Get Started on Visual Studio 2022
This getting started will guide you through the creation of an Uno Platform App using C# and .NET, based in the WinUI 3 XAML.
Tip
This guide covers development on Windows using Visual Studio. If you want to use another environment or IDE, see our general getting started.
Important
To use Xamarin (as opposed to .NET 7 Mobile) with Visual Studio 2019, follow this guide.
Prerequisites
To create Uno Platform applications you will need Visual Studio 2022 17.4 or later:
ASP.NET and web development workload installed (for WebAssembly development)
.NET Multi-platform App UI development workload installed (for iOS, Android, Mac Catalyst development).
.NET desktop development workload installed (for Gtk, Wpf, and Linux Framebuffer development)
Important
To build Xamarin-based projects in Visual Studio 2022, in Visual Studio's installer Individual components
tab, search for Xamarin and select Xamarin
and Xamarin Remoted Simulator
. See this section on migrating Xamarin projects to .NET 6.
Note
For information about connecting Visual Studio to a Mac build host to build iOS apps, see Pairing to a Mac for Xamarin.iOS development.
Finalize your environment
Open a command-line prompt, Windows Terminal if you have it installed, or else Command Prompt or Windows Powershell from the Start menu.
a. Install the tool by running the following command from the command prompt:
dotnet tool install -g uno.check
b. To update the tool, if you already have an existing one:
dotnet tool update -g uno.check
Run the tool from the command prompt with the following command:
uno-check
Follow the instructions indicated by the tool
Note
When using a Visual Studio Preview version, you will need to run uno-check --pre
.
You can find additional information about uno-check here.
Install the Solution Templates
Launch Visual Studio 2022, then click
Continue without code
. ClickExtensions
->Manage Extensions
from the Menu Bar.In the Extension Manager expand the Online node and search for
Uno
, install theUno Platform
extension or download it from the Visual Studio Marketplace, then restart Visual Studio.
Create an application
To create an Uno Platform app:
Create a new C# solution using the Uno Platform App template, from Visual Studio's Start Page
Choose the base template to build your application
You can optionally choose to customize your app based on the sections on the left side:
- Framework allows to choose which
TargetFramework
your app will use. .NET 7.0 is a commonly appropriate choice. - Platforms provides a list of platforms your application will support. You still can add additional platforms later.
- Presentation gives a choice about using MVVM (e.g. MVVM Toolkit) or Uno Platform's MVUX and Feeds
- Projects gives the ability to add a Server project for APIs and hosting for the WebAssembly project
- Testing provides Unit Testing and UI Testing projects
- Features provides support for WebAssembly PWA and optional VS Code support files
- Extensions allows to choose for additional Uno.Extensions to kickstart your app faster
- Application sets the App ID for relevant platforms, used when publishing on various app stores.
- Theme gives the ability to change between Fluent and Material
- Framework allows to choose which
Click the create button
Wait for the projects to be created, and their dependencies to be restored
A banner at the top of the editor may ask to reload projects, click Reload projects:
To debug the Windows head:
- Right-click on the
MyApp.Windows
project, select Set as startup project - Select the
Debug|x86
configuration - Press the
MyApp.Windows
button to deploy the app - If you've not enabled Developer Mode, the Settings app should open to the appropriate page. Turn on Developer Mode and accept the disclaimer.
- Right-click on the
To run the WebAssembly (Wasm) head:
- Right click on the
MyApp.Wasm
project, select Set as startup project - Press the
MyApp.Wasm
button to deploy the app
- Right click on the
To run the ASP.NET Hosted WebAssembly (Server) head:
- Right click on the
MyApp.Server
project, select Set as startup project - Press the
MyApp.Server
button to deploy the app
- Right click on the
To debug for iOS:
Right click on the
MyApp.Mobile
project, select Set as startup projectIn the "Debug toolbar" drop-down, select framework
net7.0-ios
:Select an active device
To debug the Android platform:
- Right click on the
MyApp.Mobile
project, select Set as startup project - In the Debug toolbar drop down, select framework
net7.0-android
- Select an active device in the "Device" sub-menu
- Right click on the
You're all set! You can now head to our tutorials on how to work on your Uno Platform app.
Note
Debugging either the macOS and macCatalyst targets is not supported from Visual Studio on Windows.
Troubleshooting Installation Issues
You may encounter installation and/or post-installation Visual Studio issues for which workarounds exist. Please see Common Issues we have documented.
Getting Help
If you continue experiencing issues with Uno Platform, please visit our GitHub Discussions or Discord - #uno-platform channel where our engineering team and community will be able to help you.