Avalonia is a
free and open-source
Free and open-source software (FOSS) is software available under a Software license, license that grants users the right to use, modify, and distribute the software modified or not to everyone free of charge. FOSS is an inclusive umbrella term ...
.NET
The .NET platform (pronounced as "''dot net"'') is a free and open-source, managed code, managed computer software framework for Microsoft Windows, Windows, Linux, and macOS operating systems. The project is mainly developed by Microsoft emplo ...
cross-platform
XAML-based UI framework inspired by
WPF/
UWP and distributed under the
MIT License
The MIT License is a permissive software license originating at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the late 1980s. As a permissive license, it puts very few restrictions on reuse and therefore has high license compatibility.
Unl ...
. Avalonia supports the
MVVM pattern.
It enables development of cross-platform applications using any
.NET
The .NET platform (pronounced as "''dot net"'') is a free and open-source, managed code, managed computer software framework for Microsoft Windows, Windows, Linux, and macOS operating systems. The project is mainly developed by Microsoft emplo ...
language, including
C#,
F# and
VB.NET for
Windows
Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...
,
Linux
Linux ( ) is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an kernel (operating system), operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically package manager, pac ...
,
macOS
macOS, previously OS X and originally Mac OS X, is a Unix, Unix-based operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple since 2001. It is the current operating system for Apple's Mac (computer), Mac computers. With ...
,
iOS,
Android and
WebAssembly
WebAssembly (Wasm) defines a portable binary-code format and a corresponding text format for executable programs as well as software interfaces for facilitating communication between such programs and their host environment.
The main goal of ...
.
Avalonia supports multiple renderers, including
Direct2D
Direct2D is a 2D vector graphics application programming interface (API) designed by Microsoft and implemented in Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2, and also Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 (with Platform Update ...
and
Skia Graphics Engine, allowing it to operate on a broad range of platforms. Avalonia draws its entire UI, mirroring the approach taken by
Flutter.
History
Avalonia, originally named Perspex, was first developed by Steven Kirk, with its initial commit made on 5 December 2013. The framework was conceived with the aim of creating a cross-platform UI framework, inspired by
Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF).
Avalonia became part of the
.NET Foundation on 1 April 2020, and left on 20 February 2024.
IDE support
Avalonia maintains supports for the following
IDEs and editors via plugins:
*
Visual Studio Code
Visual Studio Code, commonly referred to as VS Code, is an integrated development environment developed by Microsoft for Windows, Linux, macOS and web browsers. Features include support for debugging, syntax highlighting, intelligent code comp ...
*
Visual Studio
Other IDEs can be used with community-supported plugins, including
JetBrains Rider.
References
Further reading
Visual Studio Magazine: Open Source Avalonia .NET UI Framework Finally Hits Milestone v11 GA ReleaseDevClass: Interview: Avalonia XPF introduced for WPF on Mac, Linux and eventually mobile/JetBrains Blog: Case Study: How GritWorld Uses Rider and Avalonia to Build a Powerful 3D Engine
External links
*
*
.NET software
Free and open-source software
Software using the MIT license
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