I'd like to ask anyone out there whether is possible, as of today, to develop a Windows/MacOS cross platform application using WPF (in Visual Studio) and Xamarin.Mac (in Xamarin Studio for Mac). I searched the web, twitted people (Stuart, I know you pointed me to loqu8 build some days ago, but I'm just stuck :P) but nothing really useful came up. So, my questions are:
First and foremost: is it possible?
Is it production ready? If not, how much stable it is? Are there any plans for improving it in the next months?
How do I use MvvmCross in Xamarin Studio, since it seems that NuGet isn't supported on MacOS, and NuGet packages don't target Xamarin.Mac anyway?
How do I create a PCL in Visual Studio since Xamarin.Mac isn't insalled on Windows? Do I have to create it on MacOS and the copy the project in Visual Studio?
More could follow...
Thanks for any answers!
First and foremost: is it possible?
Yes. Several developers have used it.
But it's not a "main target" for MvvmCross - our main focus is still on Windows, Droid and iOS which is what users have requested the most.
Is it production ready? If not, how much stable it is? Are there any plans for improving it in the next months?
It's not included in the main nuget packages - because nuget doesn't really support monomac or xammac packages very well. There are no plans to change this that I know of.
You have to build it yourself. You can do this from the main mvvmcross repo - or from branches like https://github.com/loqu8/MvvmCross/ who have done a lot of work on it.
How do I use MvvmCross in Xamarin Studio, since it seems that NuGet isn't supported on MacOS, and NuGet packages don't target Xamarin.Mac anyway?
Currently the best advice is to build and use the assemblies yourself.
How do I create a PCL in Visual Studio since Xamarin.Mac isn't insalled on Windows? Do I have to create it on MacOS and the copy the project in Visual Studio?
You can add additional PCL targets using the XML files - see old posts like http://slodge.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/cross-platform-winrt-monodroid.html about how we previously did this for MonoDroid/Touch
To build MonoMac/XamMac projects in VS, see http://tofutim.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/adding-monomac-and-xammac-to-visual.html
Cross platform WPF = speaking language of all people around the world in the best way possible
Cross platform WPF+(Blend and Visual Studio) = Doing poetry for all languages around the world in the best way possible
What better tool a programmer on the earth could wish for?
C# will become the most powerful cross platform programming languae
Related
I have just switched from Java-development (where I used IntelliJ) to an old WinForms application in VB.net. I have decided to use Rider, since I really liked IntelliJ.
From what I understand Raider's WinForm designer does not yet support VB.net-WinForms.
So my question is if there is a plugin that supports WinForms designing in Raider (to avoid having to switch to VS and avoid using 2 different IDEs).
The Winforms designer from Rider does only support C# with WinForms under Windows. It has recently added support for other toolkits, maybe in a cross-platform manner.
The answer to your question is no: and I don't think they are going to include since there is probably not enough demand. You can still use Visual Studio for the designer and go back to Rider when that part is finished.
My personal advice is to avoid use any designer. WinForms is really easy to grasp, and there are tutorials out there that make the task even easier.
One possibility would therefore be to get rid of the designer files and manually modify the code. An important outcome is that the project will be then editable in any IDE, not only Visual Studio or others with compatible plugins.
I have several WPF applications. And I think the number of apps would grow overtime. I want to create an installer with these features:
Check for .Net version and ask the user to install it
Support for creating a secure time-based trial version for the app with activation support.
Template support: So I can create one general installer and modify it for each tool.
Update support: Check for the new version of the app.
Easy to deploy: There is a chance that I won't be uploading them myself.
If there is a tool which can help me with these, I'll be glad to use it. Commercial tools are fine too. If not, please suggest a streamlined process to achieve the optimal result.
Advanced Installer, Enterprise edition, with a good price, has also all these features. To learn the tool I recommend this tutorial, after which you can continue with tutorials for the updater and licensing library(trial support).
InstallShield will do what you are looking for but it's not cheap. They have really nice wizards, script editors, SQL packaging, version control, etc.
Flexera Software
Visual Studio 2010 / 2012 include the light version, but it can't really do more than wrap an app for installation. All the other advanced features are reserved to the paid versions.
In 2008 Artur Carvalho asked for an Alternative IDE for Silverlight and was told to look at Visual Studio Express.
