# Visual Basic > Xamarin >  [RESOLVED]Its possible to use Xamarin in VS 2013?

## vbnewbieuser

Kind people.

I really need your help trying to solve a problem that I couldn't find practical solutions.

Before describing my problem, I will write some necessary clarifications.

I own a notebook with poor specs. This notebook has 4 Gb RAM, Windows 10 Installed and a 1.80 Ghz Celeron processor. And I am not in the least financially able to get a better computer right now.


Why am I saying this? because with these settings, Visual Studio 2015 and later versions were very slow on my computer. Also, I'm more familiar with version 2013, 2012 and 2010. I like the interface of these versions.

I need to do a simple Android project for my college that I recently started in the Information Systems . Because Xamarin lets you make code in C # and I can program in this language, I really wanted to use Xamarin with my Visual Studio 2013.

But I am having a lot of problems. The version of Visual Studio 2013 I own does not come with Xamarin. My version is the Express version.


I googled this blog:  http://mwathakinyua53.blogspot.com/2...tallation.html


And followed all the installation steps. But unfortunately, when I open a new project, there is no possibility of making applications with Xamarin.

Please, kind people. Help me. Is it possible to have Xamarin in Visual Studio 2013?

If this is not possible, I will try to search by other means.

Thank you!

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## NeedSomeAnswers

I believe its possible but it will be a complete pain in the backside, it used to be painful even in VS 2015 (which is the oldest version i have used for Xamarin development). 

Microsoft bought Xamarin only after VS 2015 came out (i think), they did some updates to 2015 which made it tolerable to use but the integration of Xamarin into VS only got to be good in 2017 & 2019. 

To be honest even if you got it running on you laptop it would be very very slow the Android emulators need some Ram to make them run decently. 

are there not college computers you could use with VS 2017 or 2019 on ?

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## vbnewbieuser

> I believe its possible but it will be a complete pain in the backside, it used to be painful even in VS 2015 (which is the oldest version i have used for Xamarin development). 
> 
> Microsoft bought Xamarin only after VS 2015 came out (i think), they did some updates to 2015 which made it tolerable to use but the integration of Xamarin into VS only got to be good in 2017 & 2019. 
> 
> To be honest even if you got it running on you laptop it would be very very slow the Android emulators need some Ram to make them run decently. 
> 
> are there not college computers you could use with VS 2017 or 2019 on ?


First, thank you very much for your attention and for answering me.

The college has computers for us students, however, my work schedule does not allow me to use this feature for long, and the time of use is very limited.

I wouldn't mind much with the slow emulation of Android. My problem is that the versions VS 2015, 2017 and 2019 are very heavy and I did not adapt the interfaces of these versions very well. This is something I intend to work on for the future when I can buy a better computer.

I saw a video on Yotube and the programmer used the VS2013. Then I visited the blog I mentioned in my post. Unfortunately, no Xamarin templates appear after the entire installation.

So sad. I think I will need some Android IDE. And all of them are heavy and I don't find these intuitive, like Visual Studio. Besides, I'm not very good at Java. Even studying hard, to me, Java language is very hard.


Once again, thank you!

Best wishes.

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## NeedSomeAnswers

> I wouldn't mind much with the slow emulation of Android


Trust me it becomes an issue, to get round it what you want to do is debug straight to an actual Android phone via USB, on a Laptop with your specs you might sit there for 2-3 minutes waiting for something to happen each time you tried to run the app in the emulator.




> The version of Visual Studio 2013 I own does not come with Xamarin. My version is the Express version.


After doing some further reading your problem is you have the Express version which is not extendable, if you had VS 2013 Professional (or possibly Student) then you can use Xamarin with VS 2013. 

From VS 2015 onwards Microsoft changed VS to be Community editions which was a step up from Express which were limited versions, Community editions are basically the same as the Professional edition but with a different licence making them free for personal and small business use. 

I understand it may not be practical right now but if i were you i would aim to find a way to save some money for a new laptop in the future, or look for a finance deal (a lot of places will let you buy a laptop and pay them in monthly installments by finance (as long as your credit is good). 

You dont need top of the range but you do want a Laptop with and SSD hard drive and around 16gig of Ram, which should future proof you for a while.

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## vbnewbieuser

Hi! First, forgive me for taking so long to come back here. I'm on exam week at college and my work schedule is crazy this week. Time is short for me and being a man very beyond of the middle age, I can't stay awake long after a busy day. Please, forgive me for taking so long to come back.




> Trust me it becomes an issue, to get round it what you want to do is debug straight to an actual Android phone via USB, on a Laptop with your specs you might sit there for 2-3 minutes waiting for something to happen each time you tried to run the app in the emulator.


You're absolutely right. I had horrible experiences using Android Studio.





> After doing some further reading your problem is you have the Express version which is not extendable, if you had VS 2013 Professional (or possibly Student) then you can use Xamarin with VS 2013.


You're absolutely right. I did not pay attention to this detail. And because of that, I'm getting a key to the professional version with Microsoft. I installed it, but unfortunately no Xamarin template appears yet. :Cry:  :Cry:  :Cry: 




> I understand it may not be practical right now but if i were you i would aim to find a way to save some money for a new laptop in the future, or look for a finance deal (a lot of places will let you buy a laptop and pay them in monthly installments by finance (as long as your credit is good).


