How can I get Visual Studio to build a NuGet package for my library component on build?
I’m using a Portable Class Library as the example project.
Ensure the NuGet.exe file in .nuget folder is latest.
Default values come from AssemblyInfo.cs, so clean that up.
Add a NuGet package reference if you do not reference any, preferably something simple like JSON.NET. Often, PCL projects have no external dependencies, in which case no NuGet refs and without any NuGet refs, the required MSBuild config won't get set properly, so we need to add a 'dummy'.
Enable NuGet Package Restore.
Edit the NuGet.targets file and ensure BuildPackage is true.
<!-- Property that enables building a package from a project -->
<BuildPackage Condition=" '$(BuildPackage)' == '' ">true</BuildPackage>
Edit your .csproj file and add this to the first, default PropertyGroup
<BuildPackage>true</BuildPackage>
Rebuild your project and then search in the Output for nupkg and confirm creation and location of the package file.
Remove the dummy NuGet package reference and build again and check the Output.
To further customize the package creation, you can stick a MyProjectName.nuspec file next to your .csproj file.
See http://docs.nuget.org/docs/reference/nuspec-reference for more on the NuSpec format. You can also pull one from an existing package (its just a zip file) and have a nose around, see how it was done.
Add a post-build event like this:
$(SolutionDir)\.nuget\nuget.exe pack "$(MSBuildProjectFullPath)" -p Configuration=Release -o "$(MSBuildProjectDirectory)\bin\Release" -symbols"
And download and place nuget.exe in the .nuget folder alongside your solution file.
You can use nuget update -self to keep the .exe fresh.
Note
nuget.exe pack has a bug currently where it'll see a packages.config file and try to look for the packages it mentions in your solution but it fails to find them if the packages folder is in a strange place, e.g. if your solution file isn't a level up from the project.
To workaround this, add another post build event to copy the packages folder into the project folder.
The repositorypath config setting seems to do nothing for me.
See GitHub reports:
https://github.com/NuGet/Home/issues/5316
So funny. I was having problems with my usual way of auto-building a package on build when I arrived at this new way. So I looked for a suitable SO question to answer with my new post-build method when I came across my own question here!
Related
before i start i must state that i pretty new to this nuget package things, so come basic at me.
My app has a core project to carry some .dll and .sql files and an api project. I have made the core project a nuget package with dotnet pack and automated it on github action so it creates a new version at all prs and pushes it to my private nuget server and it is all fine till here.
When i install this core package to my api project, there is no problem either. It installs successfully and my sql files shows up on the target project as i expected(but as linked sources).
But when i try to publish this project with dotnet pack, the .sql files are not copied to output folder. I looked to the properties of the files and saw that their copy to output directory prop has been reset to do not copy and the file path was absolute.
My goal is to build and deploy this api with github actions so absolute paths are not acceptable and besides i don't want to arrange something in the target project manually.
I'm packing the core project with dotnet pack
I don't have any
.nuspec file
package config xml
nuget config
package metadata
or other things like than and i don't know how to use them.
I have tried adding to csproj file <CopyLocalLockFileAssemblies>true</CopyLocalLockFileAssemblies> and <RestoreProjectStyle>PackageReference</RestoreProjectStyle> things and they did not work.
I have tried adding to csproj file
and it did not work too.
Can anyone help me?
The only thing you need to do is that you should write this node <PackageCopyToOutput>true</PackageCopyToOutput> to every content file of the nuget net core project:
<ItemGroup>
<Content Include="Queries\Account\CheckAccountRef.sql">
<PackageCopyToOutput>true</PackageCopyToOutput>
</Content>
.....
</ItemGroup>
Then, re-pack your nuget project with dotnet pack and then reinstall this new version into your main project. Before you install, you should delete the old caches under C:\Users\xxx\.nuget\packages.
There is a similar issue about this.
You can use .nuspec file to configure all your dependencies. Please refer https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/nuget/reference/nuspec
How do I disable "transitive package management"?
I wish to do so, so that I can install a package that I "packed" locally and have in a .nupkg file. When I attempt to do so, I get a messaging stating that The 'Source' parameter is not respected for the transitive package management based project(s) {csproj file}. The enabled sources in your NuGet configuration will be used.
Complete Context
When developing a NuGet package that's not ready for distribution via our NuGet feed, I often create a local .nupkg file like this from the package manager console:
nuget pack {path-to-csproj-file}
This generates a {project-name}.nupkg file, which I can then install in another project by opening it in Visual Studio, navigating to the package manager console, and entering the command
Install-Package {path-to-nupkg-file}
This has worked great and once the NuGet package is ready for distribution, we push it up to Azure DevOps and let the build pipeline there push it into our feed.
However, I just recently inherited a project where the prior developer apparently setup "transitive package management" that prevents this workflow. Here's what I get when I try to install directly from a .nupkg file:
Install-Package C:\Users\Josh\source\repos\SpeakerDiscountManager\SpeakerDiscountData.1.0.5.nupkg
The 'Source' parameter is not respected for the transitive package management based project(s) MembershipApplicationWidget\MembershipApplicationWidget.csproj. The enabled sources in your NuGet configuration will be used.
<snipped several lines of unsuccessfully searching configured package sources>
Install-Package : NU1102: Unable to find package SpeakerDiscountData with version (>= 1.0.5)
Obviously, it doesn't find the package I've specified via file, because it is searching online feeds and it doesn't exist in any of our online package sources--the package is in a testing state, not ready for anyone to use but me.
