Hybrid Blazor App Setup

2024-12-27 12:29 UTC o1 Open in ChatGPT ↗

You

I want to build a hybrid blazor app, that can run on macOS and windows, but uses html and css and .razor for the ui.

give me the right command to build a stripped down app (no ios, no android, no tizen or other crap)

ChatGPT

If you just want a .NET MAUI Blazor project that targets only Windows and macOS (via Mac Catalyst) and leaves out iOS, Android, and Tizen, you can use the following command:

dotnet new maui-blazor \
    -n MyHybridApp \
    --ios false \
    --android false \
    --maccatalyst true \
    --windows true

Explanation of the switches:

• --ios false disables the iOS platform.
• --android false disables the Android platform.
• --maccatalyst true enables macOS (via Mac Catalyst).
• --windows true enables Windows.
• -n MyHybridApp names your project “MyHybridApp” (change as you wish).

This will create a “stripped down” .NET MAUI Blazor application that only includes Windows and macOS support out of the box, allowing you to build a cross-platform desktop app using Razor, HTML, and CSS—without the mobile platforms or Tizen.

You

Error: Invalid option(s): —ios ‘—ios’ is not a valid option false ‘false’ is not a valid option —android ‘—android’ is not a valid option —maccatalyst ‘—maccatalyst’ is not a valid option true ‘true’ is not a valid option —windows ‘—windows’ is not a valid option

ChatGPT

Unfortunately, the .NET MAUI templates no longer support those per-platform flags (like --ios false, --android false, etc.) in dotnet new maui-blazor. If you try them, you’ll see the “invalid option” error you encountered.

The practical way to get a “Windows + macOS only” .NET MAUI Blazor app is:

1. Create the default .NET MAUI Blazor project.
2. Remove the unwanted platform targets (Android, iOS, Tizen, etc.) from the project file.

Below is a step-by-step guide.

---

1. Create the default .NET MAUI Blazor app

From your terminal or command prompt, run:

dotnet new maui-blazor -n MyHybridApp

This creates a multi-targeted MAUI Blazor app named MyHybridApp. By default, it includes iOS, Android, macOS (via Mac Catalyst), and Windows.

---

2. Edit the .csproj to remove unwanted platforms

Inside the new MyHybridApp folder, open MyHybridApp.csproj in your favorite editor. You should see something like:

<Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk">

  <PropertyGroup>
    <TargetFrameworks>
      net8.0-android;
      net8.0-ios;
      net8.0-maccatalyst;
      net8.0-windows10.0.19041.0
    </TargetFrameworks>
    ...
  </PropertyGroup>

  ...
</Project>

Remove the lines for the platforms you don’t want. For example, if you only want macOS and Windows, change it to:

<TargetFrameworks>
    net8.0-maccatalyst;
    net8.0-windows10.0.19041.0
</TargetFrameworks>

Now your project only targets macOS (Catalyst) and Windows.

---

3. Remove platform-specific folders (optional)

If you want to keep your repo extra clean, you can also delete any platform-specific folders you’re not using (e.g. Platforms/Android or Platforms/iOS). It’s optional because they won’t be compiled if the target frameworks aren’t in your .csproj.

---

4. Build and run

On Windows, you can build and run for Windows:

dotnet build -f net8.0-windows10.0.19041.0
dotnet run -f net8.0-windows10.0.19041.0

On macOS, build and run for Mac Catalyst:

dotnet build -f net8.0-maccatalyst
dotnet run -f net8.0-maccatalyst

---

Summary

There’s no single command-line to skip iOS/Android/Tizen up front anymore. Instead, generate the standard .NET MAUI Blazor project and manually remove the platform targets you don’t want from the .csproj. That’s the standard, recommended approach as of .NET 7/8.