This repository is to host the .NET MAUI Project Templates, Item Templates and Code Snippets.
Join me on Developer Thoughts, an exclusive blog for .NET MAUI and Blazor, for articles on working with these templates and much more.
We all know that .NET MAUI is an evolution of Xamarin.Forms.
Release Channel:
On .NET 6, .NET MAUI SR7 (6.0.547)
and on .NET 7, .NET MAUI GA (7.0.49)
is now released on Tue, Nov 08, 2022 along with VS2022 17.4.0
Templates have been updated to support both .NET 6 and .NET 7 and is available to install from.
NuGet | VS Marketplace |
---|---|
To provide an integrated experience, a VS extension has been developed to host these templates.
Extension is made available in the Visual Studio Marketplace and even more easier, can be installed from within Visual Studio itself (Extensions -> Manage Extensions / Alt + X + M).
This has Project Templates for:
- .NET MAUI App - An All-in-One .NET MAUI App Project Template - For more details, check out this article
- .NET MAUI App (C#)
- .NET MAUI Class Library
- Shared Class Library (Xamarin.Forms and .NET MAUI)
And has Item Templates for:
- Content Page (.NET MAUI)
- Content Page (C#) (.NET MAUI)
- Content Page with ViewModel (.NET MAUI)
- Content Page (C#) with ViewModel (.NET MAUI)
- For both the
Page with ViewModel
templates, ensure only the real page name alone is provided as input likeSettings
as thePage
andViewModel
will be suffixed to it likeSettingsPage
andSettingsViewModel
. And Page will be generated in theViews
folder and ViewModel will be generated in theViewModels
folder. - The ViewModels are generated with the base class titled
BaseViewModel
(implementation left to the user). - Recommended to add CommunityToolkit.Mvvm, an officially supported NuGet package (currently in preview), to make it easy to work with MVVM design pattern.
- This MVVM - Made Easy Part 1 and Part 2 articles can help you to get started with this brand-new NuGet package.
- For both the
- Content View (.NET MAUI)
- Content View (C#) (.NET MAUI)
- Resource Dictionary (.NET MAUI)
- Resource Dictionary (XAML only)(.NET MAUI)
- Shell Page (.NET MAUI)
- Custom View and Handler (Regular) (.NET MAUI)
- Handler definitions generated in the Platforms folder
- Custom View and Handler (Cond.) (.NET MAUI)
- Handler definitions generated in the same folder in conditional compilation format
- Custom View and Renderer (Regular) (.NET MAUI)
- Renderer definitions generated in the Platforms folder
- Custom View and Renderer (Cond.) (.NET MAUI)
- Renderer definitions generated in the same folder in conditional compilation format
ย
- Renderer definitions generated in the same folder in conditional compilation format
- For Cond. type template to work properly, ensure Conditional Compilation is enabled (mentioned in detail here)
Now VS2022 extension is loaded with 25+ C# and XAML Code Snippets.
XAML Snippets for new Layouts, Gestures, Color, Style.
C# Snippets for Properties such as Attached, Bindable, ViewModel and Comet (MVU design pattern).
Types such as record
and record struct
.
Snippets for Method definition, Event Handler definition (async version also).
For making use of these templates cross-platform, have provided it as .NET CLI template package distributed via NuGet.
Install the template package from NuGet with the below command.
dotnet new install VijayAnand.MauiTemplates
If you've already installed this package, then this can be updated to the latest version with the below command.
dotnet new update --check-only
dotnet new update
This comes with with the following templates:
Name | Template Name | Type |
---|---|---|
.NET MAUI App | mauiapp | Project |
.NET MAUI Class Library | mauiclasslib | Project |
Shared Class Library | sharedclasslib | Project |
ContentPage | maui-page | Item |
ContentPage (C#) | maui-page-cs | Item |
ContentView | maui-view | Item |
ContentView (C#) | maui-view-cs | Item |
ResourceDictionary | maui-resdict | Item |
ShellPage | maui-shell | Item |
Starting with v2.0.0 of the template package, to effectively support .NET MAUI on both .NET 6
and .NET 7
, CLI project templates defines a new parameter named framework
:
-
Framework: (Short notation:
-f
)This can take either
net6.0
ornet7.0
as its options (withnet7.0
being the default value, if not provided).Examples:
dotnet new mauiapp --framework net6.0
Below command can be simplified to
dotnet new mauiapp
as default value offramework
parameter isnet7.0
dotnet new mauiapp -f net7.0
In .NET CLI, all of these Item Templates takes two parameters:
-
Name: (Short notation:
-n
)The name of the project/page/view to create. For pages/views, don't need to suffix it with .xaml, it will get added.
If the name parameter is not specified, by default, the .NET CLI template engine will take the current folder name as the filename (current behaviour of the templating engine).
-
Namespace: (Short notation:
-na
)The namespace for the generated files.
