Visual Studio 2017 for Mac is actually a different beast from Visual Studio for Windows. As you may know, it is originally based on Xamarin Studio which on its turn is an extended form of MonoDevelop. Simply put, the extensions you'll find in the Visual Studio Marketplace are not compatible with Visual Studio 2017 for Mac. Installing Visual Studio is a piece of cake once the virtual machine is set up. I simply downloaded the latest release from MSDN and let the installer run. If you use an Apple Magic Mouse (as I do), Visual Studio tends to be overly eager to zoom the text size in and out as you swipe your finger over the mouse.
Visual Studio has not always been as user-friendly on the Mac as it is on a Windows machine. Lately, however, the stable release of VS for Mac is really starting to feel like a simple, but luxurious cousin to Visual Studio 2019. Different, but related. Installation on a Mac is quick, simple, and allows you to get into coding right away - whether you are already familiar or an Apple-only dev getting into something new like Xamarin.
Visual Studio for Mac bears a striking similarity to xCode’s solution navigation feel, but brings the power of VS intellisense and an ability to focus on your code in a much cleaner looking environment. In my opinion, this brings the best of both worlds together. But don’t take my word for it: here are five reasons to give Visual Studio for Mac another go!
1. The C# Editor in Visual Studio for Mac is Completely New
Roslyn, the .NET compiler platform, is now in the Visual Studio for Mac editor - making your intellisense as powerful as its big brother on Windows. Marrying the functionality ported over from the Roslyn compiler with the (frankly, beautiful looking) simplicity of a native-feeling Mac UI editing experience gives this girl all the feels. It has full support for third-party Nuget packages for .NET Core (utilizing .NET Standard) along with Unity, Xamarin and Cocoa apps.
I didn’t notice a big difference gating my progress of a .NET Core app. At this point, I don’t know why I would switch over to a windows VM in order to build a microservice API in .NET Core at all!
Finally, I’m loving that VS for Mac now includes “Go to implementation” as an option in the latest release. Exciting! The C# experience is pretty great now.
2. CLI Developers Can Open .NET Core Projects in Terminal
Ah, the command line. Many developers love using it for .NET Core instead of the “visual” click and drag aspect of the Visual Studio IDE. At first, the use of command line programming with ASP.NET Core was the only way you could build those apps. Over time, and especially with the release of Visual Studio 2019, the File > New Project templates for ASP.NET Core apps have been baked into the install bringing a truly visual experience to that build.
For a while, it was unclear if the same command line net new project CLI functionality would be available on Mac, but I am happy to report that it is and it works beautifully! The use of the Terminal app brings that experience to you harcore command line devs.
3. Improved Build Time for Xamarin
Remember those build and deploy coffee breaks? Well say goodbye (unless you don’t want to of course). On one of my Xamarin projects I saw a super impressive 30% faster incremental build time. That’s not an insignificant improvement.
This metric is also supported by the April 2019 press release from the VS for Mac team. I used to design my development process in such a way that I could multitask to stay efficient and productive. I’m happy to report those days are gone with much improved build speeds, making the Xamarin app building process something I can say I truly enjoy.
![Studio Studio](/uploads/1/1/8/6/118668087/499202583.png)
4. .NET Core 3 Support Available Right Out of the Gate
How To Install Visual Studio In Mac
Does Visual Studio 2019 have .NET Core 3 support? Yes, but that’s no reason to jump over to your Windows machine! You can use all the same, wonderful new stuff on your Apple machine, too.
In fact, I’d argue that Visual Studio for Mac is an excellent place to start learning how to build apps for .NET Core 3. With fewer small windows everywhere like it’s Windows-based cousin, VS for Mac allows for a more-focused process.
5. Robust Source Control Options
This is where some “same but different” comes into play. I find that developers coming over from Swift or Objective C development enjoy the experience of source control within Visual Studio for Mac. While there IS a difference in the process for Windows users, I don’t find it particularly difficult. Visual Studio for Mac supports Git and Subversion built into the IDE, as well as TFS with a little more effort.
I have used the Github Desktop app for source control of my folders without much issue. This is also my source control workflow for VS Code, and while it is not integrated into the IDE of VS for Mac, it’s also not a bad option. For the hardcore command line peeps, you can alternatively use Git inside the CLI tool Terminal, which is native to Apple OS. There is no learning curve here at all for developers who use command line.
Who Should Use Visual Studio for Mac?
Visual Studio for Mac is a strong choice for many developers and many use cases. Here are a few that come to mind:
- .NET users building Xamarin mobile apps that require IOS builds will benefit tremendously from having all their development on a single machine.
- Developers working with .NET Core, who love working on a Mac, and currently use a virtual machine or Bootcamp to run Visual Studio in a windows environment will benefit from not having to switch over from the Apple operating system constantly.
- Unity game developers will find VS for Mac be very intuitive option.
The last group to come over will be .NET Framework developers who have worked with Visual Studio on Windows as their only option for .NET 4.7.2 for example. Sadly no, .NET Framework cannot run on VS for Mac. However, once you are ready to start building your apps or microservices in .NET Core - check it out!
