Adrian Hall

Adrian Hall

Microsoft Program Manager by day; Mobile Developer by night

Recent posts

Integrating React Native, TypeScript, and MobX

August 11, 2017  5 minute read  

In my last article, I psted about getting TypeScript working with React Native. I’m building a flexible, best-practices, Notes App in React Native. This means I need a backing store, and it has to be local for offline capabilities. React has a definite way of building data into the UI and the manipulation of that data is an architecture known as Flux. Flux isn’t a concrete implementation, however. Normally, I would use Redux as the concrete implementation. However, I have recently started wor...

Debugging React Native with TypeScript and Visual Studio Code

August 09, 2017  2 minute read  

One of the things I really miss from React Native was the support for TypeScript. TypeScript helps me immensely, but it really comes into its own with React programming as the PropTypes are specified for you (no more propTypes static). I’m also getting into MobX as a flux implementation and that uses decorators, which is native in TypeScript. There is lots to love in TypeScript. However, every single guide I saw for implementing TypeScript within React Native was flawed. Specifically, there ...

Implementing swipe-right on a React Native FlatList

August 07, 2017  6 minute read  

I’m progressing on my “master-detail” pattern for a react-native app. The actual implementation of master-detail is shockingly simple (more on that later). However, I bumped into some specific issues when I was implementing it. The first of these was covered last time – how to detect orientation changes in React Native. The next is this. How do I implement swipe-right so that I can add a swipe-to-delete function to a FlatList. Let me explain a little further. The latest edition of React Nati...

Handling orientation changes in React Native

July 26, 2017  3 minute read  

I’ve just returned to my JavaScript days and am trying to learn React Native again. One of the things I like to do is to produce a “perfect” app – one that will work on both tablet and phone in any orientation and that includes all the best practices. Things like my Notes App on Android, for example, took me off to learn content providers. React Native is no different. There are a bunch of things you just have to know. One of the things I want to do is to produce a single app that does maste...

The things I like (and don’t like) about Swift?

June 19, 2017  6 minute read  

Recently, I’ve given myself the task of learning the “native” mobile development platforms. That means Java or Kotlin for Android and Swift or Objective-C for iOS development. Kotlin is a ways behind Java for Android development and I already knew (somewhat) the Java language, so that one was relatively easy. Swift is the new kid on the block, but it’s obviously the way to go for iOS Development.