Xamarin.ios Build Host Download With Visual Studio For Mac

 



Question or issue on macOS:

Xamarin.ios Build Host Download With Visual Studio For Mac Osx

I’m a .NET developer and want to write an IOS & Android app in C#. I’ve had a read around Xamarin for Visual Studio which looks interesting if not a tad expensive!

@Knots23 I had similar issues with connection dropping during the remote build (ie from PC vs2019 16.3.7) after. Upgrading OS to Catalina keeping existing Xcode and VS; and then manually upgrading from Xcode 10.x - (ie via downloading from appl dev site, extracting and moving to Apps) to Xcode 11.2 and then installing xcode command line tools on the mac. Use the Visual Studio debugger to quickly find and fix bugs across languages. The Visual Studio for Mac debugger lets you step inside your code by setting Breakpoints, Step Over statements, Step Into and Out of functions, and inspect the current state of the code stack through powerful visualizations. This looks like an issue with the connection between Windows VS and the build host, marking as a visual studio issue. Xamarin.iOS and Xamarin.Mac SDK 13.20.0.22.

Do you need a Mac to debug your code? Do you just need a networked Mac to actually deploy the app to the Store?

Is the best option just to buy a Mac and run Windows with VS in a VM or can I just use my windows machine, write & debug the code in Windows then just hook up to a networked Mac for final deployment?

How to solve this problem?

Solution no. 1:

Yes, you must have a Mac to do Xamarin.iOS development. The Mac is required for building as well as running the iOS simulator. You can either use it as a build server, and actually do your development in Visual Studio (either in a standalone PC, or on a VM running on your Mac), or you can do your development directly on the Mac using Xamarin Studio as your IDE.

Solution no. 2:

From May 2017, you can develop app without MAC.

Microsoft Xamarin introduce a Live Player. With Live Player, iOS apps can be deployed directly onto an iPhone or other iDevice from a PC running Visual Studio, where the code can then be tested and debugged.

WARNING The Xamarin Live Player Preview has ended. See discussion

See this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awgZDL1a3YI

this is Live Player Get start section: Live Player

Note: The final build and submission to the App Store will still require a Mac

Device Requirements

The Xamarin Live Player app supports the following devices:

Xamarin.ios Build Host Download With Visual Studio For Mac

iOS

  • iOS 9.0 or later.
  • ARM64 processor.
  • Check the App Store for a list of supported devices.

Android

  • Android 4.2 or later.
  • ARM-v7a, ARM-v8a, ARM64-v8a, x86, or x86_64 processor.

Limitations

There are some limitations on the things Xamarin Live Player can run, including the items below:

  • Android user interfaces designed with AXML files are not currently supported.
  • Some iOS storyboard features are not supported.
  • iOS XIB files are not supported.
  • Custom Renderers are not supported.
  • Xamarin.Forms Effects are not supported.
  • Embedded resources are not supported (ie. embedding images or other resources in a PCL).
  • Limited support for reflection (currently affects some popular NuGets, like SQLite and Json.NET). Other NuGets are still supported.
  • Some system classes cannot be overridden (for example, you cannot implement a subclass).
  • Some platform features that require provisioning can’t work in the Xamarin Live Player app (however it has been configured for common operations like camera access).
  • Custom targets and build steps are ignored. For example, tools like Fody cannot be incorporated.

Solution no. 3:

You can use Xamarin Studio instead of Visual Studio and build iOS application by C#.
First install VMware Workstation and then download OS X image and run it by VMware.

Then Install tools on it and enjoy.

