Launch multiple instances of Visual Studio for Mac and/or Xamarin Studio easily!

1. Download
2. Download Manager For Mac
3. Xamarin For Mac

Xamarin Workbook. If it's not already installed, install the Xamarin Workbooks app first. The workbook file should download automatically, but if it doesn't, just click to start the workbook download manually.

You can also associate the application with all .sln files on your Mac to have them open in a new instance of Visual Studio for Mac or Xamarin Studio.

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Check out the Releases page to get the latest version!

Associating all .sln files

If you associate all .sln files with MS Solution Launcher, any time you double click or otherwise open a .sln file, it will open inside its own instance of Visual Studio for Mac or Xamarin Studio!

1. Find a .sln file in Finder
2. Right click the .sln file and Get Info (or highlight the file and cmd + i
3. Under the Open With section, click the drop-down list and click Choose
4. Navigate to and select MS Solution Launcher
5. Click Change All

Always open with...

By default, if you have both Visual Studio for Mac and Xamarin Studio installed, the launcher will ask you which one you'd like to open.

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If you'd rather have it always open in one by default, you can change this in the Preferences.json file located within the app's resources.

1. Navigate to the MS Solution Launcher.app (in Finder, right click and Show package contents).
2. Open the Preferences.json file located inside the Contents/Resources folder.
3. Change the value for the key OpenWith to be either Visual Studio or Xamarin Studio.
4. Save the file.

But the icon is old!

I'm terrible at making icons. If you'd like to help make an icon that is beautiful and more relevant, please do!

License

The MIT License (MIT)Copyright (c) 2016 Jonathan Dick

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the 'Software'), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED 'AS IS', WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.

Setting up Xamarin in a Mac environment can be confusing. Here are the steps I took to configure my Mac for Xamarin development.

Before starting the setup, double check that you have the latest version of Xcode and Visual Studio for Mac. If you don’t have “Xcode,” please download it from the App Store.

Step 1: Open XCode and go to Preferences.

Step 2: Select Accounts. Click + to add a new account.

Step 3: Choose Apple ID from the list of accounts.

Step 4: Enter your Apple developer account credentials.

Download Manager For Mac

Missing Visual Studio for Mac? Follow the installation steps below.

Step 1: Visit https://www.visualstudio.com/. Select Download for Mac and pick the version that you want to download.

Step 2: Double tap on the installer program, Install Visual Studio for Mac.

Step 3: Select Open.

The installation process will be initiated.

Step 4: Check all platforms on the list that you need. Make sure the box for Xamarin Workbooks & Inspector is checked.

Step 5: Select Install and Update to initiate the installation process.

Step 6: During the installation, you will need to enter your Mac Account credentials.

Step 7: After a successful installation, click Done.

If you’re downloading Visual Studio for Mac for the first time, then you need to install Fastlane for Mac. If you already have Fastlane installed, check that you have the latest version.

Make sure that Xcode command line tools are installed. To install the tools, use the command xcode-select –install in Terminal. If they are already installed, the following error will be displayed:

“Error: command line tools are already installed, use “Software Update” to install updates”

Download the Fastlane tools from https://download.fastlane.tools.

Note: It is possible to install Fastlane tools from Homebrew using brew cask install fastlane or via Rubygems (2.0 or above) using sudo gem install fastlane –NV. Using the installer will ensure that the correct dependencies are available.

Install Fastlane by unzipping the file and double-clicking on the install file. If you get an error advising that the file “can’t be opened because it is from an unidentified developer,” press OK and do the following:

CTRL+Click on the install file. This will display the dialog below:

• Press “Open” to start installing fastlane tools.

The terminal will prompt you with the dialog illustrated below. Press “y”:

Run “which fastlane” before using fastlane for the first time. The path should look like the following:
/Users/[user]/.fastlane/bin
If the path matches the above, you’re ready to get started. If not, do the following: On macOS open “.bash_profile”, which is a hidden plaintext file in the home directory, with the following command:
open ~/.bash_profile
If you don’t have .bash_profile, you can create a new one:
• Start up Terminal.
• Type “cd ~/” to go to your home folder.
• Type “touch .bash_profile” to create your new file.

Add the following PATH environment variable, and save it:
export PATH=”$HOME/.fastlane/bin:$PATH”

Run “which fastlane” again, to confirm the path looks like /Users/[user]/.fastlane/bin

Open Visual Studio for Mac, then go to Preferences.

Open Apple Developer Accounts under Publishing and select +.

Sign into your Apple developer account.

Open the Provisioning file with Xcode.

Now we need to add certificate to the Keychain Access.
Open Keychain Access and select Login.

Go to File -> Import Items.

Choose the certificate file and select Open.

With the setup completed, now you can start the Xamarin application development on your Mac.

Xamarin For Mac