Poor user experience using Xamarin on mac for F# projects or any IDE outside VS on windows

[Casper Bollen]

I am getting quite frustrated to try and develop F# on my mac. There doesn't seem to be any good solution. On windows I can use visual studio with power tools and my experience is generally good (be it that code coloration is poor and sometimes buggy).

However, when I try to start with Xamarin I run into a multitude of problems:

http://forums.xamarin.com/discussion/79485/fsharp-core-not-found-for-net-4-5-1#latest

http://forums.xamarin.com/discussion/79487/paket-couldnt-get-package-details#latest

http://forums.xamarin.com/discussion/79489/xamarin-shows-namespace-not-defined-while-reference-has-been-added#latest

Using Atom I can edit files, but starting a new solution without a solution file and project files? Same applies to Visual Studio Code. How am I to do this?

So, what seems to be lacking a good IDE support for F# other than Visual Studio outside of windows. 

I think a good multiplatform IDE tool that supports all the specific F# requirements (paket, Fake, powertools etc..) would help improve F# popularity. I consider myself an F# veteran, but even I am struggling sometimes with these issues. This must be discouraging for F# newbies.

Furthermore, when I get to the FSharp.org website, there is no reference to this discussion platform. The only suggested site to ask questions is StackOverflow. But StackOverflow can be intimidating and not appropriate for example this discussion.

 

[Isaac Abraham]

Although I don't use this part of it much, Ionide for Code includes the Forge plugin, which allows creating solutions and projects (both clean and templates), as well as moving files up and down etc etc. It's not IMHO as good as VS but it's definitely an option. In Code you should just be able to go to the command palette and look for the F# options which will show these commands.

---

From: Casper Bollen
Sent: ‎02/‎10/‎2016 10:27
To: F# Discussions
Subject: Poor user experience using Xamarin on mac for F# projects or any IDE outside VS on windows

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[CARLOS MANUEL MANZUETA]

I use monodevelop as an ide

[Casper Bollen]

Interesting, thanks.

But before diving into yet another IDE:

- does monodevelop support F# intellisense and code completion? 

- does monodevelopment support file ordering and project folders for F# source files?

I am fine with using command line build with Fake and adding references using Paket.

[Warren Young]

On Oct 2, 2016, at 2:12 PM, Casper Bollen <hal...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Interesting, thanks.
>
> But before diving into yet another IDE:

MonoDevelop is just the open source version of Xamarin Studio. It is not “another IDE.”

> I am fine with using command line build with Fake and adding references using Paket.

This video shows such an arrangement, hosted by Visual Studio Code:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5LnRzVErZ4

[Dmitriy Kirakosyan]

I'm using Visual Studio Code on Mac. It still has lots of issues, such as you need to wait for seconds till you can see a completion hint, visually wrong file order, etc.

I also don't like the fact, VC can not handle more than one project at a time.

I use Xamarin for running and debugging ( for xamarin.forms projects) and VC for developing and it seems quite bearable. 

[Casper Bollen]

I reverted back to using VS2015 community edition with Visual F# Power Tools. 

This is by far the best IDE for F#.