Development Setup

Owned by Arnaud Lachaume (Unlicensed)
Last updated: Jan 13, 2015
2 min read
.NET Development requires you to have Windows, Visual Studio and Github setup on your computer. This document explains how to do all of that.

1) Windows Installation

If you are working on Linux or on a Mac, the best way is to install Windows is via VirtualBox.

  1. Go to https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads then download and install
  2. Download a Windows 8 virtual machine here: https://www.modern.ie/en-gb/virtualization-tools
  3. Install the VM - Check everything works

ProTip

You should also install Chrome or FF - will be convenient for browsing the .NET docs while developing within your VM

2) Github Setup on Windows

For that, we're going to use the github windows client.

  1. Start your Windows VM if using one
  2. Download the Github Windows client from your VM from here: https://windows.github.com/
  3. Follow the instructions - The setup of the SSH keys should be really straightforward
  4. Checkout: https://github.com/<github-username>/maestrano-dotnet
  5. Checkout: https://github.com/<github-username>/demoapp-dotnet

3) Setup Visual Studio on Windows

For the development of the .NET SDK you will need to setup Visual Studio Express for Desktop. For maintaining the .NET demo application, you will need to setup Visual Studio Express for Web.

a) Visual Studio Installations

  1. Go here: http://www.visualstudio.com/en-us/products/visual-studio-express-vs.aspx
  2. Download Express 2013 for Web and install
  3. Download Express 2013 for Desktop and install

 

Microsoft Account

During the install, you may be requested to create a Microsoft account. This should give you a 30 day free trial of Visual Studio Express. After this period, you should be able to permanently extend this free trial period.

b) Maestrano SDK Setup in VS

  1. Open Visual Studio Express for Desktop (type "VS Express" in search bar)
  2. Click on File > Open Project (or File > Recent Projects and Solutions if you have already opened it before)
  3. Open <maestrano-dotnet-github-dir>/src/Maestrano.SLN (VS Solution file)

.NET 4.5 and .NET 4 assemblies

Warning! The main solution file is configured to build the project using .NET 4.5 (most widely adopted version) but Maestrano also supports .NET4

If you are compiling the library with the view to package it and push it to NuGet (online package manager) then you MUST also open the Maestrano.Net40.SLN Solution file and compile the project again.

The .NET45 version binary will be dropped in: <project-folder>\bin\Release\net45

he .NET40 binary will be dropped in: <project-folder>\bin\Release\net45

Note: there are ways to compile both in one go but it's really annoying to setup...

c) Maestrano Demo Application Setup in VS

  1. Open Visual Studio Express for Web (type "VS Express" in search bar)
  2. Click on File > Open Project (or File > Recent Projects and Solutions if you have already opened it before)
  3. Open <maestrano-dotnet-github-dir>/src/MnoDemoApp.SLN (VS Solution file)
  4. You can click on the Play icon at the top to launch the web application and open it in the default browser

ProTip

Note that - by default - the development server will break on issues to allow you to debug your code. So if you see that your page take aaaages to load, just check the console in VS and make sure it's not expecting you to do something!!