Plugin | Xamarin eXpert

Admob for Xamarin made easy

May 6, 2019 | Guide, Plugin, Tutorial | 23 Comments

In this tutorial I’ll show you how to monetize your Xamarin apps with AdMob using my MTAdmob plugin.

UPDATE: I’ve added on github the source code of a project to test this Admob plugin. You can find it here: https://github.com/marcojak/TestMTAdmob

To help you to speed up your Xamarin development, I’ve created a set of plugins, one of them is MTAdmob. Thanks to this plugin you can add Admob banners and Insterstitials in just few lines of code. It couldn’t be easier than that and I’ll show you.

Install the plugin

First of all, right click on your Xamarin solution and select “Manage Nuget packages for Solution”

Visual Studio will open a new screen where you can search and install one or more nuget packages. In this case we can search for the MTAdmob plugin. Searching for MarcTron will show you all my packages (I’m sure you can find other useful plugins that I’ve written), and we can select the MTAdmob plugin as showed in the next image.

It’s very important that you install the plugin in your PCL/.Net standard project and in your platform projects (Android, iOS, UWP).

After the Admob plugin is installed we can add banners and insterstitials to our projects.

Add Ads to our project

With version 1.0 the MTAdmob plugin supports banner and interstitials for Android and iOS. If you would like to see the plugin supporting also the UWP platform, let me now and I’ll add the support in a new version.

As I’ve said we can add Banners and Interstitials Admob ads to our project. Let’s start with the Banners

How to add an Admob Banner

An Admob banner is just a view inside our page. It means that we can add it using XAML or C#. First of all let’s see how to add an Admob banner using XAML.

Add an Admob Banner with XAML

In MTAdmob to use an Admob banner I’ve created a custom control called AdView, so to use it we can use this code:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<ContentPage xmlns="http://xamarin.com/schemas/2014/forms"
             xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2009/xaml"
             xmlns:controls="clr-namespace:MarcTron.Plugin.Controls;assembly=Plugin.MtAdmob"
             x:Class="Test.MTAdmob.MainPage">

<StackLayout>
    <Label Text="Let's test an Admob Banner!" 
           HorizontalOptions="Center"
           VerticalOptions="CenterAndExpand" />
    <!-- Place the Admob controls here -->
    <controls:AdView></controls:AdView>
</StackLayout>

In this example we have created a StackLayout with 2 controls: a label and an AdView (our Admob banner). Easy! Isn’t it???

The AdView control is basically a View so you can use all the properties you can think of like: HorizontalOptions, VerticalOptions, IsVisible…

In addition to these properties, I’ve added in AdView two other properties: AdsId and PersonalizedAds.

AdsId: Allows you to add the Banner Id (you can find it in your Admob account)

PersonalizedAds: This allow you to use non personalized ads. For example in case of GPDR. Of course it’s better to use personalized Ads.

To use these properties you can update the previous code to:

<controls:AdView PersonalizedAds="true" AdsId="xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"></controls:AdView>

Add an Admob Banner with C#

In case you don’t write your pages with XAML or you write your UI in C# or you want to add your view only in some cases, you can add your Admob Banner using this code:

using MarcTron.Plugin;
...
AdView ads = new AdView();

Of course you need to attach this View to your layout, but you know how to do it (If not, feel free to ask).

To use the custom properties you can change the previous code to:

...
AdView ads = new AdView();
ads.AdsId = "xxx";
ads.PersonalizedAds = true;

Also in this case, to add an Admob banner is INCREDIBILY EASY!!!

Global Custom Properties

As you have seen, the properties AdsId and PersonalizedAds belong to a single AdView. It means that you have to set them for every Admob Banner.

To make things even easier I’ve added the option to set these properties only once. To do so, you can use this C# code:

CrossMTAdmob.Current.UserPersonalizedAds = true;
CrossMTAdmob.Current.AdsId = "xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx";

In this case all your Admob banner will show personalized ads and will have the same Id.

If you set local and global properties, the local ones will have higher priority.

