Certain types of things are basically impossible to do in cross-platform mobile code today, yet there's no reason why. Writing a ViewModel that handles loading a gallery of pictures from disk will be completely riddled with #ifdefs and basically unreadable.

Splat aims to fix that, by providing a usable leaky abstraction above platform code. It is leaky, because it always provides an extension method ToNative() and FromNative(), which converts the abstraction to the platform-specific version. Load the image in the cross-platform code, then call ToNative() in your view to actually display it.

Splat currently supports:

• Cross-platform image loading/saving
• A port of System.Drawing.Color for portable libraries
• Cross-platform geometry primitives (PointF, SizeF, RectangleF), as well as a bunch of additional extension methods to make using them easier.
• A way to detect whether you're in a Unit Test runner / Design Mode
• A cross-platform logging framework
• Simple yet flexible Service Location

//
// Load an Image
// This code even works in a Portable Library
//

var wc = new WebClient();
byte[] imageBytes = await wc.DownloadDataTaskAsync("http://octodex.github.com/images/Professortocat_v2.png");

// IBitmap is a type that provides basic image information such as dimensions
IBitmap profileImage = await BitmapLoader.Current.Load(imageBytes, null /* Use original width */, null /* Use original height */);

Then later, in your View:

// ToNative always converts an IBitmap into the type that the platform
// uses, such as UIBitmap on iOS or BitmapSource in WPF
ImageView.Source = ViewModel.ProfileImage.ToNative();

// This System.Drawing class works, even on WinRT or WP8 where it's not supposed to exist
// Also, this works in a Portable Library, in your ViewModel
ProfileBackgroundAccentColor = new Color(255, 255, 255, 255);

Later, in the view, we can use it:

ImageView.Background = ViewModel.ProfileBackgroundAccentColor.ToNativeBrush();

// If true, we are running unit tests
ModeDetector.InUnitTestRunner();  

// If true, we are running inside Blend, so don't do anything
ModeDetector.InDesignMode();

Always Be NuGetting. Package contains binaries for:

• Xamarin.iOS
• Xamarin.Android
• Xamarin.Mac
• WPF (.NET 4.5)
• Windows Phone 8
• WinRT