nf-VSCodeExtension/installation.md

Developing .NET nanoFramework VS Code extension

This document provides details on how to setup your local environment to develop and code for the extension. Along with some general guidelines about it.

Prerequisites

The following packages/tools/frameworks are required:

• node (> v12)
• npm
• .NET 8.0
• nbgv
• .NET 4.7.2 on Windows, mono-complete on Linux/macOS
• PowerShell core (pwsh) for Linux/macOS

Note: if you're running into a langversion:9 error, try installing the latest mono-nightly Note: Do not use the mono-complete package provided by your Linux distribution
as it may not include msbuild which is required for this extension to work.

Instead install the mono-complete package provided by the Mono Project.
The preview version is recommended as the stable version is outdated.

Install steps

• Clone repository and cd into it
• Run npm install
• Run pwsh scripts/build.ps1 (on Linux & MacOS) or ./scripts/build.ps1 in Windows PowerShell
• Open in Visual Studio Code (code .)

Debugging extension

• Press F5 to debug
• Set breakpoints at will
• Move to the new VS Code instance window
• Load a directory with a project or go to Command Palette and choose one of the nanoFramework commands

Updating the dependencies

The extension depends on .NET nanoFramework msbuild components providade by the VS extension. To update to a new version go to the build.ps1 and set the $vsExtensionVersion variable to the desired Git tag. Make sure to commit these update changes in a individual commit to the upstream repository.