Use of Banner Events

I’ve added 4 events to the Admob banner that you could find nice to have. These events are:

AdsClicked When a user clicks on the ads
AdsClosed When the user closes the ads
AdsImpression Called when an impression is recorded for an ad.
AdsOpened When the ads is opened

To use these events you can write this code:

AdView myAds = new AdView();
myAds.AdsClicked += MyAdsAdsClicked;
myAds.AdsClosed += MyAds_AdVClosed;
myAds.AdsImpression += MyAds_AdVImpression;
myAds.AdsOpened += MyAds_AdVOpened;

Of course you can use these events also if you have declared your AdView in your XAML code.

Admob Interstitials

Now that we know how to add Admob banners using my plugin MTAdmob, let’s see how we can add Admob Interstitials. If possible, to add an Admob interstitial is even easier. You just need a single line of code. Don’t you believe me? Look here how to show an Admob interstitial:

CrossMTAdmob.Current.ShowInterstitial("ca-app-pub-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx/xxxxxxxxxx");

I told you!!! That’s it!!! With that line of code you have just showed an Interstitial in you app. Of course you need to replace that string with the Insterstitial ID you can find in your Admob account.

Events for Interstitials

There 3 events that you can use with Interstitials:

OnInterstitialLoaded        When it's loaded
OnInterstitialOpened        When it's opened      
OnInterstitialClosed        When it's closed

Rewarded Video

From version 1.1 the plugin supports the amazing Rewarded Video too.

To show a rewarded video you just need a single line of code:

CrossMTAdmob.Current.ShowRewardedVideo("xx-xxx-xxx-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx/xxxxxxxxxx");

Events for Rewarded videos

There are 7 events that you can use with the Rewarded video Ads:

OnRewarded                          When the user gets a reward
OnRewardedVideoAdClosed             When the ads is closed
OnRewardedVideoAdFailedToLoad       When the ads fails to load
OnRewardedVideoAdLeftApplication    When the users leaves the application
OnRewardedVideoAdLoaded             When the ads is loaded
OnRewardedVideoAdOpened             When the ads is opened
OnRewardedVideoStarted              When the ads starts

Initialization

Before you can use the Admob banners and Interstitials, you need to initialize it. You need to do it only once so it makes sense to initialize it onside the OnCreate method in Android and FinishedLaunching in iOS.

In your Android project add this line in your OnCreate method:

MobileAds.Initialize(ApplicationContext, "ca-app-pub-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx~xxxxxxxxxx");

In your iOS project add this line in your FinishedLaunching method:

MobileAds.Configure("ca-app-pub-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx~xxxxxxxxxx");

ANDROID PROJECT (IMPORTANT)

In your AndroidManifest you should add these lines:

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET"/>
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE"/>

<application android:label="Test.MTAdmob.Android">
    <meta-data android:name="com.google.android.gms.version" android:value="@integer/google_play_services_version"/>
    <activity android:name="com.google.android.gms.ads.AdActivity" android:configChanges="keyboard|keyboardHidden|orientation|screenLayout|uiMode|screenSize|smallestScreenSize" android:theme="@android:style/Theme.Translucent" />
</application>

Some useful links

Admob official website: https://apps.admob.com/
Available on Nuget: https://www.nuget.org/packages/MarcTron.Admob
Project website: https://www.xamarinexpert.it/Plugin/MTAdmob
Tutorial: https://www.xamarinexpert.it/blog/admob-made-easy/
Test Project:https://github.com/marcojak/TestMTAdmob
To report any issue: https://bitbucket.org/marcojak81/mtadmob

Conclusion

This Admob MTAdmob plugin is incredibly easy to use but in case you need help, or you want to suggest a new feature or for any other reason, write me.

By Marco Troncone

Sqlite for Xamarin made easy

April 30, 2019 | Plugin, Tutorial | 8 Comments

Let’s see how we can add a Sqlite database to your Xamarin projects in an incredibly easy way.

To help you to speed up your Xamarin development, I?ve created a set of plugins, one of them is MTSQL. Thanks to this plugin you can add a Sqlite database with a single line of code. The plugin is built on top of the Sqlite-net plugin by Frank A. Krueger.

A couple of useful link you can find useful:

Nuget link:https://www.nuget.org/packages/MarcTron.SQL

Project website:http://www.xamarinexpert.it/plugins/mt-sql/

To report any issue:https://bitbucket.org/marcojak81/mtsql

And now let?s see how to integrate the plugin inside your Xamarin Forms solution.

