I'm currently using MacOS for my C# development environment, and have been pretty satisfied with the packages available. However, since my codebase is proprietary, my coworkers recommended that I obfuscate the code using Dotfuscator. I've gone over the Microsoft documentation for direct installation to Visual Studio, but I think it may only apply to Windows. Does anyone know how to install Dotfuscator on Visual Studio for Mac?
Update: Dotfuscator now has Mac support; the MSBuild components can be installed via NuGet and referenced from VS for Mac via the same instructions as Windows.
I work for PreEmptive Solutions, who make Dotfuscator. Dotfuscator is not currently able to be installed on a Mac. We do have alternative solutions for Xamarin builds (Android and/or iOS), and we are working on cross-platform solutions in general. We do plan to make Dotfuscator available for Mac users, but I don't have a date for that yet.
What types of apps are you building? That will help us provide a more-detailed answer, and/or we can update this answer as the situation changes in the future.
Related
I am using Visual Studio Community version 7.3.3 for MacBook. I am working on a project where the repository is hosted in Team Foundation Server (TFS). Can I integrate that using the Version Control option in Visual Studio. Git and SVN are possible thats what I heard. But need some help on this.
This requirement is under plan now. Please check this uservoice:
We’ve been working on some technical prototypes to see how we could
best connect to TFS from a Mac and at this point I’m happy to say that
this work is now planned for an upcoming release. Please keep an eye
on this site for updates!
As of now TFS integration is not implemented for Visual Studio in Mac, they are working on that. Got this information from one person who is directly involved in the development of Xamarin for Mac.
According to this Link this feature is now officially supported and deployed with the new version Visual Studio for Mac (extension v0.3)
I have been a seasoned .Net + Azure developer with master over all short-cuts & popular extensions available. I use Visual Studio even for Node Js development. I am trying to make a switch to MAC which seems impossible :-(
Quite surprised that even basic options like Open WebSite has been
missing in Visual Studio For MAC.
Has any of expert community member here, tried switching to VS for MAC and
found a way to open website written in Angular or React?
As Microsoft's website states, Visual Studio for Mac is a completely new IDE which needs a lot of development before you should use it for your real projects.
I would highly recommend to run a virtual Windows machine (or even Windows itself) on your Mac.
You could try though, to use Visual Studio Code with AngularJS on your Mac.
Edit 08.03.2018: by now Microsoft has done a lot for Visual Studio Mac. What you want will probably work.
Today is 2020 dec, I still cannot find the website feature in vs Mac. But it's reasonable because .net based website is run in Windows server. It doesn’t make sense to build in mac but execute in windows.
Since Xamarin is now free and open-source, I installed its Visual Studio integration.
Everything looks fine with one exception - I can't figure out what I need to do to create a Mac App (not an iOS app).
Thanks
It's not possible to create Mac apps in Visual Studio.
See the requirements for developing for Xamarin.Mac here.
The 'official' answer from Xamarin posted on their forums is:
Right now, we have no items on our public roadmap related to
integration with Visual Studio. As you noted, developing for OS X
requires tight integration with Xcode, and you'd need to be in front
of a Mac anyway to test.
It has been an item of feedback we've received in the past, however.
Like all feedback, we'll consider it for future versions.
Right now, you can use Xamarin Studio community edition (if the
community edition license applies to you) or use your Visual Studio
Professional/Enterprise license.
See:
https://forums.xamarin.com/discussion/63760/how-is-native-mac-going-to-be-handled-by-visual-studio-xamarin#latest
I was wondering if Microsoft has Visual Studio available for MAC?
If yes, where can I get it?
If you are looking for full fledged Visual Studio IDE for Mac, it is not possible for now. But you may try Visual Studio Code, which is not really there yet. Else, worst case scenario is that you use Bootcamp or Parallels Desktop to have a Windows VM followed by installation of Visual Studio.
As far as I am aware, Visual Studio is not available on OS X. Apple offers its own free IDE, however, called Xcode. You can download it for free, though you may need to register with the Apple developer network (at no cost). I'm not much of a fanboy of either Microsoft or Apple, but if you want an IDE for developing for OS X (or iOS) then Xcode would be the most conventional choice.
Can we use MSBuild without Visual Studio 2012?
Currently, we have a build server where we are compiling and creating deployment copy of one of our projects, it has Visual Studio Professional Edition installed. We are setting up a new build server now. Do we really need Visual Studio 2012 on the new build server?
If yes, then how? I googled it but I couldn't find an answer.
We have spent a lot of time trying to get our Build Servers to work without Visual Studio.
We do not use TFS for builds and therefore I am not sure the license exemption above applies to us. Also not having Visual Studio installed helps you really understand how your software is building and get references correct.
