Is There Visual Studio For Mac

 



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Visual Studio dev tools & services make app development easy for any platform & language. Try our Mac & Windows code editor, IDE, or Azure DevOps for free. I now have Visual Studio Community running on my Mac - I guess that's what I wanted. I'm trying to work my way through a Writing Your First Application in Xamarin. As others already stated, there is no Visual Studio for Mac OS. Virtualization and dual boot (Windows) can be used instead. I prefer dual boot (Windows). So Visual Basic can just be installed same as on PCs. As dualboot is locked on my company device I tried VirtualBox with Windows7 image and Visual Basic Express (Windows Mobile dev.) but. Visual Studio Code is free and available on your favorite platform - Linux, macOS, and Windows. Download Visual Studio Code to experience a redefined code editor, optimized for building and debugging modern web and cloud applications.

Use the Visual Studio debugger to quickly find and fix bugs across languages. The Visual Studio for Mac debugger lets you step inside your code by setting Breakpoints, Step Over statements, Step Into and Out of functions, and inspect the current state of the code stack through powerful visualizations.

Developer Community |System Requirements |Compatibility |Distributable Code |Documentation |Blogs |Servicing

Click the button to download the latest version of Visual Studio 2019 for Mac. For information on the system requirements see the see Mac System Requirementsand Mac Platform Targeting and Compatibility guides.

For instructions on installing and updating Visual Studio 2019 for Mac, see theInstall Visual Studio for Mac guide.

To learn more about other related downloads, see the Downloads page.

What's New in Visual Studio 2019 for Mac

Visual Studio 2019 for Mac Releases

  • September 21, 2020 - Visual Studio 2019 for Mac version 8.7.8
  • September 15, 2020 - Visual Studio 2019 for Mac version 8.7.7
  • September 10, 2020 - Visual Studio 2019 for Mac version 8.7.6
  • September 08, 2020 - Visual Studio 2019 for Mac version 8.7.5
  • August 25, 2020 - Visual Studio 2019 for Mac version 8.7.4
  • August 18, 2020 - Visual Studio 2019 for Mac version 8.7.3
  • August 13, 2020 - Visual Studio 2019 for Mac version 8.7.2
  • August 11, 2020 - Visual Studio 2019 for Mac version 8.7.1
  • August 5, 2020 - Visual Studio 2019 for Mac version 8.7

Visual Studio 2019 for Mac Blog Posts

The Visual Studio Blog is the official source of product insight from the Visual Studio Engineering Team. You can find in-depth information about the Visual Studio 2019 for Mac releases in the following posts:

Release Highlights

  • We added support for adding new Open API & gRPC service references to .NET Core projects.
  • We added support for right-clicking to run unit tests.
  • The Visual Studio Tools for Unity includes three new diagnostics and support for persistent solution folders when Unity is regenerating solution and projects.
  • We resolved a significant number of existing bugs and user-reported issues throughout the IDE. Please continue to share your feedback with us using the Developer Community portal.
  • Visual Studio for Mac 8.7 supports running on the macOS Big Sur developer preview. If you're already on Big Sur and can't use the updater, visit the Visual Studio for Mac website and download the installer.

Known Issues

Refer to the Known Issues section.

Feedback and Suggestions

We would love to hear from you! You can report a problem through the Report a Problem option in Visual Studio for Mac IDE.You can track your feedback, including suggestions, in the Developer Community portal.

Release Notes

Visual Studio 2019 for Mac version 8.7.8 (8.7.8.4)

released September 21, 2020

Xamarin

  • We added support for Xcode 12 and updated the Xamarin SDKs.
  • We added support for setting a Color set as Accent Color in the Info.plist editor.

Visual Studio 2019 for Mac version 8.7.7 (8.7.7.10)

released September 15, 2020

IDE Platform

  • We fixed an issue where Visual Studio for Mac could not be launched and required a full reboot.

Project System

  • We fixed an issue with ProjectGuid being removed from project files.

Web and Azure

  • We fixed an issue where Scaffolding failed for ASP.NET Core 2.1 Web Applications.

Visual Studio 2019 for Mac version 8.7.6 (8.7.6.2)

Is There Visual Studio For Mac

released September 08, 2020

Web and Azure

  • We updated the .NET Core SDK (3.1.402 SDK and 2.1.22 runtime).

Visual Studio 2019 for Mac version 8.7.5 (8.7.5.19)

released September 08, 2020

Project System

  • We fixed an issue where an Uno solution could not be loaded.

Shell and Tools

  • We improved performance and reliability.

Web and Azure

  • We fixed an issue where initial templates were missing when creating a new Azure Functions project.

