Can App Center Diagnostics integrate with other MVVMCross features

Integration Overview

App Center Diagnostics is designed to capture and analyze crash reports and errors in real-time, providing insights into app stability and performance. This functionality can be integrated into an MVVMCross application by including the App Center SDK in the project. The integration involves initializing App Center services, such as diagnostics and analytics, within the application's startup logic.

Initializing App Center with MVVMCross

To integrate App Center with an MVVMCross application, you need to initialize App Center services in the app's startup code. For Android, this can be done in the `SplashScreen` activity, as shown in the example below:

csharp
public class SplashScreen : MvxFormsSplashScreenActivity
{
    protected override void RunAppStart(Bundle bundle)
    {
        AppCenter.Start(
            "android=xxx;",
            typeof(Analytics),
            typeof(Crashes),
            typeof(Distribute));

        StartActivity(typeof(FormsApplicationActivity));
        base.RunAppStart(bundle);
    }
}

This initialization ensures that App Center's diagnostics and analytics features are enabled for the application.

MVVMCross and App Center Features

While MVVMCross handles the application's architecture and navigation, App Center provides diagnostics and analytics capabilities. These two frameworks complement each other by allowing developers to monitor app performance and stability (via App Center) while maintaining a structured, cross-platform application architecture (via MVVMCross).

However, App Center is being retired, and developers are encouraged to explore alternative solutions for diagnostics and analytics, such as Azure Native ISV services like Datadog, Dynatrace, and New Relic, or more specialized mobile observability platforms[3][4].

Alternatives for MVVMCross Applications

As App Center is retiring, developers using MVVMCross should consider migrating to alternative diagnostics and analytics tools. These alternatives can provide similar or enhanced capabilities for monitoring app crashes and user behavior, ensuring that MVVMCross applications remain well-supported and maintainable.

In summary, while App Center Diagnostics can be integrated with MVVMCross features, the retirement of App Center necessitates exploring alternative solutions to ensure continued support for diagnostics and analytics in cross-platform applications.