Xamarin.Forms no longer work on UWP ARM64

[dotMorten]

Description

Xamarin.Forms took a dependency on Win2D.uwp at v3.6. However Win2D does not support ARM64, so that support was lost in that move.

Steps to Reproduce

1. Build a 3.6 UWP app for ARM64
2. Deploy and run on an ARM64 device

Expected Behavior

App runs

Actual Behavior

App will crash

Basic Information

Also see this related issue:
https://github.com/xamarin/Xamarin.Forms/issues/5188

• Version with issue: 3.6+
• Last known good version:3.5.x
• IDE: VS2017/2019
• Platform Target Frameworks:
  
  
  
  • UWP:
  
  
• Android Support Library Version:
• Nuget Packages: 3.6.x
• Affected Devices: ARM64 PCs

[nickrandolph]

@davidortinau what can we do to improve support for UWP across Xamarin.Forms?

[samhouts]

As a workaround, you can install the update package from here: https://github.com/Microsoft/Win2D/issues/637

Looks like the official package will be updated soon. https://github.com/Microsoft/Win2D/pull/665

[MagicAndre1981]

@davidortinau what can we do to improve support for UWP across Xamarin.Forms?

Win2D team has merged ARM64 support now. Until they release a stable nuget package use the Win2D repro as submodule and compile the code on your own and deliver the self compiled DLL in XF. When they release a new official version, switch back to official NuGets.

[MagicAndre1981]

@dotMorten

ok, there will be official Nugets of Win2D the next days, so maybe this can be fixed in 4.3? @samhouts

[dotMorten]

@MagicAndre1981 I assume you don't have to wait for 4.3, but can just reference a newer Win2D in your UWP project.

[MagicAndre1981]

sure, but normal users don't know this. So next XF version should include the updated Win2D dependencies

[dotMorten]

Of course. Just saying you aren't blocked and forced to wait for 4.3

[azchohfi]

New version of Win2D with ARM64 support just got pushed: https://www.nuget.org/packages/Win2D.uwp/1.24.0

[MagicAndre1981]

@samhouts ok, can you now update the dependency to the 1.24.0 to fix the issue? Now that Microsoft presented the Surface X with ARM CPU this should be added very soon.

[samhouts]

@MagicAndre1981 I can, but this seems like such a great Hacktoberfest PR, I would hate to steal it from the community!!! If it isn't picked up before the end of the month, I'll take care of it. :)

[MagicAndre1981]

@samhouts I currently don't have an ARM64 device. I'll use my 950XL till December before I install Desktop Win10 for ARM on my 950XL

[MagicAndre1981]

@samhouts

any update on this? I've added the Win2D.uwp 1.24.0 package to the UWP part, but ARM64 still fails to compile with a lot of random errors. I have now Win10 Pro 1909 ARM64 on the Lumia 950XL and would like to test the ARM64 build

[MagicAndre1981]

ok, the UseDotNetNativeIncremental setting caused my random compile errors in debug mode. App runs in debug mode via remote debug without the _UseDotNetNativeIncremental_ setting after adding

<Type Name="Xamarin.Forms.Platform.UWP.WindowsPlatformServices" Serialize="Required All" />

to default.rd.xml of my app.

[samhouts]

Bumping the package would require increasing the target platform version to 17134, so I'm marking this as a breaking change.

[MagicAndre1981]

@samhouts

no, you need to add this entry to csproj to skip the check:

<DisableWin2DPlatformCheck>true</DisableWin2DPlatformCheck>

[MagicAndre1981]

does debugging of UWP app works for others? I get random errors in DEBUG configuration, but when I create AppX file in Release mode, sideload the AppX, the app works.

_// Edit, fixed. ARM64 uses .net native even for debug so I need to call Xamarin.Forms.Forms.Init with a list of assemblies and here the 3rd party documentation missed 1 assembly_