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Visual Studio for Mac is a .NET integrated development environment on the Mac that can be used to edit, debug, and build code and then publish an app. In addition to a code editor and debugger, Visual Studio for Mac includes compilers, code completion tools, graphical designers, and source control features to ease the software development process.
- Visual Studio (current version Visual Studio 2019) is Microsoft’s premier IDE for Windows and MacOS. With Visual Studio, you can develop, analyze, debug, test, collaborate, and deploy your software.
- Learn about Microsoft developer tools. Install Visual Studio for Mac. Install; Page: Purpose. This tutorial shows how to download and install Visual Studio for Mac. Time to Complete. Installing Visual Studio for Mac for the first time. Let's get started!
Visual Studio for Mac supports many of the same file types as its Windows counterpart, such as .csproj, .fsproj, or .sln files, and supports features such as EditorConfig, meaning that you can use the IDE that works best for you.Creating, opening, and developing an app will be a familiar experience for anyone who has previously used Visual Studio on Windows. In addition, Visual Studio for Mac employs many of the powerful tools that make its Windows counterpart such a powerful IDE. The Roslyn Compiler Platform is used for refactoring and IntelliSense. Its project system and build engine use MSBuild, and its source editor uses the same foundation as Visual Studio on Windows. It uses the same debugger engines for Xamarin and .NET Core apps, and the same designers for Xamarin.iOS and Xamarin.Android.
What can I do in Visual Studio for Mac
Visual Studio for Mac supports the following types of development:
- ASP.NET Core web applications with C#, F#, and support for Razor pages, JavaScript, and TypeScript
- .NET Core console applications with C# or F#
- Cross-platform Unity games and applications with C#
- Android, iOS, tvOS, and watchOS applications in Xamarin with C# or F# and XAML
- Cocoa desktop apps in C# or F#
This article explores various sections of Visual Studio for Mac, providing a look at some of the features that make it a powerful tool for creating these applications.
IDE tour
Visual Studio for Mac is organized into several sections for managing application files and settings, creating application code, and debugging.
Getting started
When you start Visual Studio 2019 for Mac for the first time, new users will see a sign-in window. Sign-in with your Microsoft account to activate a paid license (if you have one) or link to Azure subscriptions. You can press I'll do this later and sign in later via the Visual Studio > Sign in menu item:
You'll then be given the option to customize the IDE by selecting your preferred keyboard shortcuts: Visual Studio for Mac, Visual Studio, Visual Studio Code, or Xcode:
After this initial setup experience, you'll see the start window whenever you open Visual Studio 2019 for Mac, which shows a list of recent projects, and buttons to open an existing project or create a new one:
Solutions and projects
The following image shows Visual Studio for Mac with an application loaded:
The following sections provide an overview of the major areas in Visual Studio for Mac.
Solution pad
The Solution Pad organizes the project(s) in a solution:
This is where files for the source code, resources, user interface, and dependencies are organized into platform-specific Projects.
For more information on using Projects and Solutions in Visual Studio for Mac, see the Projects and Solutions article.
Assembly references
Assembly references for each project are available under the References folder:
Additional references are added using the Edit References dialog, which is displayed by double-clicking on the References folder, or by selecting Edit References on its context menu actions:
For more information on using References in Visual Studio for Mac, see the Managing References in a Project article.
Dependencies / packages
All external dependencies used in your app are stored in the Dependencies or Packages folder, depending on whether you are in a .NET Core or Xamarin.iOS/Xamarin.Android project. These are usually provided in the form of a NuGet.
NuGet is the most popular package manager for .NET development. With Visual Studio's NuGet support, you can easily search for and add packages to your project to application.
To add a dependency to your application, right-click on the Dependencies / Packages folder, and select Add Packages:
Information on using a NuGet package in an application can be found in the Including a NuGet project in your project article.
Source Editor
Regardless of if you're writing in C#, XAML, or JavaScript, the code editor the shares the same core components with Visual Studio on Windows, with an entirely native user interface.
This brings some of the following features:
- Native macOS (Cocoa-based) user interface (tooltips, editor surface, margin adornments, text rendering, IntelliSense)
- IntelliSense type filtering and 'show import items'
- Support for native text inputs
- RTL/BiDi language support
- Roslyn 3
- Multi-caret support
- Word wrap
- Updated IntelliSense UI
- Improved find/replace
- Snippet support
- Format selection
- Inline lightbulbs
For more information on using the Source Editor in Visual Studio for Mac, see the Source Editor documentation.
To keep tabs visible at all times, you can take advantage of pinning them. This ensures that every time you launch a project, the tab you need will always appear. To pin a tab, hover over the tab and click the pin icon:
Refactoring
Visual Studio for Mac provides two useful ways to refactor your code: Context Actions, and Source Analysis. You can read more about them in the Refactoring article.
Debugging
Visual Studio for Mac has debuggers that support .NET Core, .NET Framework, Unity, and Xamarin projects. Visual Studio for Mac uses the .NET Core debugger and the Mono Soft Debugger, allowing the IDE to debug managed code across all platforms. For additional information on debugging, visit the Debugging article.
The debugger contains rich visualizers for special types such as strings, colors, URLs, as well as sizes, coordinates, and bézier curves.
For more information on the debugger's data visualizations, visit the Data Visualizations article.
Version control
Visual Studio for Mac integrates with Git and Subversion source control systems. Projects under source control are denoted with the branch listed next to the Solution name:
Files with uncommitted changes have an annotation on their icons in the Solution Pane, as illustrated in the following image:
For more information on using version control in Visual Studio, see the Version Control article.
