question: ui designer

[ghost]

is there a ui designer for this?

[cwensley]

There is a UI previewer that will show you the UI for xeto(xaml), jeto(json), and code based views. This is currently only available for Visual Studio on Windows. (it was available on VS for Mac previously but that is now discontinued). I would like to have something similar for VSCode now that is the only option for Mac (and linux) but have not had the time to dedicate to doing that yet.

[ghost]

There is a UI previewer that will show you the UI for xeto(xaml), jeto(json), and code based views. This is currently only available for Visual Studio on Windows. (it was available on VS for Mac previously but that is now discontinued). I would like to have something similar for VSCode now that is the only option for Mac (and linux) but have not had the time to dedicate to doing that yet.

What nuget package to install or how to install it?

[SlowLogicBoy]

https://github.com/picoe/Eto/wiki/Quick-Start

[ghost]

So it's a UI previewer? Does this mean I can drag and drop widgets like in windows forms or does it only show the widgets i first have code myself manually?

[ris-work]

is there a ui designer for this?

There is a UI previewer that AFAIK only works on Windows (needs VS); no cross-platform or web ones. If you see other UI frameworks/toolkits, the only one with a decent editor are Microsoft's ones. Just for comparison:

UI Toolkit/Framework/Tool	License	Drawback	CrossPlat	Native	WYSIWYG Read/Write	Cool stuff
WinForms	MIT	Windows Only, Mono is RIP, No AOTC	False	True	VisualStudio Proprietary (W), SharpDevelop MIT (W)	There's someone's port in progress to WebAssembly
Platform.Uno	MIT	IDK, was too complicated last time	True	True	VSCode/VS Extension (W) Proprietary	Supports AOTC, yes, and AFAIK can render HTML directly than WASM
AvaloniaUI	MIT	Dependent on Skia	True	False	VisualStudio Extension (R)	This...
Terminal.Gui	MIT	Not really GUI, but excellent TUIs, limited AOTC	True	True	Terminal.Gui Designer (W)	Mesmerizing
Eto.Forms	MIT	No architectural astronauting and overengineering, probably won't fly with MBAs and the cool framework of the month enthusiasts, no HTML/Web/framebuffer backend, no AOTC	True	True	VS Extension (R)	Hopeful about WinUI
GTK#	MIT	GTK Only, IIRC no AOTC	True	False	MonoDevelop is DEAD (w)
OpenSilver	MIT	Probably associated with Silverlight	True	True	xaml.io (W) (MIT?)	They have rebranded their old software! xaml.io works in your ... browser!

I have tried all of them and I actively use Eto.Forms, Terminal.Gui and AvaloniaUI; I would absolutely recommend the former two.

[SlowLogicBoy]

I use VSCode
I am utilizing hot reload feature in C# DevKit.

1. Set breakpoint where I specified below in a comment
2. Run program (F5 in VSCode)
3. Look at how my UI looks now.
4. If I don't like it I press F5
5. It breaks on my breakpoint
6. Change code in MakeContent()
7. F5 to Continue my app
8. UI changes
9. Go to Step 3.

using Eto.Forms;

internal class Program
{
    [STAThread]
    private static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        new Application(new Eto.Wpf.Platform()).Run(new MainForm());
    }
}

public class MainForm : Form
{
    public MainForm()
    {
        Content = MakeContent();
    }

    protected override void OnKeyUp(KeyEventArgs e)
    {
        base.OnKeyUp(e);
        if (e.Key == Keys.F5)
        {   //I set a breakpoint here
            Content = MakeContent();
        }
    }
    private Control MakeContent()
    {
        return "Hello world";
    }
}

[SlowLogicBoy]

Demo ~ if it was not clear :)

[ris-work]

That's a very innovative idea!!!