Tools :

EDIT : The following links are out dated, You must install Mac OS 10.10 in order to be able to install XCode 6.

iOS Tools that you need:

1) Mac OS X image for Windows
Note: Max OS X Installation Help:
http://www.sysprobs.com/easily-run-mac-os-x-10-8-mountain-lion-retail-on-pc-with-vmware-image

2) Mono:
http://download.xamarin.com/MonoFrameworkMDK/Macx86/MonoFramework-MDK-3.2.4.macos10.xamarin.x86.pkg

3) Xamarin Studio:
http://download.xamarin.com/studio/Mac/XamarinStudio-4.2.1-1.dmg

Xamarin.ios Build Host Download With Visual Studio For Mac Download

4) MonoTouch:
http://download.xamarin.com/MonoTouch/Mac/monotouch-7.0.4.209.pkg

5) Xcode

Solution no. 4:

Update 2018

Install VirtualBox
https://www.virtualbox.org/

Install MacOs 10.13 on VirtualBox
https://techsviewer.com/install-macos-high-sierra-virtualbox-windows/

Create or login with an apple account on the mac

Install XCode 9.0
https://download.developer.apple.com/Developer_Tools/Xcode_9/Xcode_9.xip

Enable Remote Login
System Preferences > Sharing > Remote Login > Enable for All Users

Configure VirtualBox with an additional network adaptor (host-only)

In Windows > Visual Studio (Xamarin Project) > Pair with mac

Enter the IPaddress of the second network adaptor

Let Visual studio install Xamarin IOS, IOS SDK, additional tools on the Mac

All set up.

Solution no. 5:

An option is to use a remote service to do this.
For example:
http://www.macincloud.com

Solution no. 6:

Anybody know that a Virtual-Machine is the solution! but when you want to have an OSX on windows it’s not really easy as you just talked about it.
it’s very important to find best OS ROM.

check it out here.
and you have to know that limitation is Apple’s doing, not Xamarin’s.

Hope this helps!

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This article describes various Xamarin.iOS configuration options for VisualStudio.

Using matching Xamarin.iOS versions

Visual Studio 2019 or Visual Studio 2017 must use the same version of Xamarin.iOS that is installedon the Mac build host. To make sure this is true:

  • If you use Visual Studio 2019 or Visual Studio 2017, select the Stable updates channel in Visual Studio for Mac.

  • If you use Visual Studio 2019 Preview, select the Alpha updates channel in Visual Studio for Mac.

Note

Starting with Visual Studio 2017 version15.6,Visual Studio 2017 automatically detects if the Mac build host is using thesame version of Xamarin.iOS as Windows. If there is a version mismatch,Visual Studio 2017 offers to remotely install the correct version on the Macbuild host. For more information, take a look at the Automatic Macprovisioningsection of the Pair toMacguide.

iOS toolbar

When an iOS project is open in Visual Studio 2019 or Visual Studio 2017, the iOS toolbar should bevisible. By default, it contains four buttons that are useful forXamarin.iOS development:

  • Pair to Mac – Opens the Pair to Mac dialog. Enabled when an iOSproject is open in Visual Studio 2019 or Visual Studio 2017.
  • Show iOS Simulator – On the Mac build host, brings the iOS Simulatorto the front. Enabled when an iOS project is open in Visual Studio 2019 or Visual Studio 2017.
  • Device Log – Brings up a window that allows you to inspect devicelogs. Enabled when an iOS project is open in Visual Studio 2019 or Visual Studio 2017.
  • Show IPA File on Build Server – Opens a window on the Mac buildhost, showing the location of the .ipa file for the app. Enabled aftercompleting a build for which an .ipa was created.

If this toolbar does not appear, open the View menu in Visual Studio 2019 or Visual Studio 2017,and choose Toolbars > iOS:

Solution Platforms drop-down menu

The Solution Platforms drop-down menu allows you to choose whetheryour next build will target a physical device or a simulator.

To make sure this drop-down menu is visible on the Standard toolbar:

Xamarin.ios Build Host Download With Visual Studio For Mac Windows 10

  • In Visual Studio 2019 or Visual Studio 2017, click the down arrow at the right edge of the Standard toolbar.
  • Choose Add or Remove Buttons
  • Make sure the Solution Platforms item is checked:

Xamarin.ios Build Host Download With Visual Studio For Mac Os

With an iOS project open, the Standard and iOS toolbars should nowresemble the following screenshot: