Language - C Sharp
We provide support for the C# language in all major operating systems. We also provide instructions on how to get your project started in a number of common development environments. Select your operating system and preferred development environment below, and follow the instructions to get your project running with Phidgets.
If you do not know which development environment you want to use, or your development environment of choice is not listed, we recommend starting with .NET CLI as the simplest path to getting your code running. Visual Studio is the most popular way to build C# projects, but it also has a steep learning curve.
Once you have set up your development environment to run with Phidgets, we recommend you follow our guide on Phidget Programming Basics. The guide will showcase the fundamentals of programming with Phidgets, with examples in C#.
Setup Guide
C# - Select Development Environment
Select your Development Environment:
Windows
MacOS
Linux
Language - C#
Windows with Visual Studio
Welcome to using Phidgets with C#! By using C#, you will have access to the complete Phidget22 API, including events.
Visual Studio is an IDE provided by Microsoft that can be used to develop code in a wide variety of programming languages, including C#.
Requirements
First, make sure you have the following installed:
● Phidgets Drivers for Windows
● Microsoft Visual Studio
Nuget
The Phidget22.NET library is now available on nuget.org here. Nuget is the recommended way to install and use the .NET library in Visual Studio. The nuget package bundles the C library on Windows, so there are no other prerequisites that need to be installed. The nuget package adds targets for .NET Core and .NET Standard, so it should be usable from almost any .NET environment which also supports the C library.
Using Phidgets in Your Programs
There are two ways you can use Phidgets in Visual Studio. You can either start from a sample project provided by our code sample generator, or you can start a new project from scratch.
Select your preferred method below for instructions:
Use our Code Sample
New Project
Visual Studio Code Sample
Finding Code Samples
To find the code sample to use for your Phidget, navigate to the Code Samples page and select your device from the drop-down menu.
Once you select your device, the code sample generator will give you a working code sample, and a selection of options to customize it to your needs.
The code samples we provide for C# are written to be used as Console Applications, but the concepts within can easily be re-purposed for use in a Windows Forms Application.
Using the Code Samples
If it's unclear what any of the options do, click on the nearby '?' for more info.
Once you've made your selections, click the Visual Studio Project button under Downloads.
Using the Code Samples
Extract the files and open the .sln file.
Then start the example by pressing the Start button:
What's Next?
Now that you've set up Phidgets in your programming environment, you should read our guide on Phidget Programming Basics to learn the fundamentals of programming with Phidgets.
Visual Studio New Project
Setting up a New Project
When you're building a project from scratch or adding Phidget code to an existing project, you need to properly link the Phidget .NET library.
Create a new project (a Console Application will be created for this example):
Setting up a New Project
Next, right-click on References in the solution explorer and choose Add Reference.
Setting up a New Project
On the following screen, click Browse... and navigate to the location of Phidget22.NET.dll:
C:\Program Files\Phidgets\Phidget22\Phidget22.NET.dll
Setting up a New Project
Finally, to include the Phidget .NET library, add the following lines to main window class file:
using Phidget22; using Phidget22.Events;
Success! The project now has access to Phidgets.
What's Next?
Now that you've set up Phidgets in your programming environment, you should read our guide on Phidget Programming Basics to learn the fundamentals of programming with Phidgets.
Language - C#
Windows with Mono
Welcome to using Phidgets with C#! By using C#, you will have access to the complete Phidget22 API, including events.
Mono is an open-source programming environment that aims to make Microsoft .NET applications available across all operating systems.
Requirements
First, make sure you have the following installed:
● Phidgets Drivers for Windows
● Mono
Finding Code Samples
To find the code sample to use for your Phidget, navigate to the Code Samples page and select your device from the drop-down menu.
Once you select your device, the code sample generator will give you a working code sample, and a selection of options to customize it to your needs.
Using the Code Samples
If it's unclear what any of the options do, click on the nearby '?' for more info.
Once you've made your selections, click the Download Example button under Downloads.
Setting up a New Project
When you are building a project from scratch, or adding Phidget functionality to an existing project, you'll need to configure your development environment to properly link the Phidget .NET library.
The easiest way to allow Mono to access the Phidgets .NET library is to place a copy of the Phidget22.NET dll in the same folder as your program.
First, determine which version of the .NET Framework your version of Mono implements by checking the Mono Release Documentation.
Next, download the Phidget22 Development Libraries, which contain dlls for each .NET version.
