[Mono-list] Some general advice for a newbie, please

[Francisco T. Martinez]

peter wrote:

> Hi,
>
> I am a Windows .NET developer with an interest in learning how to 
> develop cross platform applications using mono.  At work I use, 
> unsurprisingly, Visual Studio 2003 (Enterprise Architect).
>
Have your look at these things (installed in the order shown below)?

One of the Best distributions of Mono for Win32 yet.
http://www.go-mono.com/archive/1.1.3/windows/mono-1.1.3-gtksharp-1.9.1-win32-0.4.exe

Gtk# Win32 Installer for Microsoft .NET Framework 1.1 SDK
http://forge.novell.com/modules/xfcontent/private.php/gtks-inst4win/Win32%20Installer/v1.9.1.0/gtksharp-1.9.1-win32-0.2.exe

Gtk-Sharp Help for VS .NET 2003
http://forge.novell.com/modules/xfcontent/private.php/gtks-inst4win/Gtk-Sharp%20Help%20for%20VS%20.NET%202003/v0.1.0.1/gtksharpHelpSetup.msi

Visual Studio Add-in based on Prj2make
http://forge.novell.com/modules/xfcontent/private.php/prj2make-sharp/Windows/v0.95.2.1/vsprj2make-setup-0.95.2.1.exe

> I've installed mono on my SuSE box at home, along with monodevelop, 
> and I've created a project of each of the available types.  This 
> hasn't actually taught me a lot :) - But at least they work.  Also the 
> documentation seems to be full of placeholders at just the places 
> where it starts to get interesting: and the monodevelop web site 
> appears to be refusing connections so I can't go there for help.
>
> I'm running SuSE 9.2 Pro.  Mono came with the OS, and I downloaded and 
> installed monodevelop separately.
>
> Would anyone be able to give me some advice as to how I could get 
> started?  In particular I'd like some advice about GUI development 
> (Can I use Glade?  How?), about X-platform portablility, and about XSP 
> (I can't even see it.  Do I have to download it separately?)
>
Here is a tutorial that you could look at right now on how to use Visual 
Studio .NET 2003 to create a Glade# Application
http://www.mfconsulting.com/tutorial/newgladeapp/index.html

I you are willing to do an 11 MB avi file download you can also watch a 
video of the actual Visual Studio Glade# project creation and editing.
http://forge.novell.com/modules/xfmod/docman/index.php?group_id=1480&docid=945

I think that you might be -- like many of us -- a programmer with a 
fairly strong Visual Studio background.  You don't have to discard your 
experience and knowledge to begin developing Gtk#/Mono applications form 
the platform you are most comfortable working on -- that currently has a 
working interactive debugger -- and still be able to target great Linux 
distributions like NLD 9, SuSe 9.2 and Ubuntu.  Once you build and test 
your applications in Visual Studio you could easily create a set of 
MonoDevelop project files and a distribution unit with the help of the 
VSPj2Make add-in.  Now, you can deploy and continue editing your 
solution if necessary in it's new Linux destination.

These last few steps are best understood after watching this 27 MB video
http://forge.novell.com/modules/xfmod/docman/index.php?group_id=1395&docid=961

In the end I will tell you that I anxiously await the completion of the 
Managed Windows Forms effort that Novell/Mono is currently developing.  
I can vouch for how much progress has been made.  However, I have read a 
lot of the replies that your original message got and I am afraid that 
no one so far has given you this perspective.  Gtk# is very powerful and 
in Win32 operating systems like Windows XP, and Windows 2003 Server that 
support themes you can end up with a very attractive UI and an 
application that is almost guaranteed to work identically in Linux even 
without recompiling (provided you don't use Windowisms that do not port 
like COM interop),

Hope this helps

Paco.