I've been trying to figure out on how to setup a Cross-Platform project for MonoGame. Whats the conventional way of doing so ?
Is that done through a Shared Project and can I keep all my content in 1 project ?
Also I am not sure if this information is correct do I need a Mac to build my project for Mac how does that work ? If so how what's the best way of setting that up.
Targeted Platforms : WINDOWS, LINUX, MAC
The best way to setup a cross platform MonoGame project IMO would be to use a Shared project. Shared projects can also include .mgcb file so you won't need to duplicate your content either. How to do:
Use "Xamarin Studio/MonoDevelop" and create a "MonoGame Shared Project" with the name of your game
If you are going to use using "Visual Studio", close the "Xamarin Studio/MonoDevelop" after this, and open up the created project vith it
you are gonna have to include the generated "Content\Content.mgcb" file with build action "None" so it will be visible in Project View area
Add a MonoGame Project for the platform you wish to launch the game from, ie. create a "MonoGame Crossplatform Project" and name it "(gamename).DesktopGL"
Delete "Game1.cs" and "Content Folder" from the Platform project
Add a reference for your Shared project
For your platform project, in options set the Output Assembly Name to be the same as your shared project
this step might not seem important, but if you are using a custom importer/processor this will allow you to not have to compile the content separately for each platform.
There you go, you should be able to run your project now.
Also I am not sure if this information is correct do I need a Mac to build my project for Mac how does that work ? If so how what's the best way of setting that up.
The created executable from DesktopGL project is runnable on Mac even when compiled from Windows, the Mac user just has to launch it using Mono. In case you want you can package your game using MonoKickstart so that your Linux and Mac users don't have to have mono installed: https://github.com/MonoGame/MonoKickstart what's more, it also includes other needed native libraries. Description on how to use it are in the link.
Since you're just targeting Windows, Linux and Mac, you can use Xamarin/MonoDevlop which runs on all three of your target platforms.
Once it's installed, then add the Monogame through the Addin manager. The addin on version 5 of Xaramin and MonoDevlop.
You can then use the same Solution project file between all three platforms assuming you use the OpenGL Template. I use this method for developing between Windows and Linux.
The only time you'll need to use a shared project or something similar would be if you started developing for Mobile (iOS/Android) or for Windows on DirectX instead of OpenGL.
Related
If I'm in my WSL2 Ubuntu filesystem I can simply navigate to a javascript/nodejs folder and type code . to open that project folder and thanks to VS Code's Remote extensions, I'm essentially remoting into the Linux environment and ready to code.
Now Visual Studio 2022 has been released, I was wondering if it too supports the same level of cross-platform IDE capability as VS Code?
How, for instance, when in my WSL2 Ubuntu project in Windows Terminal, can I open my javascript/nodejs project in the Linux filesystem using VS2022, or is this not supported because VS Code is the only cross-platform IDE that can do this?
So its not really possible to do how your thinking. The problem here is that you your not understanding the difference between a "Code Editor", and an "Integrated Development Environment (IDE)", which is totally understandable, as the line that separates the two has become blurred in recent years, and also a topic of debate. There was a far more explicit distinction between the 2 10-15 years ago, however, Microsoft has done a good job at separating the two, where JetBrains will release a piece of software that can be used as an IDE, but is more often than not, used as an editor, but will still call it an IDE, even though its not an IDE in a pure sense.
How is all this related to your question?
When you open your Node.js project in VSCode via the code . command, you are opening it in an editor that implements Intelli-code, as well as a wealth of other tools, but essentially, the editor, and all the tools extract the names & file extensions of your documents, parse them (usually turning much of the info into an AST, where many extensions will make use of that info to offer the various tooling capabilities/features. The point is at the end of the day, the editor just parses all of your code, gives you info, and you make any changes as needed to your code. And again, this is what your doing with code .
With Visual Studio 2022, you can't open a project with it, unless its a project type the IDE supports, and enables the IDE, to embed its-self into your project. This includes things like built in environment, built in cache, built in build system, the files needed to bootstrap its-self. With an IDE, the IDE is part of the project.
So then why does Visual Stdio 2022 work with Node?