First of all we need to install the plugin. To do that, do a right-click on your solution and click on Manage NuGet Packages for Solution

Now search the package MarcTron.Sqlite, click on it and remember to select all your projects (.Net Standard project + all the main application projects) then click Install.

The Plugin will take care to install for you also the Sqlite-net plugin byFrank A. Krueger.

If everything worked as expected, you will see the version of the plugin next to each of the projects you have selected in the previous step.

Now it’s time to try the plugin to see how easy it is.

Inside the MainPage constructor you can see that the only line of code you need to create your database and open a connection to it is

SQLiteConnection conn = MTSql.Current.GetConnection("YOURDBNAME.db3");

Remember to replace the string with the name you want for your database.

using MarcTron.Plugin.MTSql;
using SQLite;
using Xamarin.Forms;

namespace YOURNAMESPACE
{
    public partial class MainPage : ContentPage
    {
        class TestTable
        {
            [PrimaryKey, AutoIncrement]
            public int Id { get; set; }

            public string name { get; set; }

            public TestTable()
            {
            }

            public TestTable(string name)
            {
                this.name = name;
            }
        }

        public MainPage()
        {
            InitializeComponent(); //The only line you need to create your database.
            SQLiteConnection conn = MTSql.Current.GetConnection("YOURDBNAME.db3"); 

            //This in case you want to use an async connection
            //SQLiteAsyncConnection connAsync = MTSql.Current.GetConnectionAsync();

            //This is just for test...
            //Create the table TestTable
            conn.CreateTable<TestTable>();
            //Insert some elements
            conn.Insert(new TestTable("A"));
            conn.Insert(new TestTable("B"));
            conn.Insert(new TestTable("C"));
            //Verify that the elements are there
            Label1.Text = "Rows:" + conn.Table<TestTable>().Count();
        }
    }
}

As you can see in the image after we obtain a connection to the database, we can create a table and add some elements to it. Just for test I have added 3 items. If everything works as expected we should see inside the text “Rows:3” on screen. And this is exactly what we get launching the app on UWP.

So, thanks to this plugin, you have your Sqlite database inside your app with only 1 line of code.

What do you think? Add your comment at the end of the page.

By Marco Troncone

Active Directory Authentication Library made easy

April 29, 2019 | Plugin, Tutorial | No Comments

Let’s see how we can make the Active Directory authentication incredibly easy for your Xamarin projects.

To help you to speed up your Xamarin development, I’ve created a set of plugins, one of them is MTADAL. Thanks to this plugin you can authenticate users in your projects with a single line of code.

A couple of useful link you can find useful

Nuget link: https://www.nuget.org/packages/MarcTron.ADAL\

Project website: https://www.xamarinexpert.it/Plugin/MTADAL h

To report any issue: https://bitbucket.org/marcojak81/mtadal

And now let’s see how to integrate the plugin inside your Xamarin Forms solution.

Add the Active Directory Plugin

First of all we need to install the plugin. To do that, do a right-click on your solution and click on “Manage NuGet Packages for Solution…”

Now search the package MarcTron.ADAL, click on it and remember to select all your projects (.Net Standard project + all the main application projects).

The Plugin will take care to install for you also the Nuget package Microsoft.IdentityModel.Clients.ActiveDirectory so you need to accept the Microsoft License.

If everything worked as expected, you will see the version of the plugin next to each of the projects you have selected in the previous step.

Now it’s time to try the plugin to see how easy it is.

Authenticate your users

Inside the Button_OnClicked method, you can see the only line of code you need to authenticate the user:

AuthenticationResult data = await MTADAL.Current.Authenticate(Authority, GraphResourceUri, ClientId, ReturnUri);

using System;
using MarcTron.Plugin.ADAL;
using Microsoft.IdentityModel.Clients.ActiveDirectory;
using Xamarin.Forms;

namespace YOURNAMESPACE
{
    public partial class MainPage : ContentPage
    {
        public const string ClientId = "YOUR CLIENT ID";
        public static readonly string ReturnUri = "YOUR RETURN URI";
        public const string GraphResourceUri = "YOUR Graph Resource Uri";
        private const string AadInstance = "YOUR AAD Instance";
        private const string Tenant = "YOUR TENANT";
        public static readonly string Authority = $"{AadInstance}{Tenant}";

        public MainPage()
        {
            InitializeComponent();
        }

        private async void Button_OnClicked(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            AuthenticationResult data = await MTADAL.Current.Authenticate(Authority, GraphResourceUri, ClientId, ReturnUri);

            if (data != null)
                await DisplayAlert("MTADAL", "Hello " + data.UserInfo.GivenName, "Ok");
        }
    }
}

Of course you need to set Authority, GraphResourceUri, ClientId, ReturnUriaccording to your Active Directory credentials.

If we run this simple code and we insert the correct email and password this is what we seeAuthentication completed! And with only a single line of code!

USAGE ON ANDROID

To use this plugin on Android, add the following line inside the OnCreate method of your MainActivity:

MTADAL.Current.Init(this);

Add that line just after the Xamarin Forms initialization

Xamarin.Forms.Forms.Init(this, bundle);

What do you think? Add your comment at the end of the page.

By Marco Troncone

Add Admob Rewarded video Ads to Android and iOS with a single line of code

April 24, 2019 | Article, Guide, Plugin | 1 Comment

Have you seen how amazing are the Admob Rewarded video Ads? If you are creating a game or an app, the Rewarded Videos are something you should add to your app.

UPDATE: I’ve added on github the source code of a project to test this Admob plugin. You can find it here: https://github.com/marcojak/TestMTAdmob

Do you think that are difficult to implement and it takes hours of your time? WRONG!

Thanks to my plugin MarcTron.Admob (https://www.nuget.org/packages/MarcTron.Admob) you can add Rewarded Videos with a single line of code!!!

Exactly!!! Install the MarcTron.Admob free plugin and in less than few seconds you can show Rewarded Videos in your Android and iOS apps!

HOW (It’s super easy!!!)

Install the MarcTron.Admob plugin in your projects (.netstandard, Android and iOS).
That’s it! No other things to do!!!

Now, if you want to show a rewarded video you just have to write this code:

CrossMTAdmob.Current.ShowRewardedVideo("xx-xxx-xxx-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx/xxxxxxxxxx");

Of course remember to replace the xxx with your video ID that you can find on your Google Admob page.

EVENTS

We all love events 🙂 If you love them as well. There are 7 events that you can use with Rewarde Videos:

OnRewarded                          When the user gets a reward
OnRewardedVideoAdClosed             When the ads is closed
OnRewardedVideoAdFailedToLoad       When the ads fails to load
OnRewardedVideoAdLeftApplication    When the users leaves the application
OnRewardedVideoAdLoaded             When the ads is loaded
OnRewardedVideoAdOpened             When the ads is opened
OnRewardedVideoStarted              When the ads starts

CONCLUSION

We have just seen how to add Rewarded Videos (with the plugin you can add Banners and Interstitials as well) in less than few seconds.

Basically it’s a dream 🙂 But it’s all TRUE!

USEFUL LINKS

Now here some links that you can use:

A detailed tutorial on how to use the plugin: https://www.xamarinexpert.it/blog/admob-made-easy/

The nuget package link:

https://www.nuget.org/packages/MarcTron.Admob

The bitbucket project site to report/view issues:

https://bitbucket.org/marcojak81/mtadmob/issues

Github test project to try the plugin: https://github.com/marcojak/TestMTAdmob

By Marco Troncone

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Category: Plugin

Admob for Xamarin made easy

Install the plugin

Add Ads to our project

How to add an Admob Banner

Add an Admob Banner with XAML

Add an Admob Banner with C#

Global Custom Properties

Use of Banner Events

Admob Interstitials

Events for Interstitials

Rewarded Video

Events for Rewarded videos

Initialization

ANDROID PROJECT (IMPORTANT)

Some useful links

Conclusion

Sqlite for Xamarin made easy

Active Directory Authentication Library made easy

Add the Active Directory Plugin

Authenticate your users

USAGE ON ANDROID

Add Admob Rewarded video Ads to Android and iOS with a single line of code

HOW (It’s super easy!!!)

EVENTS

CONCLUSION

USEFUL LINKS