no xamarin.forms BlankApp in visual studio 2017

Question

I have just installed Visual Studio 2017 community addition. Furthermore, i have installed Xamarin Community edition. Initially i thought i would have to use Xamarin Studio in order to create cross platform apps. But later on, i figured it out from the internet that Xamarin Studio is only installed in MAC OS. In windows, Xamarin is installed in form of Visual Studio's extension instead. After completely installing Xamarin on my Windows 10, i opened Visual Studio and i didn't saw "BlankApp (Xamarin.Forms Portable)" under Visual C#/Cross-Platform tab. Instead there were only couple of Class Libraries and a UI Test App there.

How can i figure out the way to create Xamarin Cross-Platform on my visual studio 2017 community edition? Am i missing some extensions, or is there any update required ? Please help.

Answer 1

File > New > Project > Installed > Templates > Visual C# > Cross-Platform Select Cross-Platform Select Cross Platform App (Xamarin.Forms or Native)

New App Dialog Opens For template select "Blank App" For Code Sharing Strategy Select "Portable Class Library (PCL)" Click OK, and you are good to go

Answer 2

Please, try this site in section "Creating your first app".

More information in: http://motzcod.es/post/158155898027/setting-up-vs-2017-for-xamarin-dev