Is it possible to build a Monotouch application in Visual Studio?

Question

I would like to know if it is possible to compile a Monotouch project that does not have any reference to any UI library in Visual Studio. This project only use the Monotouch framework.

I have done some research and I read that, if the project don't have any reference to the Apple SDK , I should be able to build a MonoTouch project using Visual Studio. If I can, do i need some particular configuration to achive my goal.

Some related links: How easy is it to develop an iPhone application using MonoTouch in Visual Studio?, How can I develop for iPhone using a Windows development machine?, iPhone development on Windows

Answer 1

Even if your project doesn't have any references to MonoTouch libraries, it is still a MonoTouch library project. Visual studio doesn't recognize that project type and because of that you can't really compile the code.

I wrote about this a while ago, and how you can change your project so you can actually use Visual Studio for development (although you won't be able to run the app) here: http://escoz.com/blog/developing-with-monotouch-on-windows-and-visual-studio

Hope that helps.

Answer 2

There is a Visual Studio addin that may help. It hasn't been updated in a while though. Also, this would only help you write the code. To compile and run the code, you will still need MonoTouch and a Mac. https://github.com/follesoe/VSMonoTouch

Update : As of February, 2013 Xamarin includes Visual Studio support for developing iOS apps in their Business sku of Xamarin.iOS. You can fully develop on Windows + Visual Studio, but still need a Mac on your network to perform builds and run the simulator.