Inside Rhino

Scripting in the Script Editor (Rhino or GH)
Recommended

The Script Editor offers very quick ways to write, review, build and publish plugins with Eto UIs from Rhino or Grasshopper (As of Rhino 8). It is recommended to use this when learning.

Working from a C# Rhino Plugin

If you are not familiar with Rhino, or setting up Rhino plugins, it is advised to read this guide on creating your first plugin before diving into Eto.

One you have a working plugin, it would be best to create a new command you can use for debugging.

Outside of Rhino

If you wish to work on eto outside of Rhino, you’ll need to install some tools.

Open up your command line and run the following line.

dotnet new install Eto.Templates

Workflow Recommendations

Feedback loop

The shorter the loop between Code Written → File Saved → UI Updated, the quicker and easier it will be for you to try, experiment and learn.

Hot Reload in C#

Hot reload reduces the feedback loop length by avoiding re-compiling and re-running commands. You can change your UI instantly avoiding repetitive and tiring re-compile cycles.

Within Rhino, Hot Reload is only available on Windows, and works best with Visual Studio.

Outside of Rhino, Hot Reload works on both platforms as of net8.0 onwards, for Mac this means Visual Studio Code or other IDEs such as Rider.