Is that still the valid answer in 2010 or are there other IDEs one should consider (cost/ OS it runs on / stability)?
I'm trying to get a feel for silverlight development before commiting cash. So I don't need enterprize level tools or a license to distribute ..
Would MonoDevelop and Moonlight be an option?
On Windows I haven't heard about anything besides Visual Studio Express 2010. On Mac you can use Eclipse for Silverlight.
As for me, I don't develop SL daily rather occasionally and starting with Blend 3 I can actually use Blend for most of my smaller personal projects and don't bother to install VS although I have a licence for it. Blend now has a decent support for Intellisense and most UI stuff is easier in Blend. Yes, Blend is not free.
First I've read loads of posts and sites that recommend going to http://silverlight.net/GetStarted/ to get started but I do not have visual studio and I'm not going to purchase it just to 'maybe' learn some silverlight that I'm not going to be able to use for a little while.
The reason being that I've already installed visual studio and all the other things required during a quiet period of work, then another project came up and by the time I got back to thinking about silverlight the trial period has finished.
I have not done C# or XAML (mainly Java, AS3 & MXML, hence the lack of MS tools) but I'd like to look into silverlight when I'm quiet to create some test projects and to determine where I can use it if anywhere. Is there a toolset that will let me learn and use all that is required without purchasing the software (perhaps it would have a watermark like the flex datacharts used to have, unless you purchased them, maybe an eclipse plugin - although I imagine I'm being a bit optimistic here).
If there isn't such a thing then perhaps MS should look into this, Adobe recently let anyone unemployed/students etc to get flexbuilder for free to increase its uptake. That would be great is MS did something similar.
If you are a student, you can get professional Microsoft tools for free through the Dreamspark program. http://www.dreamspark.com
You can download Blend preview 3 and visual studio 2010 for free and use it. You have the tools and knowledge now ;-)
Check out Bizspark too.
Allegedly, you can now use one of Microsoft's free "Express" development systems to develop Silverlight apps.
http://www.bluerosegames.com/SilverlightBrassTacks/post/You-can-now-write-Silverlight-apps-in-Visual-Web-Developer-Express.aspx
In addition to the free-as-in-free-beer options from MS that other answers mention: if you only want to play around with Silverlight for now, consider trying Moonlight -- it may not yet be ready for production work, but nevertheless usable for learning purposes.
One place you can go is to the express web site on Microsoft.com. You can get free, albeit trimmed back, versions of the current release of Visual Studio and SQL Server there.
You can also get a trial version of Expression Blend 2. Blend is a design oriented tool for creating Silverlight applications.
You can also usually find betas of upcoming releases without much trouble.
Silverlight + Eclipse:
http://www.eclipse4sl.org/download/
And how to workaround Express for SL
http://www.informikon.com/blog/howto-silverlight-and-visual-studio-express.html
Good luck
Braulio
It seems that Microsoft wants Silverlight to take off, yet I cannot find an easy way to develop in it without buying Visual Studio 2008. Has anyone out there found a way to get the silverlight development environment in the express editions of Visual Studio? Any other tools?
Here is a link for ya: HOWTO: Silverlight and Visual Studio Express,
I haven't tried it myself though.
They just released Eclipse tools for Silverlight (eclipse4SL) and I remembered this thread!
Apparently express support will come with the final release
Depending on what you consider "productive", you could work with XAMLPad for a lot of the basic declarative stuff.
The Moonlight project is working on an IDE called Lunar Eclipse, that I think they're eventually going to be integrating into MonoDevelop. Wikipedia says it's in the SVN repository already, but I don't know if there's any code for that which can actually be run effectively yet. I'd think if it's out there it'd be unusably basic if it even compiles... still, something to look into!
I only use Visual Studio as a text editor for xaml and C#. I don't use the designer in Visual Studio at all. You can put together most of your UI with Blend, open your C# files individually with Express. You don't have much intelisense in Visual Studio for the xaml anyway.
As #Brian stated, you can just use Expression blend and create any WPF/Silverlight apps. Especially if you have some Flash background/more interested in the interaction design (UX) I would recommend you to buy expression blend than VS2008.
You can write C# code in notepad and Blend will take care of the compilation.