2. Install Visual Studio
Visual Studio is an integrated development environment (IDE) from Microsoft. The Community edition is available at no cost and supports creating .NET applications. In the steps below, ARC will detect an existing Visual Studio installation and offer to download the latest supported edition if none is found.
Visual Studio 2022 Warning
As of 2022-02-01, a known issue affects Microsoft Visual Studio 2022 for certain project types. We recommend installing Visual Studio 2019 Community Edition instead. Microsoft is aware of the problem and has not announced a fix date. This warning will be removed if Microsoft resolves the issue.
Read more on the Microsoft Developer Community: https://developercommunity.visualstudio.com/t/WinForms-NET-Framework-Projects-cant-d/1601210. If the issue affects you, please add feedback directly to that report.
Steps to Install or Download Visual Studio via ARC
- Launch ARC.
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From the menu, select Project → Create Skill.
ARC: select Project → Create Skill to begin creating a robot skill. -
The Create Robot Skill window will check for an installed Visual Studio. If no installation is detected, a DOWNLOAD button will be shown.
Create Robot Skill window: ARC checks for Visual Studio and provides a download option if needed. - If the download link appears, click it to start the installer. Alternatively, you can manually obtain the Visual Studio Community edition from Microsoft: Download Visual Studio Community.
Dependency: .NET Framework
ARC and many robot skills require the Microsoft .NET Framework 4.7.2. If you keep Windows Update current and ARC runs without issues, your system likely already has .NET 4.7.2 installed. If ARC fails or you are unsure, install .NET Framework 4.7.2 before proceeding.