Navigate in the zip file to /lib/dotnet/netXX where 'XX' is your .NET Framework version (for example, net46 for .NET 4.6), and grab the Phidget22.NET.dll from that folder.
Setting up a New Project
Next, move the Phidget22.NET.dll you extracted into the same folder as your program.
Your folder should look somehting like this:
Compile and Run
Once you are ready to run your program, open the Command Prompt and navigate to your project folder. Next, enter the following command:
mcs /r:Phidget22.NET.dll Program.cs
This will create an executable file called Program.exe. Type in the following command to run the example:
mono Program.exe
Success! The project is now using Phidgets.
What's Next?
Now that you've set up Phidgets in your programming environment, you should read our guide on Phidget Programming Basics to learn the fundamentals of programming with Phidgets.
Language - C#
macOS with Mono
Welcome to using Phidgets with C#! By using C#, you will have access to the complete Phidget22 API, including events.
Mono is an open-source programming environment that aims to make Microsoft .NET applications available across all operating systems.
Requirements
First, make sure you have the following installed:
● Mono
● You'll also need a copy of Phidget22.NET.dll
Finding Code Samples
To find the code sample to use for your Phidget, navigate to the Code Samples page and select your device from the drop-down menu.
Once you select your device, the code sample generator will give you a working code sample, and a selection of options to customize it to your needs.
Using the Code Samples
If it's unclear what any of the options do, click on the nearby '?' for more info.
Once you've made your selections, click the Download Example button under Downloads.
Setting up a New Project
Whether you are running our examples or adding Phidget functionality to an existing project, you'll need to configure your development environment to properly link the Phidget .NET library.
The easiest way to allow Mono to access the Phidgets .NET library is to place a copy of the Phidget22.NET dll in the same folder as your program.
First, determine which version of the .NET Framework your version of Mono implements by checking the Mono Release Documentation.
Next, download the Phidget22 Development Libraries, which contain dlls for each .NET version.
Navigate in the zip file to /lib/dotnet/netXX where 'XX' is your .NET Framework version (for example, net46 for .NET 4.6), and grab the Phidget22.NET.dll from that folder.
Setting up a New Project
Next, move the Phidget22.NET.dll you extracted into the same folder as your program.
Finally, you need to create a configuration file. Create a new file in the same directory and name it Phidget22.NET.dll.config. Copy the content below to the file.
<configuration> <dllmap dll="phidget22.dll" target="/Library/Frameworks/Phidget22.framework/Versions/Current/Phidget22" /> </configuration>
Setting up a New Project
Your project directory should now look like this:
Compile and Run
Once you are ready to run your program, open the Terminal and navigate to your project folder. Next, enter the following command:
mcs Program.cs -r:Phidget22.NET.dll
This will create an executable file called Program.exe. Type in the following command to run your program:
mono Program.exe
Success! The project is now using Phidgets.
What's Next?
Now that you've set up Phidgets in your programming environment, you should read our guide on Phidget Programming Basics to learn the fundamentals of programming with Phidgets.
Language - C#
Linux with Mono
Welcome to using Phidgets with C#! By using C#, you will have access to the complete Phidget22 API, including events.
Mono is an open-source programming environment that aims to make Microsoft .NET applications available across all operating systems.
Requirements
First, make sure you have the following installed:
● Mono
● A copy of Phidget22.NET.dll
You need our C development libraries in order to use Mono. You can install them with:
apt-get install libphidget22-dev
If you don't already have Mono installed, you can get it with:
apt-get install mono-complete
Setting UDev Rules
By default, Linux will not allow regular users to access physical hardware, as a security feature. This means that you must grant yourself root privileges via sudo to run Phidgets code.
sudo mono program.exe
To avoid having to use sudo every time, you can set up a rules file to allow it automatically using the vendor code for Phidget USB devices. Create a text file called 99-libphidget22.rules containing the following line:
SUBSYSTEMS=="usb", ACTION=="add", ATTRS{idVendor}=="06c2", ATTRS{idProduct}=="00[3-a][0-f]", MODE="666"
Mode 666 means every user has permission to read and write to the specified devices. Next, move this file to /etc/udev/rules.d. Now you can run code that uses Phidgets as a regular user without sudo.
Finding Code Samples
To find the code sample to use for your Phidget, navigate to the Code Samples page and select your device from the drop-down menu.
Once you select your device, the code sample generator will give you a working code sample, and a selection of options to customize it to your needs.
