VS 2015 is required for developing Xamarin.Forms. If you do not already have it installed, you can download it [here](https://www.visualstudio.com/downloads/download-visual-studio-vs). VS 2015 Community is completely free. If you are installing VS 2015 for the first time, select the "Custom" installation type and select the following from the features list to install:
We also recommend installing [Microsoft Visual Studio Emulator for Android](https://www.visualstudio.com/en-us/features/msft-android-emulator-vs.aspx) as well as [Emulators for Windows Phone 8.1](https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=44574). If you already have VS 2015 installed, you can verify that these features are installed by modifying the VS 2015 installation via the Control Panel.
##### Install Additional Features #####
After installing VS 2015, you will also need to install the following:
- Bing Maps SDK for Windows 8.1 Store apps -- you can find this in `Tools > Extensions and Updates` and searching for "bing" in the Online pane.
- Android SDKs -- you can install these via `Tools > Android > Android SDK Manager`.
##### Solution Configuration #####
Upon opening the Xamarin.Forms solution, you will find that there are a number of errors and warnings under the Error List pane; you can resolve this by changing the filter of `Build + IntelliSense` to `Build Only`. At this point, you should be able to successfully build the solution.
By default, the `Xamarin.Forms.Controls` project does not have a configuration for various API keys to access certain features on each platform (e.g. maps). When building the solution the first time, a `controlgallery.config` file will be generated inside that project, which looks like this:
Win8MapsAuthKey:
WinPhoneMapsAuthKey:
UWPMapsAuthKey:
InsightsApiKey:
WP8AppId:
WP8AuthToken:
You will have to obtain your own API keys for each of these services, inserted directly after the identifier (e.g. `Win8MapsAuthKey:abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz`). You can find out how to obtain each of these as follows:
-`Win8MapsAuthKey`, `WinPhoneMapsAuthKey`, and `UWPMapsAuthKey` at https://www.microsoft.com/maps/create-a-bing-maps-key.aspx
-`InsightsApiKey` at https://insights.xamarin.com/
-`WP8AppId` and `WP8AuthToken` at https://dev.windows.com/.
Due to the way that Android works, the maps API key cannot be injected at runtime. As a result, you will have to add this key to the `MapsKey.cs` file under `Xamarin.Forms.ControlGallery.Android/Properties`:
[assembly: Android.App.MetaData("com.google.android.maps.v2.API_KEY", Value = "INSERT_KEY_HERE")]
You can find out how to obtain a Google Maps API key [here](https://developer.xamarin.com/guides/android/platform_features/maps_and_location/maps/obtaining_a_google_maps_api_key/).
## Coding Style ##
We follow the style used by the [.NET Foundation](https://github.com/dotnet/corefx/blob/master/Documentation/coding-guidelines/coding-style.md), with two primary exceptions:
- We do not use the `private` keyword as it is the default accessibility level in C#.
- We use hard tabs over spaces. You can change this setting in VS 2015 via `Tools > Options` and navigating to `Text Editor > C#` and selecting the "Keep tabs" radio option.
## Contributing ##
- [How to Contribute](https://github.com/xamarin/xamarin.forms/wiki/Contributing-Code)
To discuss this project and participate in the design, we use the [Xamarin.Forms Evolution](https://forums.xamarin.com/categories/xamarin-forms-evolution) discussion board.
