppCenter.Start("{Your App Secret}", typeof(Analytics));

Great, you're all set to visualize Analytics and Crashes data on the portal that the SDK collects automatically.

Look at the documentation for App Center Analytics and App Center Crashes to learn how to customize and use more advanced functionalities of both services.

To learn how to get started with in-app updates, read the documentation of App Center Distribute.

5. Backup rules (Android only)

If you use auto-backup to avoid getting incorrect information about devices, follow the next steps:

5.1. For Android 11 (API level 30) or lower.

1. Create appcenter_backup_rule.xml file in the Resources/xml folder.

2. Open the project’s AndroidManifest.xml file. Add the android:fullBackupContent attribute to the <application> element. It should point to the appcenter_backup_rule.xml resource file.

android:fullBackupContent="@xml/appcenter_backup_rule"

3. Add the following backup rules to the appcenter_backup_rule.xml file:

<full-backup-content xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools">
      <exclude domain="sharedpref" path="AppCenter.xml"/>
      <exclude domain="database" path="com.microsoft.appcenter.persistence"/>
      <exclude domain="database" path="com.microsoft.appcenter.persistence-journal"/>
      <exclude domain="file" path="error" tools:ignore="FullBackupContent"/>
      <exclude domain="file" path="appcenter" tools:ignore="FullBackupContent"/>
  </full-backup-content>

5.2. For Android 12 (API level 31) or higher.

1. Create appcenter_backup_rule.xml file in the Resources/xml folder.

2. Open the project’s AndroidManifest.xml file. Add the android:dataExtractionRules attribute to the <application> element. It should point to the appcenter_backup_rule.xml resource file.

android:dataExtractionRules="@xml/appcenter_backup_rule"

3. Add the following backup rules to the appcenter_backup_rule.xml file:

<data-extraction-rules xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools">
    <cloud-backup>
        <exclude domain="sharedpref" path="AppCenter.xml"/>
        <exclude domain="database" path="com.microsoft.appcenter.persistence"/>
        <exclude domain="database" path="com.microsoft.appcenter.persistence-journal"/>
        <exclude domain="file" path="error" tools:ignore="FullBackupContent"/>
        <exclude domain="file" path="appcenter" tools:ignore="FullBackupContent"/>
    </cloud-backup>
    <device-transfer>
        <exclude domain="sharedpref" path="AppCenter.xml"/>
        <exclude domain="database" path="com.microsoft.appcenter.persistence"/>
        <exclude domain="database" path="com.microsoft.appcenter.persistence-journal"/>
        <exclude domain="file" path="error" tools:ignore="FullBackupContent"/>
        <exclude domain="file" path="appcenter" tools:ignore="FullBackupContent"/>
    </device-transfer>
</data-extraction-rules>