The Xwt addin for Xamarin Studio / MonoDevelop makes it easy to create new Xwt UI based cross-platform projects.

Xwt is a .NET framework for creating desktop applications that run on multiple platforms from the same codebase. Xwt works by exposing one unified API across all environments that is mapped to a set of native controls on each platform.

Xwt Project: https://github.com/mono/xwt

##Features

• Project Templates
  • Hybrid (all-in-one) application for Windows/MacOS/Linux
  • Backend based, one application for each backend (Wpf, Mac, Gtk, ...) sharing UI logic
  • Library (for shared UI logic, loadable into other projects)
• File Templates
  • Window
  • Widget
  • Custom Canvas
  • Custom drawn image
• Import/Reference Xwt from different sources
  • Github (checkout repository, optional submodule registration support)
  • NuGet (Xwt is not yet published on NuGet, but you can use own NuGet packages built from source)
  • Local / GAC (e.g. Xwt packaged with XamarinStudio / Monodevelop)
• Xwt.Drawing.Color Debugger Visualizer

Open the Xamarin Studio / MonoDevelop Addin Gallery and install the "Xwt Project Support" addin. Sometimes XS / MD should be restarted to get the full functionality.

The addin provides different types of project templates, which can be found in the "Cross-platform" category of the XS / MD "New Project" wizard.

This Hybrid Application is one single application targeting Windows, Mac and Linux at the same time. The wizard automatically creates different projects:

• [ProjectName] library
• [ProjectName].Desktop Application
• [ProjectName].Mac MonoMac Application (On Mac only)
• [ProjectName].XamMac XamarinMac Application (On Mac only, Xamarin.Mac license required)

All your UI code should go to the created library, which already contains a main window for your application. Additionally it contains a static App class which initializes Xwt and opens the created window. You can set which backends should be used for each platform or handle command line arguments inside App.cs. The created applications simply load the shared library and launch the Xwt application using App.Run().

The main [ProjectName].Desktop can run on all supported platforms, but for a better Mac integration the special Mac applications should be used instead (on Mac a "native" application package will be created).

The "Xwt Application" template creates separated application projects for each backend supported by Xwt and a shared library for your own implementation:

• [ProjectName] library
• [ProjectName].Wpf
• [ProjectName].Gtk2
• [ProjectName].Gtk3
• [ProjectName].Mac (On Mac only)
• [ProjectName].XamMac (On Mac only, Xamarin.Mac license required)

All created applications load the shared library, initialize Xwt and open the MainWindow.

This template simply creates a new library with a custom widget declaration. You can reference it from any other project but you need to take care of the Xwt initialization on you own.

When creating a new Xwt project the template wizard asks to select a reference source to use for the created project. Following sources are supported:

The wizard creates a "Xwt" solution folder and clones the official Xwt repository.

Optionally the Xwt repository can be registered as a Git submodule, if the Git version control is enabled in the last wizard step (otherwise a simple repository clone is performed).

The wizard adds a package reference to Xwt which will be resolved by the XS/MD package management. You can register a custom NuGet repository (XS / MD preferences) to use an own Xwt NuGet (you can build it using the nuspec files inside the Xwt repository).

A local package / GAC Xwt reference will be added. Xwt should be installed inside the GAC or the XS / MD built in version (supports only Gtk2) will be used. Select this option to reference the Xwt assemblies directly by providing a HintPath manually.

To build the addin from source the Addin Maker addin is required. It can be easily installed from the Xamarin Studio / MonoDevelop Addin Gallery (Addin Maker source repository: https://github.com/mhutch/MonoDevelop.AddinMaker). With the Addin Maker Plugin installed the project can be loaded and built.