Using the Code Samples
If it's unclear what any of the options do, click on the nearby '?' for more info.
Once you've made your selections, click the Download Example button under Downloads.
Setting up a New Project
Whether you are running our examples or adding Phidget functionality to an existing project, you'll need to configure your development environment to properly link the Phidget .NET library.
The easiest way to allow Mono to access the Phidgets .NET library is to place a copy of the Phidget22.NET dll in the same folder as your program.
First, determine which version of the .NET Framework your version of Mono implements by checking the Mono Release Documentation.
Next, download the Phidget22 Development Libraries, which contain dlls for each .NET version.
Navigate in the zip file to /lib/dotnet/netXX where 'XX' is your .NET Framework version (for example, net46 for .NET 4.6), and grab the Phidget22.NET.dll from that folder.
Setting up a New Project
Move the Phidget22.NET.dll you extracted into the same folder as your program.
Your project directory should now look like this:
Compile and Run
Once you are ready to run your program, open the Terminal and navigate to your project folder. Next, enter the following command:
mcs Program.cs -r:Phidget22.NET.dll
An executable file will be created. Run the program using mono with the following command:
mono Program.exe
Success! The project is now using Phidgets.
What's Next?
Now that you've set up Phidgets in your programming environment, you should read our guide on Phidget Programming Basics to learn the fundamentals of programming with Phidgets.
Language - C#
Linux with dotnet CLI
Welcome to using Phidgets with C#! By using C#, you will have access to the complete Phidget22 API, including events.
The dotnet command-line interface is the quickest way to start programming in C#.
Setting UDev Rules
By default, Linux will not allow regular users to access physical hardware, as a security feature. This means that you must grant yourself root privileges via sudo to run Phidgets code.
sudo dotnet run
To avoid having to use sudo every time, you can set up a rules file to allow it automatically using the vendor code for Phidget USB devices. Create a text file called 99-libphidget22.rules containing the following line:
SUBSYSTEMS=="usb", ACTION=="add", ATTRS{idVendor}=="06c2", ATTRS{idProduct}=="00[3-a][0-f]", MODE="666"
Mode 666 means every user has permission to read and write to the specified devices. Next, move this file to /etc/udev/rules.d. Now you can run code that uses Phidgets as a regular user without sudo.
Installing dotnet CLI
For installation instructions, visit Microsoft's documentation and select your Linux distro.
Usually, this will involve adding Microsoft packages to your repository and then installing dotnet via apt-get.
If you are a Visual Studio Code user, you can get the '.NET Install Tool' extension instead of installing manually.
Setting up a New Project
Create a new C# project using the following command:
dotnet new console -o helloworld
This will create a new C# console application in a folder named helloworld in your current directory. Next, enter the folder and type:
dotnet run
If everything installed properly, the application should build and you'll see 'Hello, World!' printed in the terminal.
Getting Phidgets Sample Code
Next we'll use this base project to run some Phidgets sample code. Go to the product page for your Phidget and go to the Code Samples tab. Select C# from the language drop-down and use the check boxes to modify the example if you'd like.
Click the copy button in the corner of the code sample and paste it into the Program.cs for your HelloWorld program, overwriting the existing code.
Compile and Run
Once you've pasted the sample code into the .cs file and saved, you need to add the Phidgets .NET package to your project:
dotnet add package Phidget22.NET
Then you can re-build the project using
dotnet run
Success! The project is now using Phidgets.
What's Next?
Now that you've set up Phidgets in your programming environment, you should read our guide on Phidget Programming Basics to learn the fundamentals of programming with Phidgets.
Language - C#
Windows with dotnet CLI
Welcome to using Phidgets with C#! By using C#, you will have access to the complete Phidget22 API, including events.
The dotnet command-line interface is the quickest way to start programming in C#.
Installing dotnet CLI
First, visit Microsoft's .NET download page and select the latest version. On the next page, download the SDK that matches your computer's architecture (usually x64).
Run the .exe file once it's finished downloading, and follow the steps to install the .NET SDK.
If you are a Visual Studio Code user, you can get the '.NET Install Tool' extension instead of installing manually.
Setting up a New Project
Open the command prompt by pressing the windows key, typing 'cmd' and pressing enter. Create a new C# project using the following command:
dotnet new console -o helloworld
This will create a new C# console application in a folder named helloworld in your current directory. Next, type cd helloworld to enter the folder, and type:
dotnet run
If everything installed properly, the application will build and you'll see 'Hello, World!' printed in the terminal. You can open Program.cs using the text editor to see the code.
