Overview | Get Started | HelloRhinoMobile | Your Project | Simulators | Devices | Profiling | Notes

First, decide whether you will be developing in Windows or on a Mac. This may come down to what you have available, or personal preference, but it is important to remember that there are tradeoffs on both sides. For example, if you choose Windows and you wish to target iOS, you need to have a Mac running Xcode and use Visual Studio Professional Edition. If you choose a Mac as your primary development environment and you wish to target WindowsPhone, you still need to have a Windows PC.

If you wish to use a Mac as your primary development computer, you will have to use Xamarin Studio which targets Android and iOS.

In Windows, you can choose between Xamarin Studio or Visual Studio. If you choose Xamarin Studio in Windows, you can build and deploy to Android and WindowsPhone. Visual Studio users can build and deploy to Android, iOS (over a network with a Mac build box attached), and WindowsPhone.

No matter what you decide, remember that Xamarin Studio writes a standard Visual Studio project file. So, you can open your Solutions and Projects on either platform, with either IDE.

The following presumes you are using Xamarin Studio on Mac and/or Visual Studio in Windows.

Mac OS X step-by-step instructions

1. Download and install Xamarin. Download the Xamarin Starter Edition. (Start a 30-day free trial of the Business Edition to use RhinoMobile.) Install the Mono Framework, the Android SDK, Xamarin Studio, Xamarin.Android and Xamarin.iOS. (Xamarin.Mac is optional.) After you install Xamarin Studio and all the associated tools, start Xamarin Studio and make sure it is up-to-date. On the upper toolbar, navigate to Xamarin Studio > Check for Updates. Update and restart Xamarin Studio.
2. Update the Android SDK. Once Xamarin Studio itself is updated, fetch the updates for the Android SDK. In Xamarin Studio, navigate to Tools > Open Android SDK Manager… In the Android SDK Manager window, wait until manager has finished fetching the update manifest. Depending on when you downloaded the Xamarin tools, install the most recent API (19 at the time of writing) as well as the last couple (18 and 17) for backward compatibility. Select the small check boxes next the names and then click Install N packages… button. This brings up a (very buggy) window in which you must accept all the licenses of each item before continuing. If you can't get the Install button to work, exit out of the window, open it again, and individually click the Accept radio button on the left until it works. Downloads can take awhile depending on your internet connection.
3. Download and install Xcode. Xcode is free. You can download it from the App Store on an Apple Mac running OS X Mountain Lion or above. Once Xcode is installed, get the Xcode Command Line cools. If the Command Line Tools does not appear in the Components Section, it is likely your Xcode came bundled with the Command Line Tools already. In Xcode 4.3 to 5.0, Xcode Command Line Tools do not come pre-installed, but need to be downloaded from within Xcode. (Xcode > Preferences > Downloads Tab > Components Section > Command Line Tools > small download arrow):
4. Download and install the Intel Hardware Acceleration Execution Manager (HAXM). HAXM provides a hardware-accelerated engine for the x86 Android emulators. Without HAXM, the emulators are nearly unusable, as their performance lags so much. But with HAXM, the x86 emulators are responsive and usable. Not as fast as an actual device, but at least passable. It’s available to install via the Android SDK manager, but the version there is ineffective. Instead, get it from the link above. Note that you’ll want to install the revised version available on that page. HAXM will not work in a virtualized environment, e.g. a VM, so if you’re doing your Android development in a Windows VM, you need to use a device. Note: If you are using Mac OS X 10.9 (Mavericks), install the hotfix version.
5. Download or clone RhinoCommon (rhino3dmio branch). You can either download RhinoCommon as a zip or clone the repository using git (recommended). (If you are new to GitHub, there is a GitHub Mac App to get you started.) Make sure you are using the rhino3dmio branch of RhinoCommon. Unzip or clone Rhinocommon in a convenient folder, such as /Users/<you>/Development/Repositories/rhinocommon:
6. Download openNURBS. RhinoMobile requires the C++ openNURBS SDK. Unzip openNURBS and place the contents in the rhinocommon/c/opennurbs/ folder (the folder containing only the readme.md file):
7. Download or clone RhinoMobile. Unzip or clone RhinoMobile into a folder parallel to Rhinocommon. For example, if rhinocommon is in the /Users/<you>/Development/Repositories/rhinocommon folder, then RhinoMobile should be in the /Users/<you>/Development/Repositories/RhinoMobile folder.
8. Download or Clone RhinoMobileSamples. Unzip or clone RhinoMobileSamples into a folder parallel to rhinocommon and RhinoMobile:

If you've completed the steps above, you're ready to build your first app: HelloRhinoMobile.

