Project.json In Visual Studio For Mac

Hi all, I was just looking to see what the plans are for supporting NuGet v3 and project.json in XS?project.json can be used instead of packages.config for any project type and it works great in VS. Among it's main advantages are: - references are not stored in csproj file. In January, Microsoft released Visual Studio 2019 for Mac 8.4.3 with a handful of features and improvements that were a direct request from developers on their developer community forum. Visual Studio.

Visual Studio for Mac is a .NET integrated development environment on the Mac that can be used to edit, debug, and build code and then publish an app. In addition to expected features, such as a standard editor and debugger, Visual Studio for Mac includes compilers, code completion tools, graphical designers, and source control to ease the software development process.

Visual Studio for Mac supports many of the same file types as its Windows counterpart, such as .csproj, .fsproj, or .sln files, and supports features such as EditorConfig, meaning that you can use the IDE that works best for you.Creating, opening, and developing an app will be a familiar experience for anyone who has previously used Visual Studio on Windows. In addition, Visual Studio for Mac employs many of the powerful tools that make its Windows counterpart such a powerful IDE. The Roslyn Compiler Platform is used for refactoring and IntelliSense. Its project system and build engine use MSBuild, and its source editor uses the same foundation as Visual Studio on Windows. It uses the same debugger engines for Xamarin and .NET Core apps, and the same designers for Xamarin.iOS and Xamarin.Android.

What can I do in Visual Studio for Mac

Visual Studio for Mac supports the following types of development:

• ASP.NET Core web applications with C#, F#, and support for Razor pages, JavaScript, and TypeScript
• .NET Core console applications with C# or F#
• Cross-platform Unity games and applications with C#
• Android, iOS, tvOS, and watchOS applications in Xamarin with C# or F# and XAML
• Cocoa desktop apps in C# or F#

This article explores various sections of Visual Studio for Mac, providing a look at some of the features that make it a powerful tool for creating these applications.

IDE tour

Visual Studio for Mac is organized into several sections for managing application files and settings, creating application code, and debugging.

Getting started

When you start Visual Studio 2019 for Mac, new users will see a sign-in window. Sign-in with your Microsoft account to activate a paid license (if you have one) or link to Azure subscriptions. You can press I'll do this later and sign in later via the Visual Studio > Sign in menu item:

You'll then be given the option to customize the IDE by selecting your preferred keyboard shortcuts: Visual Studio for Mac, Visual Studio, Visual Studio Code, or Xcode:

Signed-in users will see the new start window, which shows a list of recent projects, and buttons to open an existing project or create a new one:

Solutions and projects

The following image shows Visual Studio for Mac with an application loaded:

The following sections provide an overview of the major areas in Visual Studio for Mac.

Solution pad

The Solution Pad organizes the project(s) in a solution:

This is where files for the source code, resources, user interface, and dependencies are organized into platform-specific Projects.

For more information on using Projects and Solutions in Visual Studio for Mac, see the Projects and Solutions article.

Assembly references

Assembly references for each project are available under the References folder:

Additional references are added using the Edit References dialog, which is displayed by double-clicking on the References folder, or by selecting Edit References on its context menu actions:

For more information on using References in Visual Studio for Mac, see the Managing References in a Project article.

Dependencies / packages

All external dependencies used in your app are stored in the Dependencies or Packages folder, depending on whether you are in a .Net Core or Xamarin.iOS/Xamarin.Android project. These are usually provided in the form of a NuGet.

NuGet is the most popular package manager for .NET development. With Visual Studio's NuGet support, you can easily search for and add packages to your project to application.

To add a dependency to your application, right-click on the Dependencies / Packages folder, and select Add Packages:

Embedding excel into onenote. Information on using a NuGet package in an application can be found in the Including a NuGet project in your project article.

Source Editor

Regardless of if you're writing in C#, XAML, or Javascript, the code editor the shares the same core components with Visual Studio Windows, with an entirely native user interface.