Xamarin

  • We fixed many unneeded/unwanted popups when working with storyboards in Xcode Designer.
  • We fixed an issue with generation of outlets
  • We fixed an issue where Visual Studio and Xcode sync keeps updating the Register attribute.
  • We fixed an index out of range error in Hot Reload
  • We fixed an issue where opening a Storyboard with Xcode Interface Builder was failing.

Visual Studio 2019 for Mac version 8.7.4 (8.7.4.38)

released August 25, 2020

Shell and Tools

  • We fixed an issue causing illogical focus order in the Report a Problem dialog.
  • We fixed an issue preventing VoiceOver and screen readers from being able to activate links in the Manage NuGet Packages dialog.
  • We fixed an issue where large solutions would fail to restore with older .NET Core SDKs installed.
  • We increased the color contrast of the selected account in the account dialog.

Web and Azure

  • We fixed an issue where a new launch profile added to launchSettings.json was not shown in the project options dialog.
  • We fixed an issue where cancelling changes in the project options dialog would not undo run configuration changes.
  • We fixed an issue where the OpenAPI / gRPC configuration dialogs were not modal.
  • We fixed an issue where the OpenAPI service reference dialog would re-open after the reference was added.
  • We fixed an issue preventing ASP.NET Core projects from running in the integrated terminal despite being set to do so in the run configuration settings.
  • We fixed an issue where the default run configuration shows the project name twice in main toolbar.

Xamarin

  • We improved overall stability

Visual Studio 2019 for Mac version 8.7.3 (8.7.3.13)

released August 18, 2020

Studio

Shell and Tools

  • We fixed an issue where the properties pad was not updated correctly after changing properties in the solution pad.
  • We fixed an issue where open with hex editor opens file with VS Code and not in the hex editor.

Xamarin

  • We improved overall stability
  • We fixed an issue with debugging an Android app with Xamarin.Android SDK 11.0.0.3

Visual Studio 2019 for Mac version 8.7.2 (8.7.2.4)

released August 13, 2020

Web and Azure

  • We updated the .NET Core SDK (3.1.401 SDK and 2.1.21 runtime).

Visual Studio 2019 for Mac version 8.7.1 (8.7.1.15)

released August 11, 2020

Bug Fixes in 8.7.1

Shell and Tools

  • We fixed an issue with incorrect dependency folder information with .NET Core 3.1.400.
  • We fixed an issue where several UI elements in the properties dialog do not have names for VoiceOver users.

Unity

  • We fixed an issue where opening from Unity shows 'Loading...' until quitting and reopening.

Version Control

  • We fixed an issue that could result in a doesn't point at a valid Git repository or workdir. error message when working with Git.

Xamarin

  • We fixed an issue preventing Xamarin developers on macOS Big Sur from compiling and running their projects.

Visual Studio 2019 for Mac version 8.7 (8.7.0.2037)

released August 5, 2020

Note

This release of Visual Studio for Mac now supports running on the macOS Big Sur developer beta builds. If you're already on Big Sur and can't use the updater, visit the Visual Studio for Mac website and download the installer.

New Features

Open API and gRPC Client Generation

Visual Studio for Mac now includes support for generating an API client from an OpenAPI or gRPC service. This includes the ability to generate the client from a local file or URL, manage service references, and regenerate the client code if the service changes.

To add add a new reference to an OpenAPI or gRPC service, right-click on the Connected Services node in the Solution pad and select Open Service Gallery.

After opening the Connected Services Gallery, you have the option to add either an OpenAPI or gRPC reference.

Clicking on either of the options launches a prompt which allows you to enter the service reference, either by file path or URL.

When generating a gRPC client, you can also select whether to generate the following client class types:

  • Client
  • Server
  • Client and Server
  • Messages Only (used to generate strongly typed classes based on message properties, with no generated server or client code)

When generating an OpenAPI client, you can specify the namespace and additional options which are passed through to the code generator.

Code generation is based on the dotnet-grpc and dotnet-openapi command-line tools.

After generating a service reference, you can view and modify it in the Connected Services Gallery as shown below.

For more information on using a generated OpenAPI client, see the Getting Started with NSwag tutorial.

For more information on using a generated gRPC client, see the Create a gRPC client and server in ASP.NET Core tutorial.

Right-Click to Run Unit Tests

When editing C# classes containing unit tests, developers can now right-click within the body of a test class or method to access options for running and debugging tests.

In addition to right-clicking in the editor, these new commands can be run using keboard shortcuts. If you're using the Visual Studio for Mac key bindings, the commands are as follows:

  • Run Test(s): ⌘T
  • Debug Tests(s): ⌘⌥T

See Default keyboard shortcuts in Visual Studio for Mac for more information on changing your keyboard shortcuts and The Visual Studio Blog for more in-depth information on this new unit test feature.

