Can I use both Xamarin.Forms and Xamarin.Native for UI on the same project?

Question

I am currently new to Xamarin. I have learned to develop both on Xamarin.Android - Xamarin.iOS and Xamarin.Forms. My background comes from native Android apps (Java) and iOS apps(Swift). My question is can I use Xamarin.Forms for basic UI and at the same time Xamarin.Native for more complicated UI on the same project? More specific can I combine all the Xamarin technologies on UI perspective on the same project?

Answer 1

More specific can I combine all the Xamarin technologies on UI perspective on the same project?

Yes, but those features are currently in a preview state, buyer beware ;-)

• Embedding Xamarin.Forms in Xamarin Native

• https://blog.xamarin.com/unleashed-embedding-xamarin-forms-in-xamarin-native/

Xamarin.Forms 3.0 of Embedding is currently in preview and is available via a custom Nuget feed.

Answer 2

Yes, you can do it by using custom renderers.

From a personal point of view, if you find yourself in the need of having a very customised UI, and so use a lot of renderers, I'd completely skip Xamarin Forms. It is very good for prototyping and simple apps, otherwise it is not so easy to deal with the additional complexity of using custom renderers.