While working with .NET 7 SDK, the namespace parameter in short notation needs to be passed as
-p:na
(i.e., it needs to be prefixed with-p:
). -
Now with more options while creating the app or class library project, ability to include NuGet packages on the fly for
CommunityToolkit.Maui
,CommunityToolkit.Maui.Markup
,CommunityToolkit.Mvvm
or all.
Note: Parameter values are case-insensitive.
Both .NET MAUI App and Class Library templates take the below optional Boolean parameters to include the officially supported CommunityToolkit NuGet packages:
Specifying the parameter name, either in short or full notation, implies that it is defined.
-it
|--include-toolkit
- Default isfalse
-im
|--include-markup
- Default isfalse
-imt
|--include-mvvm-toolkit
- Default isfalse
-cc
|--conditional-compilation
- Default isfalse
Additional parameters for App project:
The target for the Windows platform can be either Package
(MSIX) or Unpackaged
. By default, it is set as Package
, this can be overridden while creating the project by including the below parameter:
-wu
|--windows-unpackaged
- Default isfalse
While targeting .NET 7
, an option to add and configure Microsoft.Maui.Controls.Foldable
, Microsoft.Maui.Controls.Maps
, or both NuGet packages.
-if
|--include-foldable
- Default isfalse
-inm
|--include-maps
- Default isfalse
Note: If the project target .NET 6
, selecting the Foldable/Maps option will NOT have any impact.
And now conditional compilation can be configured so that platform source files can be defined anywhere in the project provided they follow a naming convention as mentioned below. This will allow maintaining related source files in the same place, especially MAUI Handlers.
- *.Standard.cs - Files targeting the BCL
- *.Android.cs - Files specific to Android
- *.iOS.cs - Files shared with both iOS and MacCatalyst
- *.MacCatalyst.cs - Files specific to MacCatalyst
- *.Tizen.cs - Files specific to Tizen
- *.Windows.cs - Files specific to Windows
For existing projects, add the below block of code in the project file (.csproj). This will modify the behavior of build process so due care must be taken if doing so.
<ItemGroup Condition="'$(TargetFramework)' != 'net6.0'">
<Compile Remove="**\*.Standard.cs" />
<None Include="**\*.Standard.cs" Exclude="$(DefaultItemExcludes);$(DefaultExcludesInProjectFolder)" />
</ItemGroup>
<ItemGroup Condition="$([MSBuild]::GetTargetPlatformIdentifier('$(TargetFramework)')) != 'ios' AND $([MSBuild]::GetTargetPlatformIdentifier('$(TargetFramework)')) != 'maccatalyst'">
<Compile Remove="**\*.iOS.cs" />
<None Include="**\*.iOS.cs" Exclude="$(DefaultItemExcludes);$(DefaultExcludesInProjectFolder)" />
<Compile Remove="**\iOS\**\*.cs" />
<None Include="**\iOS\**\*.cs" Exclude="$(DefaultItemExcludes);$(DefaultExcludesInProjectFolder)" />
</ItemGroup>
<ItemGroup Condition="$([MSBuild]::GetTargetPlatformIdentifier('$(TargetFramework)')) != 'android'">
<Compile Remove="**\*.Android.cs" />
<None Include="**\*.Android.cs" Exclude="$(DefaultItemExcludes);$(DefaultExcludesInProjectFolder)" />
<Compile Remove="**\Android\**\*.cs" />
<None Include="**\Android\**\*.cs" Exclude="$(DefaultItemExcludes);$(DefaultExcludesInProjectFolder)" />
</ItemGroup>
<ItemGroup Condition="$([MSBuild]::GetTargetPlatformIdentifier('$(TargetFramework)')) != 'maccatalyst'">
<Compile Remove="**\*.MacCatalyst.cs" />
<None Include="**\*.MacCatalyst.cs" Exclude="$(DefaultItemExcludes);$(DefaultExcludesInProjectFolder)" />
<Compile Remove="**\MacCatalyst\**\*.cs" />
<None Include="**\MacCatalyst\**\*.cs" Exclude="$(DefaultItemExcludes);$(DefaultExcludesInProjectFolder)" />
</ItemGroup>
<ItemGroup Condition="$([MSBuild]::GetTargetPlatformIdentifier('$(TargetFramework)')) != 'tizen'">
<Compile Remove="**\*.Tizen.cs" />
<None Include="**\*.Tizen.cs" Exclude="$(DefaultItemExcludes);$(DefaultExcludesInProjectFolder)" />
<Compile Remove="**\Tizen\**\*.cs" />
<None Include="**\Tizen\**\*.cs" Exclude="$(DefaultItemExcludes);$(DefaultExcludesInProjectFolder)" />
</ItemGroup>
<ItemGroup Condition="$([MSBuild]::GetTargetPlatformIdentifier('$(TargetFramework)')) != 'windows'">
<Compile Remove="**\*.Windows.cs" />
<None Include="**\*.Windows.cs" Exclude="$(DefaultItemExcludes);$(DefaultExcludesInProjectFolder)" />
<Compile Remove="**\Windows\**\*.cs" />
<None Include="**\Windows\**\*.cs" Exclude="$(DefaultItemExcludes);$(DefaultExcludesInProjectFolder)" />