Visual Studio Tools for Unity

  • We added support to persist solution folders when Unity is regenerating solution and projects.
  • We added the following diagnostics:
    • UNT0015: Detect incorrect method signature with InitializeOnLoadMethod or RuntimeInitializeOnLoadMethod attribute.
    • UNT0016: Using Invoke, InvokeRepeating, StartCoroutine or StopCoroutine with a first argument being a string literal is not type safe.
    • UNT0017: SetPixels invocation is slow.

Bug Fixes

Debugger

  • We fixed an issue where Debugger step operations cause Visual Studio to hang.
  • We introduced new logic for calculating width and placement of items in debugger pads.
  • We fixed an issue that prevented name/value cells from going into edit mode unless clicking exactly on text.
  • We increased the speed of expanding tooltips
  • We fixed an issue that created breakpoints in the breakpoint pad when users clicked an empty line in the editor margin.
  • We fixed an issue that prevented users from dismissing crash messages.
  • We fixed an issue where tooltip behaviour makes it difficult to work.
  • We fixed an issue that may have caused UI hang while stepping.
  • We fixed an issue where Exception page stays after debugging ends.
  • We fixed an issue where the breakpoint pad could become out of sync with line numbers in the text editor display when adding or removing lines of code.
  • We fixed an issue that may cause the debugger to break on the wrong statement.
  • We fixed an issue that sometimes caused tooltips to remain visible after finishing debugging.
  • We fixed an issue where the tooltip may display an array length for a non-array object.
  • We fixed an issue that caused a StackTracePad.UpdateAsync null reference error to be written to the logs.
  • We fixed an issue that caused erroneous newlines in tooltip values.

Project System

  • We fixed an issue where Files in a symbolically linked folder are not built on change.
  • We fixed an issue where Adding a new file/asset causes 'Saving...' to take for over a minute.
  • We fixed an issue where the Saving message shown forever and unable to continue.
  • We fixed an issue with Key bindings for running, debugging and selecting a unit test at caret not working.
  • We fixed an issue where clicking the run button may ask you to build again even if the project had just been compiled.
  • We fixed an issue where Multi-target order is not correct.
  • We fixed an issue where a user Can't close the project.

Testing

  • We fixed an issue where Unit tests duplicated namespaces.
  • We fixed an issue causing some unit tests not to load.
  • We fixed an issue that caused xUnit tests to show full namespaces instead of method names.
  • We fixed an issue where The test nodes in the unit test pads are incorrect.
  • We fixed an issue with the Unit Test panel not properly grouping tests by namespace when using NUnit TestCase of int. MaxValue.
  • We fixed an issue where the VSMac test explorer broken.
  • We fixed brought support for unit test markers back to the editor.

Shell and Tools

  • We updated NuGet to 5.7 RTM.
  • We fixed an issue with keyboard focus inside the property pad.
  • We fixed an issue where Visual Studio was crashing on macOS Big Sur. If you have already upgraded macOS to Big Sur and are not able to run VS for Mac, please download the latest installer from https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/vs/mac/ to install the latest stable version and then install this preview from the Preview channel.
  • We made fixes to address a handful of stability and performance issues.
  • We added a missing key binding for moving through open files (tabs) when using the VS Code key binding scheme.
  • We fixed an issue where the start window could be reentered during project creation, making all commands unusable.
  • We fixed an issue with broken commands in the start window.
  • We fixed an issue where mstest tests were not discovered in Visual Studio for Mac when using Directory.Build.props.
  • We have improved how a conflicting key is shown in preferences.
  • We fixed several accessibility issues.
  • We fixed toggle/undo comments command binding in the Mixed keybinding scheme.
  • We fixed an issue where the sorting buttons in the Document Outline pad reset when switching focus between source files.
  • We fixed an issue where Control+Tab switching between files gets stuck.
  • Png files now open with the Previewer by default instead of the hex editor.
  • We improved the way file paths are shown in global search.
  • We fixed an issue where showing declaration of some classes causes many assembly files to be shown.
  • When adding a new folder to the solution pad, it will now be expanded by default.
  • We fixed an issue preventing the mapping of a command to ⌃ (Tab) in keybindings preferences.
  • We fixed an issue where a solution is no longer available in the recently used projects list if the .sln file was opened in editor.
  • We fixed an issue where Nuget Ordering Beta/Alpha was incorrect.

Source Code Editing

  • We fixed an issue where typing was very slow when many files were open.
  • We fixed an issue where The 'Document Outline' view does not update at all—for regions and functions.
  • We fixed an issue where the Document Outline shows wrong hierarchy when #region is present.
  • We fixed an issue where Rename file to refactor causes Visual Studio to Freeze.
  • We fixed an issue Trying to open a CSS file in Visual Studio for Mac freezes.
  • We fixed an issue where the Document Outline pad for C# never reflects the last editing change.
  • We fixed an issue in the C# editor where IntelliSense never displays documentation for current param at call site.
  • We fixed an issue where Renaming a variable duplicates the last two characters.

Tools for Unity

  • We fixed a bug where breakpoints would not be hit if they were set while already debugging.
  • We fixed an issue where checking equality of Enum values didn't return the correct result (Watches, Immediate, Conditonal Breakpoints).
  • We fixed USP0004, USP0006 and USP0007 suppressors with the following rules: suppress IDE0044 (readonly), IDE0051 (unused), CS0649 (never assigned) for all fields decorated with SerializeField attribute. Suppress CS0649 (never assigned) for public fields of all types extending Unity.Object.
  • We fixed generic type parameter checking for UNT0014.
  • We fixed an issue that caused selected Unity Messages to be unchecked after searching in the Add Unity Messages dialog.

Version Control

  • We fixed an issue with version control tabs not showing up.
  • We fixed an issue where cloning using SSH failed with an error.
  • We fixed an issue where the version control system breaks when the .git folder is deleted.
  • We fixed an issue where it was not possible to access remote repos over SSH in VS Comm.
  • We fixed an issue causing a hang when using version control.
  • We fixed an issue where pushing when remote contains changes that don't exist locally takes a long time eventually aborting with errors.

Web and Azure

  • We updated the .NET Core SDK (3.1.302 SDK and 2.1.20 runtime).
  • We fixed an issue with Entity Framework (CRUD) Scaffolding, where the style of the web page was not loading properly.
  • We fixed an issue where Scaffolding failed for a .NET Core 5 Web Application.
  • We fixed an issue where a subscription could not be found when trying to publish.
  • We fixed an issue with not being able to build React.js and Redux projects.
  • We fixed an issue with not being able to open generated code of a service reference.
  • We fixed an issue where building Angular projects failed to find clang++.
  • We fixed an issue where creating Blazor Web Assembly App projects failed with an error.
  • We fixed an issue with unresponsive Add gRPC Service Reference dialogs.
  • We added support for adding new Open AI & gRPC service references to .NET Core projects.
  • We fixed an issue causing Cannot load solution on VisualStudio for Mac.
  • We fixed an issue where the launchsettings.json file is rewritten when loading.
  • We fixed an issue where changing the Web App run config does not save to the launchsettings.json.
  • We fixed an issue preventing the addition of new run configurations to ASP.NET Core apps.
  • We fixed an issue where IntelliSense would erroneously underline valid code in .razor files under certain conditions.
  • We fixed an issue where an 'api controller with entity framework' scaffold generates 'MVC controller with entity framework'.

Xamarin

  • Support for Xcode 11.5 and 11.6.
  • We updated the Xamarin.Forms templates to use 4.6.0 SR 5.
  • We fixed an issue that caused reliability issues in the remote build host.
  • We fixed an issue where a context menu action was not localized in the Android designer.
  • We fixed a handful of crashes reported by users.
  • We fixed a few instances where VoiceOver would read labels of elements on Wizard template pages twice.
  • We fixed an issue where storyboard resource tags are removed.
  • We fixed an issue where Visual Studio for Mac was not generating view controller files for storyboards.
  • We fixed some Storyboard errors with Xamarin.mac.
  • We fixed an issue where color contrast was too low for the expand/collapse button in the Apple Developer account dialog.

Known Issues

The following is a list of all existing known issues in Visual Studio 2019 for Mac version 8.7:

  • In rare cases, it's possible to be up to date with everything but the .NET Core 3.1.300 SDK. If you enter into this configuration and update to .NET Core 3.1.300 using the updater, the notification to update the .NET Core SDK will not disappear until the IDE is restarted.
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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

Visual Studio Professional For Mac

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:

  1. Right-click on the script and select Save As to save the file on your Mac.

  2. Open Terminal and change the working directory to where the script was downloaded:

  3. Make the script executable and the run it with sudo:

  4. 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:

  1. Right-click on the script and select Save As to save the file on your Mac.

  2. Open Terminal and change the working directory to where the script was downloaded:

  3. Make the script executable and the run it with sudo:

  4. Finally, delete the .NET Core uninstall script.

Uninstall Visual Studio for Mac

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.

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.

Mac

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:

Visual Studio For Mac Download

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:

Is Visual Studio For Mac The Same As Windows

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.framework and /Library/Frameworks/Xamarin.Inspector.framework

Uninstall the Xamarin Profiler

Uninstall the Visual Studio Installer

Use the following commands to remove all traces of the Xamarin Universal Installer:

Uninstall Visual Studio 2019 for Mac Preview

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