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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:

  1. First and foremost: is it possible?
  2. Is it production ready? If not, how much stable it is? Are there any plans for improving it in the next months?
  3. 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?
  4. 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!

Claudio Mezzasalma
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2 Answers2

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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

Stuart
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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

Eftekhari
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  • I love it, and I would love to use it. But I need something that is REALLY cross-platform NOW, not in a time to come. – Claudio Mezzasalma Aug 02 '14 at 08:47
  • You could use JavaFX which is quite similar to WPF but with more power in compatibility with different devices and it is cross platform. You could run java almost anywhere. JavaFX has a visual designer named SceneBuilder which is similar to Blend but not that much powerful. – Eftekhari Aug 02 '14 at 11:32
  • In fact JavaFX is the direction I'm pointing towards now. I posted a new question: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/25093364/eclipse-rcp-4-vs-netbeans-platform-8-today-what-to-choose – Claudio Mezzasalma Aug 02 '14 at 12:04