Table of Contents

Deploying to a Raspberry Pi

As of version 5.0 you can now export console apps to Linux, which makes the Raspberry Pi an excellent target.

In the Application Exporter then specify:

  • Output type: Console Application
  • Target: Linux

Deployment modes

As explained in Deploy .NET apps on ARM single-board computers there are two modes of deploymnet:

Framework dependent

This is the default used by the Exporter. It requires you to install .NET on the Raspberry Pi (Follow steps 1. and 2.) in order to be able to run the export on it.

After a successful export, copy the generated files over to the PI and there on a commandline run the program by typing:

dotnet myprogram.dll

Self-contained

Using this option will not require you to install .NET!

Run the export normally once, then press the "Show Details" button. At the very top you'll see a line looking like this:

dotnet publish -c Release --self-contained false /clp:ErrorsOnly /nologo PathToYourProject.csproj"

Copy this, open a Command prompt and run the command modified like this:

dotnet publish -c Release -r linux-arm --self-contained true /clp:ErrorsOnly /nologo PathToYourProject.csproj"

Use -r linux-arm for 32bit Raspberry Pi OS or -r linux-arm64 for the 64bit Version.

After a successful export, copy the generated files over to the PI and there on a commandline set execute permissions on the executable:

chmod +x myprogram

and then run it:

./myprogram

Automatic deployment of files

Copying the files over to the PI after every build can be automated. In the Exporter UI press Advanced build configuration and add the following lines inside the <Project> tag:

<PropertyGroup>    
  <SourceFolder>PATH-TO-YOUR-PROJECTS-EXPORT-FOLDER</SourceFolder>
  <DestFolder>PATH-TO-YOUR-DESTINATION-FOLDER-ON-THE-PI</DestFolder>
</PropertyGroup>

<ItemGroup>
  <FilesToCopy Include="$(SourceFolder)\**" />
</ItemGroup>

<Target Name="Deploy" AfterTargets="Publish">
  <!-- copy all files from the source folder to the dest folder that are newer or don't exist in the dest folder -->
  <Message Importance="High" Text="Copying files to Raspberry PI..." />
  <Copy SourceFiles="@(FilesToCopy)" DestinationFiles="@(FilesToCopy->'$(DestFolder)\%(RecursiveDir)%(Filename)%(Extension)')" SkipUnchangedFiles="True">
    <Output TaskParameter="CopiedFiles" ItemName="Copied" />
  </Copy>
    
  <ItemGroup>
    <OutdatedFiles Include="$(DestFolder)\**" Exclude="@(Copied)" />
  </ItemGroup>
  <Message Importance="High" Text="Deleting files..." />
  <Delete Files="@(OutdatedFiles)" />
</Target>

Specify SourceFolder and DestFolder. Then this will copy modified files over to the PI after every build.

Autostart

To have your application autostart when starting the Pi, you need to install it as a service (other options like rc.local or a .desktop file don't seem to work).

For installing a service, refer to chapter "4.4 Using A Systemd Service" of boot.pdf.

Pitfalls

  • If your program is accessing files, make sure to set the WorkingDirectory to where your application resides on disk
  • ExecStart needs to have absolut paths to both "dotnet" and your application. eg.: /home/pi/.dotnet/dotnet /home/pi/MyApp/myapp.dll

Map Pi as network drive

To map your Pi users home directory to the Z drive on your windows machine, in a command prompt run:

net use Z: \\[hostname]\[username]

Useful NuGets

  • System.Device.Gpio: for GPIO, I2C, SPI, PWM, Serial port
  • Iot.Device.Bindings: for higher-level specific device support
  • VL.IO.RCP for remote controlling parameters of the application from a web browser
  • Any of the libraries in the IO category
  • SFML.Net: for audio playback and recording (NOTE: version 2.5.0 of the NuGet has audio recording broken. Compile yourself from sources to get this working)
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