Uno Development Environment Indicator (UDEI)

[dr1rrb]

🚀 Proposal: Uno Development Environment Indicator (UDEI)

Summary

We propose adding a Uno Development Environment Indicator (UDEI) to help users understand the internal state of the Uno development environment, especially during solution loading and build initialization. The goal is to improve transparency, reduce frustration during delays, and encourage users to report issues more proactively—much like we’ve done with the Hot Reload Indicator (HRI).

Motivation

Primary Goals

• Provide visible, real-time feedback to users during environment setup (e.g., plugin loading, dev-server initialization, etc.).
• Let users know as early as possible that the Uno plugin is active (today the "Uno Platform" menu appears only once the dev server is fully initialized).
• Help users troubleshoot issues more easily.
• Increase the reporting rate of real environment/configuration problems.

Secondary Goals

• Extend the Hot Reload Indicator (HRI) with deeper context (when possible).

Constraints

• The application can be compiled and launched before the user sees any feedback if something goes wrong.
  • The HRI is not appropriate for early-stage status.
• The new indicator must aggregate information from multiple sources:
  • IDE extensions
  • Dev server
  • Possibly even the target application
• It must be implemented per-IDE (Visual Studio, VS Code, Rider, etc.).

Visual Design

We propose an Uno status icon embedded into the IDE, similar to the one used in Visual Studio Code. On hover or click, it would display a detailed view of the current state.

Consider adding:

• A banner warning if a critical failure is detected (e.g., app build begins before dev-server is ready).

Architecture

The display logic will be handled entirely by the IDE extensions (VSIX, VS Code plugin, Rider plugin).

Status data will be sent from the dev-server to the IDE via the already-established IDE Channel.

Known States (Visual Studio Example)

The list below outlines the possible phases and checkpoints the IDE extension may observe:

[VSIX]

1. UNO Extensions loaded ➡️ Show Uno status icon immediately
2. Solution opened
   1. Opened
   2. Closed ➡️ Disabled
3. Is Uno-compatible?
   🔀Parallel track: Run uno-check
4. Wait for NuGet package restore:
   1. No Uno package ➡️ Disable
   2. (Not impl.) Found uno package, but restore failed ➡️ Error
   3. Found uno package and restore ok
5. Found uno version XXX
6. Load "dev-server starter" (Uno.UI.RemoteControl.VS)
   1. Init OK
   2. Failed to init ➡️ Error

[RC.VS]

1. Start dev-server (multiple triggers)
   1. Find / re-use port
   2. Create IDE channel
   3. Start process

[Dev-Server]

1. Find add-ins (licensing)
   1. Solution does not compile
   2. Find TFM
   3. Discover add-ons
   4. Load add-ons
2. Connect back to IDE
3. Application connects back to dev-server

Suggested Status & Actions

Category	Event	Source	State / effect	Actions
Extension	Extension loaded *	VSIX	Show indicator
Solution	Opened	VSIX	🔄️	Link to “Why?” doc
	Closed *	VSIX	⬛ Info	Link to troubleshooting #get_extension_logs
	Waiting for NuGet restore	VSIX	🔄️	Link to “Why?” doc
	Uno package restore failed *	VSIX	🟥 Error	??? dotnet restore
	Found Uno version *	VSIX	🟩 Info Show version	Link to update
	Uno not found *	VSIX	⬛ Info	Link to troubleshooting #get_extension_logs
Uno-check	Running	RC.VS	🔄️
	OK	RC.VS	🟩 Info
	Failed	RC.VS	🟥 Error	* Re-run * Show logs
Dev-server	Starting	RC.VS	🔄️	Link to “Why?” doc
	Ready (IDE channel connected)	Srv	🟩 Info	Link to “Why?” doc
	Timeout (no IDE connection)	RC.VS	🟥 Error	* Restart * Link to troubleshooting #get_devsrv_logs
	Restarting (crashed)	RC.VS	🟧 Warning	Link to troubleshooting #get_devsrv_logs
	Killed *	RC.VS	🟥 Error	Restart * Link to troubleshooting #get_devsrv_logs
	Failed to discover add-ins	Srv	🟧 Warning	* Link to troubleshooting #fix_your_solution * Link to troubleshooting #get_devsrv_logs
	Application connected (inc. ping/pong)	Srv	Count app connection

Note

*: Final or terminal states (might be “restarted, e.g. by closing and re-opening the solution)

This table is mainly for visual-studio, but we will have to achieve the same for all IDEs. Some events night be however not be relevant.

Documentation Improvements

❓ Why Dev-Server?

Include in docs:

• Why dev-server is needed
• What it does
• How to unblock firewalls (e.g. click "Allow Access")

🗺️ Architecture Diagram

IDE <--> Dev-Server <--> Application
                ^
                |
    Hot design external window

🔧 Troubleshooting

Document links referenced in the table:

• #get_extension_logs
• #get_devsrv_logs
• #Fix_your_solution

[Jen-Uno]

Created issue for easier tracking of work #21164