My first experience trying to build and run the samples wasn't great

[mrlacey]

After first reading a lot (but not all) of the documentation, I wanted to try some things out and see the code running myself.

I started with the TodoApp sample as I'd seen that mentioned while reading the docs and thought it would be a simple place to start.

On a clean machine, I cloned the repo and opened samples\TodoApp\TodoApp.sln

• I was greeted by this error from Visual Studio (2026):

=====================
16/05/2026 10:00:56
Issue:
The solution file TodoApp.sln specifies a project configuration for project Reactor.csproj that does not exist for that project - please check the solution to find and remove the configuration that is not in the below list.

Existing project configurations:
Debug|AnyCPU
Release|AnyCPU

Resolution options:
1. Edit the solution file TodoApp.sln to change the project configuration to one of the existing configurations for this project.
2. Use the Configuration Manager to change the project configuration reference in the solution to an existing project configuration or to create a new project configuration.

Project Path: D:\GitHub\microsoft\microsoft-ui-reactor\src\Reactor\Reactor.csproj
Solution Path: D:\GitHub\microsoft\microsoft-ui-reactor\samples\TodoApp\TodoApp.sln
===================

• Copilot could quickly fix this issue

• but then I hit another one.

• reactor.csproj couldn't find Reactor.Localization.Generator.dll

• This was because I'd never built the core functionality

• I ended up having to build Reactor. Localization.Generator.csproj and Reactor. Analysers.csproj before I could build and run the sample.

• I assumed that I must have missed something when reading the docs, so I went back to the main readme

• I skipped over creating a new app (because I wanted something simple)

• I saw the WordPuzzle sample project listed and thought I'd try that instead.

• Using the command from the docs, I ended up with another error:

PS D:\GitHub\microsoft\microsoft-ui-reactor> dotnet run --project samples/apps/wordpuzzle
Using launch settings from samples\apps\wordpuzzle\Properties\launchSettings.json...
C:\Users\matt\.nuget\packages\microsoft.windowsappsdk.base\2.0.3\buildTransitive\Microsoft.WindowsAppSDK.SelfContained.targets(74,9): error WindowsAppSDKSelfContained requires a supported Windows architecture.

The build failed. Fix the build errors and run again.

• I then tried opening WordPuzzle.csproj inside VS, and it did build and run from there.

Takeaways:

• There is more to be done to make sure the sample and instructions are clear and work reliably before making this public
• Have a clear "Do this before trying to run any code" step in the instructions (or ensure that none is needed)
• Ensure that all the samples can be built on a "clean" machine.

[codemonkeychris]

great issue, thanks for the feedback.

Yes, we've been on a pretty narrow path, and at the moment i've always been building from the root SLN, rather than opening single samples. I'll take a pass on SLN for every sample so that they can be opened independently.

Did you get a chance to try building from the root SLN?

[mrlacey]

yes, tried that now and it works fine.
TBH, I'm on a brand new machine, and Explorer hadn't set the icon for the file type, and so I overlooked it, even though I was looking for it. I scanned down the list, saw a load of default file icons and overlooked it.

[mrlacey]

One small correction, openig the slnx file did create this error log entry:

=====================
17/05/2026 20:38:08
Issue:
The solution file Reactor.slnx specifies a project configuration for project Reactor.SignaturesGen.csproj that does not exist for that project - please check the solution to find and remove the configuration that is not in the below list.

Existing project configurations:
Debug|AnyCPU
Release|AnyCPU

Resolution options:
1. Edit the solution file Reactor.slnx to change the project configuration to one of the existing configurations for this project.
2. Use the Configuration Manager to change the project configuration reference in the solution to an existing project configuration or to create a new project configuration.

Project Path: D:\GitHub\microsoft\microsoft-ui-reactor\tools\Reactor.SignaturesGen\Reactor.SignaturesGen.csproj
Solution Path: D:\GitHub\microsoft\microsoft-ui-reactor\Reactor.slnx
===================

``

[codemonkeychris]

SLNX added for each sample, should be easier to get started now.

[dotMorten]

@mrlacey here's another tip for getting started:
Go to the latest action and download the artifacts. Those artifacts will have two nuget packages in them.
First install the project templates:
dotnet new install nupkg\Microsoft.UI.Reactor.ProjectTemplates.0.1.0-experimental.0.383.nupkg (or whatever the path is to the project templates nuget)

Next place the Microsoft.UI.Reactor.0.1.0-experimental.0.xxx.nupkg in a local nuget repository (once this is on nuget you of course won't need to do this).

From command you can now get started easily with a new project:

dotnet new reactorapp
dotnet run -a x64

I'm assuming this will be closer to the actual experience once this all goes live. Perhaps by then the samples will also just reference the nuget packages so they are easier to run by themselves?

[codemonkeychris]

i've been waiting to depend on the nuget more broadly until we have a signed public nuget feed, i felt like the local nuget was to tricky to setup... should we switch sooner to nuget based builds and just have a setup step?

[dotMorten]

Personally I think it's fine to wait until going public.