can anybody explain which tools I need. I have downloaded Xamarin studio but is this now merged into Visual studio for Mac ? I don't understand the difference.
Can you actually use both IDEs or what's going on. ? It seems that the trial licence I have in Xamarin is actually for VS...!
Visual Studio for Mac and Xamarin Studio sharing the same base. You can say if you will that Xamarin Studio is the father of Visual Studio for Mac. They are equal when it comes to mobile development. But Visual Studio for Mac brings support for asp.net core and has a higher Azure integration as well.
Xamarin Studio is a stable release, whereas Visual Studio for Mac is in preview. The release notes highlight new features, such as .NET Core support, connected app templates, and multi-process debugging. Visual Studio for Mac can be installed side-by-side with Xamarin Studio and requires Mono 4.8, which is available in the alpha and beta channels. Currently, installing the stable version of Xamarin Studio will downgrade Mono to an older version; this can be worked around by switching Xamarin Studio to alpha or beta, or opting out of the Mono downgrade.
Related
Visual Studio can have multiple Extension SDKs which are used to ease the development.
Is Xamarin SDK belongs to one of those Extension SDKs of Visual Studio
IDE?
Xamarin SDK is an open-source framework to develop mobile application. And it is bundled as a free tool within Microsoft Visual Studio's integrated development environment.
To answer your question, Yes Xamarin SDK is a part of SDKs in Visual Studio.
Visual Studio use the NuGet Package Manager to Install and manage packages(Like the Xamarin SDK and other Extension SDKs you mentioned in your question).
Those packages are added to your project and you can use them to develop your project.
Xamarin is installed by default if you create a Xamarin.forms project in Visual-Studio.
Xamarin is shipped as a Visual Studio Workload. Although this documentation page doesn't show the individual SDK packages, they are included in the component: Component.Xamarin.
i.e. Xamarin.Android.Sdk / Xamarin.VisualStudio.Apple.Sdk / etc
If you installed Visual Studio 2019 and watched the installer, you'd see the names of these packages as they progress!
Otherwise you can just go into Visual Studio and click on Help -> About Visual Studio and see all of the various packages!
Any really goods reasons and/or things to be aware of why one should use Xamarin Studio over Visual Studio for Xamarin projects (or vice-versa)?
It's been a while since the support for XS on Windows was dropped and the same will eventually happen to XS for Mac. Visual Studio will become the only IDE for both Mac and Windows to develop Xamarin Apps.
For me this is the best reason to start using Visual Studio.
I m currently learning to develop Cross platform app on VS2015 Community version with Xamarin.
Understand there is a new release VS2017. But I am not sure what to do as I read some warnings when using VS2017 RC for Xamarin:
https://developer.xamarin.com/guides/cross-platform/troubleshooting/questions/visualstudio-2017-rc/
please note that currently, installing Xamarin to Visual Studio 2017 RC will uninstall any earlier versions of Xamarin installed into Visual Studio 2015/2013.
I would like to know:
1) How To identify which version is VS2017 or VS2017 RC? Are they the same?
2) After installing VS2017, Can I still use VS2015 Community version? Will installing VS2017 cause the version of Xamarin be removed for VS2015?
update
Some beginner questions on Cross-platform development with VS2017 Community on Windows 10 PC. I will start it on a new win10 PC with no VS.
After Installing VS2017 Community version.
1) Do I need to install Xamarin Unified Installer
Download the Xamarin Unified Installer(http://www.xamarin.com/Download)
will it install the following in Win10 PC
a) Xamarin.Android
b) Xamarin.iOS
c) all the required tools (SDK/JDK)
2) Do I need to open VS2017 in Programs and features in Control Panel by right click it and do setting on Cross Platform Mobile Development like selecting (C#/.Net(Xamarin v4...)
Please provide reference if there is any tutorial on installing VS2017 Community version for Xamarin.
Thanks
I just download xamarin through this link
https://www.xamarin.com/download with (I already have Visual Studio installed) NO
but it seems only installed visual studio for me, as i see some tutorial on youtube there is a xamarin studio.
https://youtu.be/6Jx7ZNZL9dk?list=PLCuRg51-gw5VqYchUekCqxUS9hEZkDf6l&t=168
But it seems xamarin studio is not installed for my computer, anyone know where is xamarin studio and how to install it?
As per the Xamarin FAQ page:
Do you still offer Xamarin Studio on Windows?
Xamarin Studio is no longer included with our Windows installer. We
encourage Windows developers to move to Visual Studio.
https://www.xamarin.com/faq#xpq6
I have installed Xamarin studio for mac today.
I have seen an ad for Visual Studio for Mac preview.
I do not understand what are the difference between those 2 products...
Thanks
Like #SushiHangover told, Xamarin Studio will be replaced by Visual Studio.
If you access the xamarin's page today (https://developer.xamarin.com/releases/studio/xamarin.studio_6.3/xamarin.studio_6.3/), you will se the alert:
Update for May 10, 2017: Xamarin Studio 6.3 is the final release of
Xamarin Studio. We recommend that developers now use Visual Studio on
both Windows and Mac. Visual Studio for Mac has all the features of
Xamarin Studio, adds cloud and web development, and contains
improvements for cross-platform mobile development.
and this one...
Visual Studio for Mac is replacing Xamarin Studio
Xamarin is a company that was founded in 2011 by engineers that created mono framework.
On early 2016 Xamarin and Microsoft announced that Microsoft signed a definitive agreement to acquire Xamarin. The acquisition value was something between $400 and $500 millions.
More information at wikipedia. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xamarin)