About App Service Helpers

App Service Helpers (ASH) makes it as easy as possible to add data storage and authentication to your mobile app with Microsoft's Azure App Service Platform. ASH was built with the mobile developer in mind, and requires no previous experience with backends as a service (BaaS).

In just four lines of code, you can connect your app to the cloud with online/offline synchronization and automatic conflict resolution. Authenticating users with Facebook, Twitter, Google, Microsoft accounts, Azure AD, and Azure B2C is dead simple as well - just one line of code. ASH even takes care of securely storing access tokens and refreshing them regularly, with no extra effort required from you.

App Service Helpers was developed as a supplemental library to Microsoft's Azure Client SDK. Rather than replacing this library, ASH extends it by lowering the barrier to entry for developers who wish to build cloud-connected mobile apps in C#. If you ever find yourself outgrowing App Service Helpers, you can drop down to a lower level with the Microsoft Azure Client SDK for fine-tuned control or even remove ASH with minimal refactoring.

Authors

Mike James

Before joining Xamarin, Mike worked in the entertainment control industry, developing systems for numerous installations, including the London Eye. His passion for mobile development began when building apps to empower site engineers to control installations’ lighting ignited his passion for mobile development. As a Xamarin Developer Evangelist, Mike engages with the Xamarin community throughout Europe and greatly enjoys any opportunity to meet customers face-to-face.

Pierce Boggan

Pierce has been building mobile apps since 2011. He joined Xamarin in 2012 and now works as a Program Manager at Microsoft for Xamarin. He is the author of various popular open-source projects, including Moments, a Snapchat clone built with Microsoft Azure & Xamarin.Forms, as well as SmartCoffee, an app for remotely controlling a coffee maker using Azure IoT Hub & Xamarin. You can follow Pierce on Twitter, LinkedIn, and GitHub @pierceboggan.

OSS

App Service Helpers is completely open source and available on GitHub under the MIT license.