Yes, I am saving money. I can't save much, there are many things to pay, but I am saving. Things in my country are very difficult. We are in a serious economic recession. Inflation is too high. The minimum wage(salary) in my country is $ 240.94 (US dollars) per month. 

An 8GB memory currently costs $ 96.48 (US dollars). It is a terrible situation. The priority of my people is to pay the water and electricity bills and food.

Anyway, I want to thank you for the suggestions. You helped me a lot. I must be an unlucky guy. Even with the pro version, I can't have Xamarin working.

I'll try to figure it out. Maybe, I think I'll develop the Javascript application and then use that Adobe platform that converts Javascript to apk.I don't know yet, I need to study what to do.

  Once again, thank you very much.

   Best Wishes.

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## NeedSomeAnswers

> You're absolutely right. I did not pay attention to this detail. And because of that, I'm getting a key to the professional version with Microsoft. I installed it, but unfortunately no Xamarin template appears yet.


I would think that the order of installation might be important with earlier versions of Visual Studio, if you didn't already it might be worth uninstalling both VS 2013 & Xamarin, then Install VS first then Xamarin Second. 




> Things in my country are very difficult.


Where do you live out of interest ? 




> An 8GB memory currently costs $ 96.48 (US dollars).


I live in the UK and using ebay for example i can purchase 8GB of RAM for around £20 (around $25 dollars), if your anywhere near the US would it be worth checking on a US site and see what it would cost + Shipping?




> I'll try to figure it out. Maybe, I think I'll develop the Javascript application


You could take a look at Cordova ? https://cordova.apache.org/

I believe there is an extension with VSCode (Microsofts stripped back IDE) https://code.visualstudio.com/

cordova plugin - https://marketplace.visualstudio.com....cordova-tools

I haven't used it myself but it's a well recognized tool, and from memory i believe the ShaggyHiker has used it here on this site !

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## vbnewbieuser

> I would think that the order of installation might be important with earlier versions of Visual Studio, if you didn't already it might be worth uninstalling both VS 2013 & Xamarin, then Install VS first then Xamarin Second.


I'll, Sir! When I get off work, I'll do it.




> Where do you live out of interest ?


I'm from Brazil. I live in the city of Rio de Janeiro (there is nothing "wonderful", unlike government advertisements), a city that is the capital of the state of Rio de Janeiro (the city and state have the same name, like New York). The state of Rio de Janeiro is the most devasted state by the economic downturn in recent years. Currently, there are an estimated 13 million unemployed people in the country, with a tendency to increase by 15% by 2022. Of the total unemployed people, the vast majority are from the State of Rio de Janeiro and second in São Paulo.






> I live in the UK and using ebay for example i can purchase 8GB of RAM for around £20 (around $25 dollars), if your anywhere near the US would it be worth checking on a US site and see what it would cost + Shipping?


Even e-bay for us Brazilians or sites like Ali Express are not great advantages. Most of the time, the products are even cheap compared to the Brazilian domestic market, this is a fact. However, our national currency is weak. The US dollar makes the product more than four times the value (Shipping is include). And there's the worst: the delivery. After shipping, the  product delivery system is monopolized by a public company called Correios. There are almost no companies providing these services. The ones that exist end up having to put the price at the same value as the Correios. And it's a bad service. It takes months to receive the products and often the product is lost and the whole process needs to be redone. Anyway, life in Brazil is hard. But I will study buying via E-bay.






> You could take a look at Cordova ? https://cordova.apache.org/






> I believe there is an extension with VSCode (Microsofts stripped back IDE) https://code.visualstudio.com/





> cordova plugin - https://marketplace.visualstudio.com....cordova-tools


A great suggestion! I will try to use this structure in VS. Because of this suggestion, I will put my situation as resolved. And once again, thank you very much for your great kindness. Your help was of enormous importance and I appreciate it very much.

Best Wishes.

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## NeedSomeAnswers

Good luck let us know if it works for you !

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## Shaggy Hiker

I haven't used Xamarin since the early incarnation, at which point it was so riddled with bugs and strange behavior that I found it miserable. You may be better off without it.

If you can run Cordova, then that's a great way to code for Android. However, once again the JS editors in VS got better and better with time. By 2017, the JS editor was getting pretty good. Before that, it was not far above Notepad. Still, JS isn't so bad in Notepad, either, so if you can use Cordova, it's probably going to be better for you than Xamarin, currently.

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## NeedSomeAnswers

> I haven't used Xamarin since the early incarnation, at which point it was so riddled with bugs and strange behavior that I found it miserable. You may be better off without it.


Xamarin is a much different beast now, MS have clearly pumped a load of money into it since they have bought it so that those strange bugs and behaviors have disappeared, also there has been a slew of enhancements in recent versions which just make it nicer to work with.  

Saying all that i agree with Shaggy in your case Cordova is probably the way to go as its more lightweight and has been more stable for longer so older IDE's just work with it even if they dont have the bell and whistles. 

I was hoping you would see my post referencing you Shaggy as if he does go down the road of Cordova then you will be of more use to answer question then me.

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