Getting Phidgets Sample Code
Next we'll use this base project to run some Phidgets sample code. Go to the product page for your Phidget and go to the Code Samples tab. Select C# from the language drop-down and use the check boxes to modify the example if you'd like.
Click the copy button in the corner of the code sample and paste it into the Program.cs for your HelloWorld program, overwriting the existing code.
Compile and Run
Once you've pasted the sample code into the .cs file and saved, you need to add the Phidgets .NET package to your project using this terminal command:
dotnet add package Phidget22.NET
Then you can re-build the project using
dotnet run
Success! The project is now using Phidgets.
What's Next?
Now that you've set up Phidgets in your programming environment, you should read our guide on Phidget Programming Basics to learn the fundamentals of programming with Phidgets.
Language - C#
MacOS with dotnet CLI
Welcome to using Phidgets with C#! By using C#, you will have access to the complete Phidget22 API, including events.
The dotnet command-line interface is the quickest way to start programming in C#.
Installing dotnet CLI
If you plan on using any USB Phidgets that use the HID stack, you'll need to install the Phidget drivers for MacOS. You can check which stack your USB Phidgets use by checking the 'USB Stack' in the product specifications. If all of your Phidgets use the PHIDUSB stack, you can skip installing the drivers.
Next, visit Microsoft's .NET page and download .NET after confirming compatibility with your version of MacOS.
Click on the .pkg file once it's finished downloading, and follow the steps to install the .NET SDK.
If you are a Visual Studio Code user, you can get the '.NET Install Tool' extension instead of installing manually.
Setting up a New Project
Open Finder and go to Utilities -> Terminal. Create a new C# project using the following command:
dotnet new console -o helloworld
This will create a new C# console application in a folder named helloworld in your current directory. Next, type cd helloworld to enter the folder, and type:
dotnet run
If everything installed properly, the application will build and you'll see 'Hello, World!' printed in the terminal. You can open Program.cs using the text editor to see the code.
Getting Phidgets Sample Code
Next we'll use this base project to run some Phidgets sample code. Go to the product page for your Phidget and go to the Code Samples tab. Select C# from the language drop-down and use the check boxes to modify the example if you'd like.
Click the copy button in the corner of the code sample and paste it into the Program.cs for your HelloWorld program, overwriting the existing code.
Compile and Run
Once you've pasted the sample code into the .cs file and saved, you need to add the Phidgets .NET package to your project using this terminal command:
dotnet add package Phidget22.NET
Then you can re-build the project using
dotnet run
Success! The project is now using Phidgets.
What's Next?
Now that you've set up Phidgets in your programming environment, you should read our guide on Phidget Programming Basics to learn the fundamentals of programming with Phidgets.
Language - C#
Windows with MonoDevelop / Xamarin Studio
Welcome to using Phidgets with C#! By using C#, you will have access to the complete Phidget22 API, including events.
MonoDevelop is an open-source programming environment that mimics the capabilities of Microsoft Visual Studio and is available across all operating systems.
Requirements
First, make sure you have the following installed:
● Phidgets Drivers for Windows
● MonoDevelop or Xamarin Studio
Setting up a New Project
When you are building a project from scratch, or adding Phidget function calls to an existing project, you'll need to configure your development environment to properly link the Phidget .NET library.
First, create a new .NET project:
Setting up a New Project
Name the project and click Create.
Setting up a New Project
Next, add a reference to the Phidget .NET library:
Setting up a New Project
On the following screen, select Phidget22.NET.dll:
Success! The project now has access to Phidgets.
Finding Code Samples
To find the code sample to use for your Phidget, navigate to the Code Samples page and select your device from the drop-down menu.
Once you select your device, the code sample generator will give you a working code sample, and a selection of options to customize it to your needs.
Using the Code Samples
If it's unclear what any of the options do, click on the nearby '?' for more info.
Once you've made your selections, click the copy button and paste the code into your new project.
What's Next?
Now that you've set up Phidgets in your programming environment, you should read our guide on Phidget Programming Basics to learn the fundamentals of programming with Phidgets.
Quick Downloads
If you already know what you're doing and just need the files, you can find them all below.
Documentation
- Phidget22 API (Select C# from drop-down menu)