We have seen many examples of solutions with projects that contains references for the same piece of software with some in nuget packages shipped with the solution and others that are pointing to locations in the "program files" path which are not present on machines without Visual Studio installed. Once you attempt to build software without VS installed you can really see how "self-contained" your applications are.
Before I start listing the things you typically need to install, let me just point out that MS Build is now no longer considered part of the .NET framework but is shipped with Visual Studio but can also be installed separately. See this blog post for more: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/visualstudio/archive/2013/07/24/msbuild-is-now-part-of-visual-studio.aspx
The following software needs to be installed for most builds, there may be others for example if you are creating portable class libraries.
Microsoft Build Tools 2013
Web Deploy 3.5 (for packaging applications)
Microsoft .NET Framework 4.5.1 Developer Pack
Microsoft .NET Framework 4.5.2 Developer Pack
Windows Software Development Kit (SDK) for Windows 8 (You can use the SDK to build applications that target these operating systems: Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2008)
The following directories need to be copied:
Reference Assemblies (need to be copied from a machine running Visual Studio from/to directory C:\Program Files (x86)\Reference Assemblies)
Public Assemblies (need to be copied from a machine running Visual Studio from/to directory C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 12.0\Common7\IDE\PublicAssemblies
We also use Wix and therefore we install the following:
WIX Toolset 3.8
I have a similar set for testing however that was not part of the question so I will leave that off!
Hope this helps someone.
Update: 3rd March 2017
Microsoft recently responded to a long standing user voice request "Support .NET Builds without requiring Visual Studio on the server" for the requirement for Visual Studio to be installed on a build server to be removed.
From the description on the download page "These Build Tools allow you to build native and managed MSBuild-based applications without requiring the Visual Studio IDE." Not tested yet but after RTM I will look at this and provide a further update here.
There is a blog post that promises these build tools install all pre-requisites and can be used to build MS Build based applications.
No, you don't need Visual Studio on your build box. If I recall correctly, msbuild is installed as part of the .NET framework - it certainly used to be.
Depending on what you're building, you may find that there are some things which are easier to get working if you do install Visual Studio though - things like portable class library profiles. While there are usually non-VS installers available, I've found it simpler to install an Express edition of Visual Studio just to get the bundled build targets.
Remember: The easiest way to build your visual studio solutions is to install Visual Studio on the build server. Even Visual Studio Express is often enough.
That said, you can make it work without it. But it it sometimes a lot of work to figure out. You'll need to install the right Windows / .NET Platform SDK. You can install multiple of these SDKs side by side. Now, when you depend, for example, on ASP.NET MVC 5 or Entity Framework 6, you might need to install further SDKs to get your application to compile. The downloads for these all assume that you also have Visual Studio installed, but many of their payloads can also be installed separately. It can become quite a hassle.
Personally I've grown tired of trying to figure out which parts of which installers enable what. But that is also driven by the fact that Microsoft allows you to install Visual Studio on a build server (TFS) with the same license as your development machine as long as you are an MSDN subscriber. Check the Visual Studio License Whitepaper for more details.
Using Visual Studio on the Build Server
If you have one or more licensed users of Visual Studio Ultimate with MSDN, Visual Studio Premium with MSDN, or Visual
Studio Professional with MSDN, then you may also install the Visual Studio software as part of Team Foundation Server
2013 Build Services. This way, you do not need to purchase a Visual Studio license to cover the running of Visual Studio on
the build server for each person whose actions initiate a build.
If you, like me, would prefer this to change in the future, I suggest you make sure you're heard by submitting your request or voting for an existing one over at the Visual Studio User Voice.
Here's just a quick take on this.
Your build machine should decouple development tools as much as is possible. With that said, and as already stated by others here, MSBuild can be run independently of Visual Studio, and it should!
If your build requires Visual Studio to run then there is a very good chance that you have a solution or project architecture problem that ought to be resolved.
Visual Studio doesn't need to be installed. MSBuild is part of the .net SDK.
Other .net dependencies will need to be installed though, if you are using them. MSTest, or anything that is part of Team foundation will require Visual Studio installed.
I believe you only need MSBuild ( that is part of the .NET framework you're targeting ) .
Make sure you install the proper .NET distribution
the following is a good place for build servers it have the developer tooling.
The .NET Framework 4.5.1 Developer Pack installs the multi-targeting pack for .NET Framework 4.5.1. Developers can build applications targeting the .NET Framework 4.5.1 using either Visual Studio 2012 or third party IDEs. You need to download the web installer instead of this package if you intend to redistribute .NET Framework 4.5.1.
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=40772
Best of luck.
C++ :
There is a "Build Tools" that contains MSBuild, Visual studio is not required.
From the official doc :
These tools allow you to build C++ libraries and applications
targeting Windows desktop. They are the same tools that you find in
Visual Studio 2015 in a scriptable standalone installer. Now you only
need to download the tools you need to build C++ projects.
Managed :
The same applied : Build Tool Managed