I have been playing with Xamarin.Forms lately and have a big issue with it. It has no XAML intellisense! So, if you are new to Xamarin.Forms, and don’t know the API’s yet, having no XAML intellisense makes it very difficult to get started. Fortunately, there is a solution. The people over at Xamarin have released a Visual Studio plugin that adds basics support for XAML intellisense. Even though its not perfect, it is so much better than not having it.
Installing is simple. First, you have to add a new extension gallery to Visual Studio and point it to http://gallery.mobileessentials.org/feed.atom. Start by going to Tools –> Options –> Extensions and Updates. Then simply add a new gallery using the previously mentioned URL.
Next, go to Tools –> Extensions and Updates, and make sure you select the “Online” tab. Once the “Online” tab is selected, you will see a new option called “Mobile Essentials”. Select this option and you will see the Xamarin.Forms Intellisense plugin available for installation.
Go ahead, download and install the plugin. You will be prompted to restart your instance of Visual Studio. Once Visual Studio has been restarted, you will now have XAML Intellisense.
That’s all there is to it. It can only get better from here! As always, feel free contact me on my blog, connect with me on Twitter (@brianlagunas), or leave a comment below for any questions or comments you may have.
Brian, Just discovered your blog from your comment on mine, nice. Intellisense for Visual Studio has indeed just got better with support for Binding instellisense when you define d:DataContext={d:Designnistance… Here’s an overview on my blog.
http://adventuresinxamarinforms.com/2015/03/17/xaml-v-code/
And with R# installed I’d say it’s as much as good as it is in WPF, minus the Desgner which is rarely of much benefit anyway.
I agree! R# intellisense is a life saver. I have no use for a designer myself. I have always hand typed my XAML :0)