New functionality, extensions and templates are all coming this next year to Visual Studio for Mac that make living in harmony with Apple + Microsoft a real joy.
Learn More About .NET Core, Xamarin, Apple & OAuth
If you’d like to learn more about ASP.NET, Xamarin, or Apple, we’ve also published a number of posts that might interest you:
For other great content from the Okta Dev Team, follow us on Twitter and Facebook!
How To Install Visual Studio In Mac
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by Dan Belcher (Last modified: 18 Feb 2019)
This guide covers all the necessary tools required to author Rhino plugins on Mac.
By the end of this guide, you should have all the tools installed necessary for authoring, building, and debugging C# .NET plugins using RhinoCommon in Rhino for Mac.
Prerequisites
This guide presumes you have an:
- Apple Mac running macOS Sierra (10.12.5) or later.
- Rhino 5 for Mac (5.1) or later.
Install Xcode
Xcode is Apple’s development platform and IDE. Though it is not absolutely required that you install Xcode in order to build, debug, and run C# plugins using RhinoCommon, it is recommended that you do. In short: the Visual Studio for Mac works best with Xcode installed.
Step-by-Step
Install Visual Studio In Mac
- Xcode is free in the Mac App Store. Click the View in Mac App Store button.
- Click the Get > Install App button underneath the Xcode icon.
- You will be prompted for your Apple ID (required to download apps on the App Store).
- Xcode is large download - nearly 2.6 GB in size. You can monitor the progress of the download in Launchpad. When Xcode is finished downloading an installing, it will be your /Applications folder.
- Launch Xcode. On initial launch, Xcode will install some additional components.
- Quit Xcode.
Install Visual Studio for Mac
Visual Studio for Mac (formerly Xamarin Studio, formerly MonoDevelop) is required to build RhinoCommon plugins on macOS. The core components of the Mono platform that are required are the Mono Framework and Visual Studio for Mac. Please check out the What are Mono and Xamarin? guide for more information.
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Step-by-Step
- Download Visual Studio for Mac.
- Visual Studio for Mac uses an Installer app, which downloads and installs the components that you select. Once you have downloaded the VisualStudioInstaller.dmg, double-click it to mount the disk image. Double-click the big Install Visual Studio.app icon to launch the installer.
- You must accept the Visual Studio Software License Agreement.
- Visual Studio for Mac can install the following items:
- Visual Studio + Profiler (required)
- Android + Xamarin.Forms1 (optional)
- iOS + Xamarin.Forms2 (optional)
- macOS - formerly Xamarin.Mac3 (optional)
- Workbooks and Inspector (optional)
- Verify that Visual Studio + Profiler is checked and click Continue.
- If you do not have Xcode installed, the installer may prompt you. See Install Xcode above.
- The installer downloads and installs: Mono Framework and Visual Studio for Mac
- When the installer is finished, click the Launch Visual Studio button.
- Visual Studio - along with the Mono Framework and Profiler are now installed.
- Visual Studio is installed in your /Applications folder. You will want to drag its icon to your Dock for future use or - if it’s running - right/option-click the icon in the Dock and select Keep in Dock.
Install the RhinoCommon Extension
The RhinoCommon AddIn/Extension is required to debug your plugin code in an active session of Rhino for Mac. Additionally, it contains project templates to get you started creating plugins quickly.
Step-by-Step
- Visit the AddIn’s GitHub releases page and find the Latest release in the list of releases.
- Download the .mpack file in the list of Downloads on that release. For example, at the time of this writing, the Latest release download is entitled RhinoXamarinStudioAddIn_7.4.3.1.mpack.
- Launch Visual Studio for Mac if it not already open.
- Navigate to Visual Studio > Extensions……
- Click the Install from file… button in the lower left-hand corner.
- Navigate to the .mpack file you downloaded in step 2 above.
- Click Install. The plugin should install.
- IMPORTANT: You must Quit and Restart Visual Studio for Mac.
- Navigate to Extensions Studio > Add-ins. > Installed tab. Verify that RhinoCommon Plugin Support exists under the Debugging category. If it’s there, you have successfully installed the Extension and you are DONE.
Next Steps
Congratulations! You have all the tools necessary to build a RhinoCommon plugin for Rhino for Mac. Now what?
![Install visual studio code mac brew Install visual studio code mac brew](/uploads/1/1/8/6/118668087/489492267.png)
Check out the Your First Plugin (Mac) guide for instructions building - your guessed it - your first plugin.
Footnotes
- Xamarin.Android is used to build C# .NET applications for Android devices. This is useful to have installed if you wish to use the RhinoMobile toolkit, but not required for RhinoCommon in Rhino for Mac. ↩
- Xamarin.iOS is used to build C# .NET applications for Apple iOS devices. This is useful to have installed if you wish to use the RhinoMobile toolkit, but not required for RhinoCommon in Rhino for Mac. ↩
- Xamarin.Mac is Xamarin’s proprietary closed-source toolkit build on the open-source MonoMac (aka Mono for macOS). Xamarin.Mac provides a commercial license of Mono, bindings to additional frameworks, and the ability to create self-contained application bundles that do not require mono. Rhino for Mac does not currently use Xamarin.Mac. ↩