It works with node, to create Node.js applications within a windows environment, and it offers the ability to access different Windows SDK features via Node. These are things you could never do using server-side Linux builds with Node. When you build a Cpp application for windows, you package the entire thing in a .sin file, I haven't built a windows app in node, but I know that Node also uses the .sin file build system, which requires Visual Studio & Windows SDK to do, and parts of Visual Studio/Windows to be embedded into the project, for the project to be able to work in a Windows OS, and take advantage of MS Windows features.
Long story short, V.S. Code is the right tool for what your doing, why would Microsoft invest in two identical tools any way? If you ever want to build something for Windows, or for MS mobile device using Node, you will probably want to change your environment, to VS2022.
For some reason(about the digital signature of the desktop bridge app, see here), I can't use visual studio to package my project. Makeappx seems to be able to do this, but those commands are too complex for me. Is there an easier way to achieve this?
Or to put it another way, how can I directly refer to the EXE file (which I can sign) rather than just the project in the application package project?
If Visual Studio is too complicated I recommend you get the free Express edition from Advanced Installer.
In the link include you can find a video that shows how to build an MSIX package (for bundle just change the radio button option from Builds page).
Additional info -
Publishing an MSIX package in the MS store.
Disclaimer: I work on the team building Advanced Installer.
I have been a long-time visual studio developer, and I am trying to switch over to using mono so I can port my applications to Ubuntu. I have been trying to get some of my VS2010 C++ projects (.vcxproj file types) to load into MD on my Ubunutu 12.04 machine. According to the documentation I have read online this should work, however, every time I try and load a project I get the error shown below. Is there something else I need to be installing in order to be able to load C++ projects in monodevelop? I have done some searching, but have not yet found anything related to this particular question.
VC2010Test.sln(4): Unsupported or unrecognized project : '/home/me/Projects/Test/VC2010Test/VC2010Test.vcxproj'.
Thanks
MonoDevelop has a C/C++ binding, called CBinding.
But:
Beware, it's not meant to target managed C++.
AFAIK, it only works in Unix-like platforms.
So, if you still target non-managed C++ and are not using MonoDevelop for Windows, two questions:
Did you make sure that the binding (addin) is installed and enabled?
If the answer to the above question is yes, you may want to try this: the binding creates projects with the extension ".proj" by default, I think, so maybe you can change this to ".vcxproj", recompile, and test again. If it works, then it should be easy to create a pull request to include this extension of possible file types that this addin can handle?
Not sure if anyone else is having this issue.
I am attempting to create a windows forms library control. I need the control to run in an x86 environment. So, the first thing I do is go into the properties of the project and switch the platform target to x86.
I try running the application and I get the lovely error message referencing the assembly I am trying to create and stating: An attempt was made to load a program with an incorrect format.
I have not added any references nor any code, just trying to create a control in x86.
I am using a windows 7 64bit machine with VS2012 trying to write the app in .NET 4.5. I have to do the project in x86 because I am using some OCX that are x86 only.
Has anyone run into this?
go into the properties of the project and switch the platform target to x86
Well, that worked. Instead of a confusing COM exception (typically "Class not registered" which has several possible reasons) you get an early .NET exception that tells you that you are using the library wrong.
To test your library project, you needed to create an EXE project that had a reference to the library project. What you forgot to do is change the Platform target setting on that EXE project. Which matters because only the EXE project can determine what the bitness for the process will be. It is the one that loads first, a library project has no say. It can only veto the choice, the BadImageFormatException is that veto.
So you have to change the Platform target setting for the EXE project to x86 as well.
I have some projects built with different versions of VS2005 that require different run-time version. i need to display the assemblyIdentity to see which run-time is required to run the program. I need the information to include the specific VC80 runtime MSM in my WiX installer project.
{Edit}
While the binaries have been built with Visual Studio I don't have a VS on the PCs where WiX shall be used. I am reluctant to install an Express version, since I am a guest on that PC.
{/Edit}
How can I conviniently display the embedded manifest? Preferrable with a small tool, command line tool would be OK.
Manifests are stored as resource in executables/DLLs. These are stored under RT_MANIFESTresource type. Open the resources under it and parse it as XML.
One example is pasted below (I opened one of my EXE using VS resource editor):
The PeStudio is a small tool that does the job. Including displaying the manifest in clear text.
Additionally it displays all DLLs that must be present on target system. That helps to author the installer.