Windows 8.1 step-by-step instructions

1. Download and install Xamarin from here. Download the Xamarin Starter Edition. (You will need to start a 30-day free trial of the Business Edition to use RhinoMobile.) The installer should install the Mono Framework, the Android SDK, Xamarin Studio, Xamarin.Android and Xamarin.iOS. (Xamarin.Mac is optional.) Once Xamarin Studio and all the associated tools are installed, start Xamarin Studio and make sure it is up-to-date. Navigate to Help > Check for Updates. Update and restart Xamarin Studio:
2. Update the Android SDK. Once Xamarin Studio itself has been updated, fetch the updates for the Android SDK. In Xamarin Studio, navigate to Tools > Open Android SDK Manager… In the Android SDK Manager window, wait until manager has finished fetching the update manifest. (Note: You may need to run the SDK manager as Administrator. The default path to the Android SDK is: C:\Users\<you>\AppData\Local\Android\android-sdk). Depending on when you downloaded the Xamarin tools, install the most recent API (19 at the time of writing) as well as the last couple (18 and 17) for backward compatibility. Select the small check boxes next the names and then click Install N packages… button. This brings up a (very buggy) window in which you must accept all the licenses of each item before continuing. If you can't get the Install button to work, exit out of the window, open it again, and individually click the Accept radio button on the left until it works. Downloads can take awhile depending on your internet connection.
3. Download and install Xcode. (Note: This step is optional and only required if you want to build for iOS. You will need to preform this step on your Mac build box running OSX). Xcode is free and can be downloaded from the App Store on and Apple Mac running OS X Mountain Lion or above. Once Xcode is installed, get the Xcode command-line tools. In Xcode 4.3 and later, Xcode Command Line Tools do not come pre-installed, but need to be downloaded from within Xcode. (Xcode > Preferences > Downloads Tab > Components Section > Command Line Tools > small download arrow): If the Command Line Tools does not appear in the Components Section, it is likely your XCode comes bundled with the Command Line Tools already.
4. Download and install the Intel Hardware Acceleration Execution Manager (HAXM). HAXM provides a hardware-accelerated engine for the x86 Android emulators. Without HAXM, the emulators are nearly unusable, as their performance lags so much. However, with HAXM, the x86 emulators are responsive and usable. Not as fast as an actual device, but at least passable. It’s available to install via the Android SDK manager, but the version there is ineffective. Instead, get it from the link above. HAXM will not work in a virtualized environment, e.g. a VM, so if you’re doing your Android development in a Windows VM, use a device.
5. Download or clone RhinoCommon (rhino3dmio branch). You can either download RhinoCommon as a zip or clone the repository using git (recommended). (If you are new to GitHub, there is a GitHub Windows App to get you started). Make sure you are using the rhino3dmio branch of RhinoCommon. Unzip or clone Rhinocommon in a convenient folder, such as C:\Users\<you>\Development\Repositories\rhinocommon:
6. Download openNURBS. RhinoMobile requires the C++ openNURBS SDK. Unzip openNURBS and place the contents in the rhinocommon\c\opennurbs folder (the folder containing only the readme.md file):
7. Download or clone RhinoMobile. Unzip or clone RhinoMobile into a folder parallel to rhinocommon. For example, if chinocommon is in the C:\Users\<you>\Development\Repositories\rhinocommon folder, then RhinoMobile should be in the C:\Users\<you>\Development\Repositories\RhinoMobile folder:
8. Download or Clone RhinoMobileSamples. Unzip or clone RhinoMobileSamples into a folder parallel to Rhinocommon and RhinoMobile:
9. Download openNURBS iOS mobile binaries. It is not possible to build the native openNURBS mobile library for iOS on Windows. This requires a Mac. For convenience purposes, we have provided pre-built binaries for iOS that you can use in your project on the Windows side. Once these binaries have been downloaded, move the Release-ios folder into the rhinocommon\c\build\ folder:

If you've completed the steps above, you're ready to build your first app: HelloRhinoMobile.