Next steps
Related Video
See also
-->You can use this guide to uninstall each component in Visual Studio for Mac individually by navigating to the relevant section, or you can use the scripts provided in the Uninstall Script section to uninstall everything.
Note
This information will only remove Visual Studio 2019 or 2017 for Mac from your machine. to uninstall Visual Studio Code, see this issue for details.
Uninstall Script
There are two scripts that can be used to uninstall Visual Studio for Mac and all components for your machine:
The following sections provide information on downloading and using the scripts.
Visual Studio for Mac and Xamarin script
You can uninstall Visual Studio and Xamarin components in one go by using the uninstall script.
This uninstall script contains most of the commands that you will find in the article. There are three main omissions from the script and are not included due to possible external dependencies. To remove this, jump to the relevant section below and remove them manually:
To run the script, do the following steps:
Right-click on the script and select Save As to save the file on your Mac.
Open Terminal and change the working directory to where the script was downloaded:
Make the script executable and the run it with sudo:
Finally, delete the uninstall script and remove Visual Studio for Mac from the dock (if it's there).
.NET Core script
The uninstall script for .NET Core is located in the dotnet cli repo
To run the script, do the following steps:
Right-click on the script and select Save As to save the file on your Mac.
Open Terminal and change the working directory to where the script was downloaded:
Make the script executable and the run it with sudo:
Finally, delete the .NET Core uninstall script.
Microsoft Visual Studio For Mac C++
Uninstall Visual Studio for Mac
Microsoft Visual Studio For Mac Python
The first step in uninstalling Visual Studio from a Mac is to locate Visual Studio.app in the /Applications directory and drag it to the Trash Can. Alternatively, right-click and select Move to Trash as illustrated in the following image:
Deleting this app bundle removes Visual Studio for Mac, even though there may be other files related to Xamarin still on the file system.
Download Microsoft Visual Studio For Mac
To remove all traces of Visual Studio for Mac, run the following commands in Terminal:
You may also want to remove the following directory containing various Xamarin files and folders. However, before you do you should be aware that this directory contains the Android signing keys. For more information refer to the section Uninstalling Android SDK and Java SDK:
Uninstall Mono SDK (MDK)
Mono is an open-source implementation of Microsoft's .NET Framework and is used by all Xamarin Products—Xamarin.iOS, Xamarin.Android, and Xamarin.Mac to allow development of these platforms in C#.
Warning
There are other applications outside of Visual Studio for Mac that also use Mono, such as Unity.Be sure that there are no other dependencies on Mono before uninstalling it.
To remove the Mono Framework from a machine, run the following commands in Terminal:
Uninstall Xamarin.Android
There are a number of items required for the installation and use of Xamarin.Android, such as the Android SDK and Java SDK.
Use the following commands to remove Xamarin.Android:
Uninstall Android SDK and Java SDK
The Android SDK is required for development of Android applications. To completely remove all parts of the Android SDK, locate the file at ~/Library/Developer/Xamarin/ and move it to Trash.
Warning
You should be aware that Android signing keys that are generated by Visual Studio for Mac are located in ~/Library/Developer/Xamarin/Keystore. Make sure to back these up appropriately, or avoid removing this directory if you wish to keep your keystore.
The Java SDK (JDK) does not need to be uninstalled, as it is already pre-packaged as part of Mac OS X / macOS.
Uninstall Android AVD
Warning
There are other applications outside of Visual Studio for Mac that also use Android AVD and these additional android components, such as Android Studio.Removing this directory may cause projects to break in Android Studio.
To remove any Android AVDs and additional Android components use the following command:
To remove only the Android AVDs use the following command:
Uninstall Xamarin.iOS
Xamarin.iOS allows iOS application development using C# or F# with Visual Studio for Mac.
Use the following commands in Terminal to remove all Xamarin.iOS files from a file system:
Uninstall Xamarin.Mac
Xamarin.Mac can be removed from your machine using the following two commands to eradicate the product and license from your Mac respectively:
Uninstall Workbooks and Inspector
Starting with 1.2.2, Xamarin Workbooks & Inspector can be uninstalled from a terminal by running:
For older versions, you need to manually remove the following artifacts:
- Delete the Workbooks app at
'/Applications/Xamarin Workbooks.app' - Delete the Inspector app at
'Applications/Xamarin Inspector.app' - Delete the add-ins:
'~/Library/Application Support/XamarinStudio-6.0/LocalInstall/Addins/Xamarin.Interactive'and'~/Library/Application Support/XamarinStudio-6.0/LocalInstall/Addins/Xamarin.Inspector' - Delete Inspector and supporting files here:
/Library/Frameworks/Xamarin.Interactive.frameworkand/Library/Frameworks/Xamarin.Inspector.framework
Uninstall the Xamarin Profiler
Microsoft Visual Studio For Mac Catalina
Uninstall the Visual Studio Installer
Microsoft Visual C++ For Mac
Use the following commands to remove all traces of the Xamarin Universal Installer:
Uninstall Visual Studio 2019 for Mac Preview
Visual Studio For Macos
Visual Studio 2019 for Mac Preview was launched as a separate preview, allowing you to continue to work with your Visual Studio 2017 for Mac install side-by-side.
Now that Visual Studio 2019 for Mac has been released, you can now safely remove the Visual Studio 2019 for Mac Preview application.
To uninstall the preview application bundle, select Visual Studio (Preview) from your Applications folder and click Move to Trash, as depicted in the following image:
You can also remove the Preview plist file with the following command:
See also