Couldn't get Xamarin projects working with Rider-EAP on OSX

Question

I was really excited, when JetBrains launched the Project Rider-EAP. First thing I've tried was to get a Xamarin-iOS project to run in Rider-EAP, but it doesn't work out of the box.

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Update 1: This issue is now listed as critical bug with fix in EAP 2: https://youtrack.jetbrains.com/issue/RIDER-618

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1. Problem (fixed) Projects didn't load with the exception that Xamarin.iOS.targets could not be found.

I fixed this with a simple Symlink:

ln -s /Library/Frameworks/Mono.framework/External/xbuild/Xamarin/ “/Applications/Rider EAP.app/Contents/lib/ReSharperHost/macos-x64/mono/lib/mono/xbuild/”

2. Problem References are not loaded correctly. Therefore the whole syntax highlighting and everything beyond is broken.

See screenshot: References are not loaded correctly

I get the following error as well:

Error:null: Error initializing task MakeDir: Could not load file or assembly '/Library/Frameworks/Mono.framework/External/xbuild/Xamarin/iOS/Xamarin.iOS.Tasks.dll' or one of its dependencies

Switching the xbuild to mono 4.2.2 removes the error but not solves the problem.

PS: It seams that the references are loaded correctly for Xamarin Android projects.

Impressment

So have you submitted a bug to JetBrains? I don't believe Project Rider is considered a finished product, so there's a good chance that there is a bug with it. – Plead

Does Project Rider intend to support Xamarins (at least in a full-size way, not accidentally)? Signals are mixed. On blog.jetbrains.com/dotnet/2016/01/13/project-rider-a-csharp-ide I read about some extent of support, but "will it allow running mobile emulators (e.g. Win Phone 8 and Xamarin Android)?" is met with "there are no plans right now for emulators". "We’ll have nice XAML editing [...] but there are no plans for designers". All in all while they're aware of the feature request, it doesn't seem to be among their priorities. – Hagen

Answer 1

Basic Xamarin Support like open and build is added with EAP 8 of Project Rider.

More advanced features will come with the next Builds and are tracked here: https://youtrack.jetbrains.com/issue/RIDER-1533

Impressment