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Data Developer Center > Learn > Reactive Extensions (Rx) > Get Reactive Extensions for .NET

Get Started Developing with the Reactive Extensions

Installation information for:

Reactive Extensions for .NET (Rx .NET)

The Reactive Extensions for .NET provide rich event processing capabilities based on the IObservable<T> and IObserver<T> interfaces, using LINQ-style query operators. You can use the Reactive Extensions for .NET library on the following target platforms:

  • .NET Framework 4.0 and 4.5
  • .NET for Windows Store apps
  • Silverlight 5
  • Windows Phone 7.1

For older target platforms, the Reactive Extensions v1.0 release can be used.

Download and Install Visual Studio 2012 (Optional)

Visual Studio is an integrated development environment to create applications for Windows and the web. You can download the express version for free, or consider purchasing other versions that come packaged with larger feature sets.

The Reactive Extensions run on the .NET Framework, so both Visual Studio and the .NET Framework provide you with the necessary tools and technologies to begin developing.

Download the Reactive Extensions for .NET

The Reactive Extensions SDK is available in three ways.

SDK Installer

Using this installer package, the Reactive Extensions assemblies for the supported target platforms are installed to your developer machine under the C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Reactive Extensions\v2.0 folder. In addition, the assemblies are made available through the “Add Reference…” dialog in Visual Studio for supported project types.

NuGet

The Reactive Extensions assemblies can also be included in a Visual Studio project through the "Manage NuGet Packages…” dialog in Visual Studio. Depending on the type of project you’re building you may want to install different parts of the Reactive Extensions API surface. To include the core functionality, use Rx-Main. For additional functionality (such as UI framework integration), search for other packages with the Rx- prefix.

Visual Studio Extension SDK

To build Windows Store apps using Reactive Extensions, the SDK can be installed through the Visual Studio Extension Manager as well. In the “Tools, Extensions and Updates…” dialog, go to the “Online” section and search for Reactive Extensions. When installed, all of the Reactive Extensions assemblies required for Windows Store apps can be included using the “Add Reference…” dialog’s “Extensions” section.

Notes for Windows Phone

Windows Phone ships with a version of the Reactive Extensions baked into the ROM of the device. For more information, see Reactive Extensions for .NET Overview for Windows Phone. The built-in version of the Reactive Extensions can be found in the Microsoft.Phone.Reactive Namespace.

This release contains an improved and extended version of the Reactive Extensions targeting Windows Phone. This implementation resides in the System.Reactive namespace in order to prevent possible conflicts with the built-in libraries. This release does not replace the version in the ROM, but lives side-by-side with the existing ROM version of the library.

Reactive Extensions for JavaScript (RxJS)

The Reactive Extensions for JavaScript (RxJS) brings the power of reactive programming to JavaScript. It enables to use of Rx operators in JavaScript, in easy to consume modular libraries.

Download and Install Visual Studio 2012 (Optional)

Visual Studio is an integrated development environment to create applications for Windows and the web. You can download the express version for free, or consider purchasing other versions that come packaged with larger feature sets.

The Reactive Extensions for JavaScript run in any JavaScript virtual machine, including those found in browsers, as well as Node.js.

Download the Reactive Extensions for JavaScript

The Reactive Extensions for JavaScript are available in a number of ways.

ZIP File

The Reactive Extensions for JavaScript are available in a zip file which contains the source files for reference, the Visual Studio documentation files (VSDoc) and the minimized versions.

NuGet

The Reactive Extensions for JavaScript files can also be included in a Visual Studio project through the “Manage NuGet Packages…” dialog in Visual Studio. Depending on the type of project you’re building you may want to install different parts of the Reactive Extensions for JavaScript API surface. To include the core functionality, use RxJS-Main. For additional functionality (such as time-based operations), search for other packages with the RxJS- prefix.  In addition, the bridges to libraries such as jQuery, Dojo and others can be found on NuGet through the RxJS-Bridges- prefix.

NPM and Node.js

The Reactive Extensions for JavaScript can also be included in a Node.js project through NPM.  This package includes all the entire RxJS API surface.

GitHub

In previous releases, the Reactive Extensions for JavaScript came bundled with bridges from RxJS to such popular libraries as jQuery, Dojo, MooTools among others, which allowed for rich interaction with each library. To allow for each library to mature at its own pace, the bridges have been moved to GitHub where the latest versions can be downloaded. The code for the core RxJS library can be browsed on GitHub as well.

Reactive Extensions Pages

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