This brings some of the following features:

• Native macOS (Cocoa-based) user interface (tooltips, editor surface, margin adornments, text rendering, IntelliSense)
• IntelliSense type filtering and 'show import items'
• Support for native text inputs
• RTL/BiDi language support
• Roslyn 3
• Multi-caret support
• Word wrap
• Updated IntelliSense UI
• Improved find/replace
• Snippet support
• Format selection
• Inline lightbulbs

For more information on using the Source Editor in Visual Studio for Mac, see the Source Editor documentation.

To keep tabs visible at all times, you can take advantage of pinning them. This ensures that every time you launch a project, the tab you need will always appear. To pin a tab, hover over the tab and click the pin icon:

Refactoring

Visual Studio for Mac provides two useful ways to refactor your code: Context Actions, and Source Analysis. You can read more about them in the Refactoring article.

Debugging

Visual Studio for Mac has debuggers that support .NET Core, .NET Framework, Unity, and Xamarin projects. Visual Studio for Mac uses the .NET Core debugger and the Mono Soft Debugger, allowing the IDE to debug managed code across all platforms. For additional information on debugging, visit the Debugging article.

The debugger contains rich visualizers for special types such as strings, colors, URLs, as well as sizes, coordinates, and bézier curves.

For more information on the debugger's data visualizations, visit the Data Visualizations article.

Version control

Visual Studio for Mac integrates with Git and Subversion source control systems. Malwarebytes for mac vs avira antivirus. Projects under source control are denoted with the branch listed next to the Solution name:

Files with uncommitted changes have an annotation on their icons in the Solution Pane, as illustrated in the following image:

For more information on using version control in Visual Studio, see the Version Control article.

Next steps

Related Video

See also

NuGet packages contain reusable code that other developers make available to you for use in your projects. See What is NuGet? for background. Packages are installed into a Visual Studio for Mac project using the NuGet Package Manager. This article demonstrates the process using the popular Newtonsoft.Json package and a .NET Core console project. The same process applies to any other Xamarin or .NET Core project.

Once installed, refer to the package in code with using <namespace> where <namespace> is specific to the package you're using. Once the reference is made, you can call the package through its API.

Tip

Start with nuget.org: Browsing nuget.org is how .NET developers typically find components they can reuse in their own applications. You can search nuget.org directly or find and install packages within Visual Studio as shown in this article. For general information, see Find and evaluate NuGet packages.

Prerequisites

• Visual Studio 2019 for Mac.

You can install the 2019 Community edition for free from visualstudio.com or use the Professional or Enterprise editions.

If you're using Visual Studio on Windows, see Install and use a package in Visual Studio (Windows Only).

Create a project

NuGet packages can be installed into any .NET project, provided that the package supports the same target framework as the project.

For this walkthrough, use a simple .NET Core Console app. Create a project in Visual Studio for Mac using File > New Solution.., select the .NET Core > App > Console Application template. Click Next. Accept the default values for Target Framework when prompted.

Visual Studio creates the project, which opens in Solution Explorer.

Add the Newtonsoft.Json NuGet package

To install the package, you use the NuGet Package Manager. When you install a package, NuGet records the dependency in either your project file or a packages.config file (depending on the project format). For more information, see Package consumption overview and workflow.

NuGet Package Manager

1. In Solution Explorer, right-click Dependencies and choose Add Packages...

2. Choose 'nuget.org' as the Package source in the top left corner of the dialog, and search for Newtonsoft.Json, select that package in the list, and select Add Packages..:

   If you want more information on the NuGet Package Manager, see Install and manage packages using Visual Studio for Mac.

Use the Newtonsoft.Json API in the app

With the Newtonsoft.Json package in the project, you can call its JsonConvert.SerializeObject method to convert an object to a human-readable string.

1. Open the Program.cs file (located in the Solution Pad) and replace the file contents with the following code:

2. Build and run the app by selecting Run > Start Debugging:

3. Once the app runs, you'll see the serialized JSON output appear in the console:

Next steps

Congratulations on installing and using your first NuGet package!

To explore more that NuGet has to offer, select the links below.