</ItemGroup>
All-in-One .NET MAUI App project takes two additional parameters to define the application design pattern and target platform respectively:
-dp
|--design-pattern
Can take any one of the following values, with default value set to Plain
:
Parameter Value | Description |
---|---|
Plain | App configured to work with a single, initial screen. |
Hierarchical | App configured to work in a Hierarchical pattern using NavigationPage. |
Tab | App configured to work in a Tabbed fashion using TabbedPage. |
Shell | App configured to work with Routes using Shell page. |
Hybrid | App configured to work in a Hybrid fashion using BlazorWebView. |
-tp
|--target-platform
Can take any one of the following values, with default value set to All
:
Parameter Value | Description |
---|---|
All | Targets all possible .NET MAUI supported platforms. |
Android | Targets Android platform. |
iOS | Targets iOS platform. |
macOS | Targets macOS platform via Mac Catalyst. |
Windows | Targets Windows platform. |
Tizen | Targets Tizen platform. |
Mobile | Targets Android and iOS platforms. |
Desktop | Targets Windows and macOS platforms. |
Apple | Targets iOS and macOS platforms. |
Examples:
dotnet new mauiapp --design-pattern Hybrid --target-platform Mobile
dotnet new mauiapp -dp Shell -tp Android
Shared Class Library template take the below optional Boolean parameters to include the officially supported NuGet packages:
Specifying the parameter name, either in short or full notation, implies that it is defined.
Single parameter to include all the supported NuGet packages:
-asp
|--all-supported-packages
- Default isfalse
Specific to Xamarin.Forms
:
-ife
|--include-forms-essentials
- Default isfalse
-ift
|--include-forms-toolkit
- Default isfalse
-ifm
|--include-forms-markup
- Default isfalse
Specific to .NET MAUI
:
-imt
|--include-maui-toolkit
- Default isfalse
-imm
|--include-maui-markup
- Default isfalse
Common to both:
-inmt
|--include-mvvm-toolkit
- Default isfalse
For more details: run this command in the terminal (use -h
to save some keystrokes):
dotnet new mauiapp --help
dotnet new mauiclasslib --help
dotnet new sharedclasslib --help
After installation, use the below command(s) to create new artifacts using the template (both provide the same output):
With parameter names abbreviated:
.NET MAUI App:
dotnet new mauiapp -n MyApp -dp Hybrid
Option to include NuGet packages:
dotnet new mauiapp -n MyApp -dp Shell -it -im -imt -inm -if
Option to configure conditional compilation:
dotnet new mauiapp -n MyApp -dp Shell -cc
.NET MAUI Class Library:
dotnet new mauiclasslib -n MyApp.Core
Option to include NuGet packages:
dotnet new mauiclasslib -n MyApp.Core -it -im -imt
Option to configure conditional compilation:
dotnet new mauiclasslib -n MyApp.Core -cc
Shared Class Library:
dotnet new sharedclasslib -n MyApp.UI
Option to include all supported NuGet packages:
dotnet new sharedclasslib -n MyApp.UI -asp
Pages:
dotnet new maui-page -n LoginPage -na MyApp.Views
dotnet new maui-page-cs -n HomePage -na MyApp.Views
Views:
dotnet new maui-view -n CardView -na MyApp.Views
dotnet new maui-view-cs -n OrderView -na MyApp.Views
Shell:
dotnet new maui-shell -n AppShell -na MyApp
Resource Dictionary:
dotnet new maui-resdict -n LightTheme -na MyApp.Themes
With parameter names expanded:
.NET MAUI App:
dotnet new mauiapp --name MyApp --design-pattern Hybrid
Option to include NuGet packages:
dotnet new mauiapp --name MyApp --design-pattern Shell --include-toolkit --include-markup --include-mvvm-toolkit --include-maps --include-foldable
dotnet new mauiapp -n MyApp --design-pattern Shell --conditional-compilation
.NET MAUI Class Library:
dotnet new mauiclasslib --name MyApp.Core
dotnet new mauiclasslib --name MyApp.Core --include-toolkit --include-markup --include-mvvm-toolkit
dotnet new mauiclasslib --name MyApp.Core --conditional-compilation
Shared Class Library:
dotnet new sharedclasslib --name MyApp.UI
dotnet new sharedclasslib --name MyApp.UI --all-supported-packages
Pages:
dotnet new maui-page --name LoginPage --namespace MyApp.Views
dotnet new maui-page-cs --name HomePage --namespace MyApp.Views
Views:
dotnet new maui-view --name CardView --namespace MyApp.Views
dotnet new maui-view-cs --name OrderView --namespace MyApp.Views
Shell:
dotnet new maui-shell --name AppShell --namespace MyApp
Resource Dictionary:
dotnet new maui-resdict --name LightTheme --namespace MyApp.Themes