Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. Setting up the native wrapper projects and libraries
3. Consuming the APIs in your .NET app
4. What will you bind?

Introduction

The Native Library Interop for .NET MAUI, previously known as the Slim Binding approach, is a method for integrating native libraries into .NET MAUI applications. In this tutorial, we will create a binding for the MPAndroidChart library for Android and the equivalent Charts library for iOS and Mac Catalyst to display a pie chart in a .NET MAUI app.

Setting up the native wrapper projects and libraries

To start, we need to set up the native wrapper projects and bring in the native libraries. We will create API interfaces for Charts using Swift/Objective-C for iOS and Mac Catalyst, and Java/Kotlin for Android. After defining the APIs, we will generate dependencies for Android and reference them in the .NET sample app. This step ensures that the native libraries are correctly integrated with the .NET MAUI application.

Consuming the APIs in your .NET app

Now that the Charts binding is set up, we can use it in any .NET MAUI app. By referencing the .NET binding libraries and using platform directives in the MainPage.xaml.cs file, we can directly leverage the APIs created for displaying the pie chart. This step demonstrates how to utilize the Charts binding in a .NET MAUI application.

What will you bind?

In this tutorial, we focused on creating a binding for the Charts library to display a pie chart in a .NET MAUI app using Native Library Interop. The process involved setting up native wrapper projects, generating dependencies, and consuming the APIs in the .NET app. By following this tutorial, you can create bindings for other native libraries to enhance your .NET MAUI applications.