Creating an app with Visual Studio 2022 for Windows

Note

Make sure to setup your environment by following our instructions.

Create the App

To create an Uno Platform app:

Create a new C# solution using the Uno Platform App template, from Visual Studio's Start Page, then click the Next button
Configure your new project by providing a project name and a location, check the "Place solution and project in the same directory" option, then click the Create button
Choose a template to build your application

Tip

For a detailed overview of the Uno Platform project template wizard and all its options, see this.
Click the create button
Wait for the projects to be created, and their dependencies to be restored
A banner at the top of the editor may ask to reload projects, click Reload projects:

Debug the App

To run the Windows (WinAppSDK) head:

Right-click on the MyApp.Windows project, select Set as startup project
Select the Debug|x86 configuration
Press the MyApp.Windows button to deploy the app
If you've not enabled Developer Mode, the Settings app should open to the appropriate page. Turn on Developer Mode and accept the disclaimer.

To debug for iOS:

Right-click on the MyApp.Mobile project, select Set as startup project

Note

For information about connecting Visual Studio to a Mac build host to build iOS apps, see Pairing to a Mac for .NET iOS development. Catalyst apps are not supported in Visual Studio 2022 on Windows, you can use VS Code Remote SSH to enable this scenario.
In the "Debug toolbar" drop-down, select framework net7.0-ios:
Select:
- An active device, if your IDE is connected to a macOS Host
- A local device using Hot Restart, to debug your application without connecting to a mac
  
  Note
  
  If no iOS devices are available, a Visual Studio 17.7+ issue requires unloading/reloading the project. Right-click on the .Mobile project and select Unload Project then Load project.

To debug the Android platform:

Right click on the MyApp.Mobile project, select Set as startup project
In the Debug toolbar drop down, select framework net7.0-android
Select an active device in the "Device" sub-menu

Note

If no android devices are available, a Visual Studio 17.7+ issue requires unloading/reloading the project. Right-click on the .Mobile project and select Unload Project then Load project.

To debug your Skia+GTK head:

Directly on Windows:
- Right-click the MyApp.Skia.Gtk project, select Set as startup project
- In the debug toolbar, next to the green arrow, select MyApp.Skia.Gtk, then press F5.

Using WSL:

In the debugger menu, next to the green arrow, press the drop down to select WSL

If this is the first time debugging the app:

Locate and open the Properties/launchSettings.json file

In the "WSL" section, add the following:

  ```json
  "environmentVariables": {
      "DISPLAY": ":0",
      "GDK_GL": "gles"
  },
  ```

  The section should look then like this:

  ```json
  "WSL": {
      "commandName": "WSL2",
      "distributionName": "",
      "environmentVariables": {
          "DISPLAY": ":0",
          "GDK_GL": "gles"
      }
  }
  ```

Then press F5 or the green arrow to start debugging the app

You're all set!

Important

Take a look at our article in order to ensure that your solution is building and showing intellisense as fast as possible, and to avoid this Visual Studio issue (help the community by upvoting it!) where multi-targeted project libraries always build their full set of targets.

Next Steps

Now that you're Created and Debug the App.

Learn more about: