Using parse in Xamarin Forms PCL throws errors - dll

Question

I've setup a Xamarin.Forms project with a PCL, a project for Android and a project for iOS.
On the main project I've installed the Parse NuGet:
I then added the Parse.dll and Parse.NetFx45.dll to the PCL:
(which I downloaded from https://www.parse.com/docs/downloads and got it from the Xamarin SDK)
And finally on the Android project I've added the Parse.Android.dll and on the iOS project I've added the Parse.iOS.dll
When I now try to run this on Android I will get the following error:
07-29 16:34:30.274 I/MonoDroid(12848): UNHANDLED EXCEPTION:
07-29 16:34:30.279 I/MonoDroid(12848): System.TypeInitializationException: An exception was thrown by the type initializer for Parse.ParseClient ---> System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object
07-29 16:34:30.279 I/MonoDroid(12848): at Parse.ParseClient..cctor () [0x0008e] in <filename unknown>:0
07-29 16:34:30.279 I/MonoDroid(12848): --- End of inner exception stack trace ---
07-29 16:34:30.279 I/MonoDroid(12848): at Begijn.App..ctor () [0x00008] in c:\Users\yenthe.vanginneken\Desktop\Begijn\Begijn\Forms_Example\App.cs:19
07-29 16:34:30.279 I/MonoDroid(12848): at Begijn.Droid.MainActivity.OnCreate (Android.OS.Bundle) [0x000dc] in c:\Users\yenthe.vanginneken\Desktop\Begijn\Begijn\Droid\MainActivity.cs:77
07-29 16:34:30.279 I/MonoDroid(12848): at Android.App.Activity.n_OnCreate_Landroid_os_Bundle_ (intptr,intptr,intptr) [0x00011] in /Users/builder/data/lanes/1879/5f55a9ef/source/monodroid/src/Mono.Android/platforms/android-21/src/generated/Android.App.Activity.cs:2707
07-29 16:34:30.279 I/MonoDroid(12848): at (wrapper dynamic-method) object.a9794397-c74a-443b-b29b-77d845a6f0d6 (intptr,intptr,intptr) <IL 0x00017, 0x00043>
The same issues happen on iOS too.
So, what am I missing or what am I doing wrong? :s
I've initialized Parse in the App.cs too.

Answer 1

Like Matt said, you need an abstraction to surface Parse's functionality in a PCL.
I have a sample TodoParse app that does just that:
In the PCL I created an IParseStorage interface
In each of the platform projects, there is a ParseStorage class that implements it
Refer to the DependencyService docs for details on how that works.

Answer 2

The Parse NuGet package version 1.5.3 does not contain any PCL assemblies so I suspect that is the problem. It contains assemblies for:
Android
MonoTouch (iOS Classic)
Xamarin.iOS (iOS Unified)
NET 4.5
Windows 8
Windows Phone Silverlight 8
Windows Phone for Applications 8.1
The .NET 4.5 Parse assemblies may well be using APIs that are not supported on iOS nor Android.
You would need to create an interface/abstraction in your PCL and have that implemented in your iOS and Android project.