Based on the error message, I need to turn off "transitive package management" so that I can specify a file source for the package, but I've been unable to turn up any information online about how this is configured.
I did try installing this exact same .nupkg file in another project, using the same Install-Package {path-to-nupkg-file} procedure. This works.
How to disable “transitive package management” for a Visual Studio
project
I think this problem transitive package management is related to your current project structure which has some intricate dependencies, custom rules and so on. Therefore, turning off transitive package management is unpractical. If you create other projects and then install this package by your way, I think it probably will not occur.
As a best workaround, as you said(hint from the message The enabled sources in your NuGet configuration will be used.), add the the local nuget package's path into Nuget Package Source.
In your side, I think you specify -Source xxxxx(the path of the nuget package) to install this package in the package manager console, if so, this function actually is inconvenient.
You can just add the folder path which SpeakerDiscountData.1.0.5.nupkg exists into global nuget package source. Once you have done it, it will applies to any projects in this machine.
It has two ways:
1) VS IDE UI
Tools-->Options-->NuGet Package Manager-->Packages Sources-->add a new key and input the path of the nuget folder. Also, check its option.
2) global NuGet.Config file
(C:\Users\xxxx\AppData\Roaming\NuGet\Nuget.Config and step 1 is just add the path into this file by VS UI Control)
add these:
<packageSources>
<add key="Local Packages Source" value="C:\Users\Josh\source\repos\SpeakerDiscountManager\" />
..........
</packageSources>
After that, you can use your command to install this nuget package.
Note: If the root directory of your solution also has a file named nuget.config, the parameters in it will override the global file. It has the highest priority.
Just go to Vs IDE Tools/Nuget Package Manager/Package Manager Setting And Check The address of Package Sources.
it's something like "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\NuGetPackages".
Then Copy your package file into that folder and at last run this command in Package Manager Console:
install-package packagename
I have a set of Nuget Libraries that I compile and modify myself.
I build them without publishing on any Nuget server. (It is not my library)
On the other side, I have a project that use such Nugets, but I wish to debug them...
In the best situation I wish to:
use my local .dll and .pdb
debug by using local .pdb and (updated) source code
I'm looking for the best possible solution, if possible by loading all local symbols,
but I'm not sure it is possible.
Maybe I have to build on my own local Nuget server and use a local Symbol server too, but it looks overkill?
Maybe I have to build on my own local Nuget server and use a local
Symbol server too, but it looks overkill?
As far as l know, when you want to debug a nuget library in a new project, you must add the required nuget.pdb and related xxx.cs source files in the new project.
According to your description, the nuget package is created by yourself which is more easiler to realize it:
1) If you have the nuget.pdb file and the corresponding cs file on the local, you just need to put the PDB file in the output file of the project which references the nuget, and then right-click on the Solution-->Properties-->Common Properties-->Debug Source Files-->to add the folder path which the cs files exist into it.
2) If you do not have the current nuget.pdb file and related cs source files for debugging on the local, you need to include these files in nuget.nupkg when creating the nuget package by using nuget.exe cli with xxx.nuspec, so that these files can be added to the current agent when you install the nuget package.
**Note:**This is the special steps for creating your nuget package:
A) please make sure that you have downloaded the nuget.exe and then set its path to environment variables so that it can be called in CMD. You can refer to this.
B) Open CMD, type cd xxxxxx(the path of the project which contains xxxx.csproj)
C) type nuget spec to generate the xxx.spec file
Then open it and add like these:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<package >
<metadata>
........
</metadata>
<files>
<file src="bin\Debug\ClassLibrary11.pdb" target="lib\target framework version (like net472 or netstandard2.0)" />------ClassLibrary11.pdb is the nuget.pdb
<file src="Class1.cs" target="src" />------Class1.cs is the source file
</files>
</package>
D) then type nuget pack to generate the nuget package which contains these debug files.
E) when you install this nuget package in a new project, please do not forget to clean the nuget cache first. After that, you should add the path of the resource files into Debug Source Files.(the resource files exists in the C:\Users\xxx\.nuget\packages\package name\src or C:\xxxxx\ConsoleApp(project folder)\packages\package name\src)
Edit
F) When you start debugging it, please do not forget to disable Just My Code In Tools-->Options-->Debugging-->General-->uncheck Enable Just My Code.
Also, you can consider source links as source control so that you won't configure the source path by Solution=>properties.
In addition, you can refer to this similar issue.
I had a project structure like this:
WebApp
-- WebApp
-- WebApp.sln
WebApp.Tests
-- WebApp.Tests.csproj
I moved WebApp.Tests into WebApp using a move (simple click & drag into the WebApp folder). I edited WebApp.sln to fix the project reference so that it will load.
When I build, Nuget complains that packages are missing and to do a restore.
I downloaded and used nuget.exe restore on my solution and it reported everything was there.
Based on other Stack Overflow answers, I have tried the following:
Edit the test project reference hint paths. I changed from ..\WebApp\packages\PACKAGE to ..\packages\PACKAGE
Reload Visual Studio (multiple times)
Delete contents of packages folder and bin/obj folders of the projects
Use the package manager console to reinstall packages on the Test Project
All of these failed to fix the problem. When I used the package manager to try to reinstall the packages with the command, it gave me the same error that project building does - I must restore the packages first.
Is there any quick way to fix my project? I really don't want to go through each package and uninstall/reinstall manually. Also, how could I have prevented this problem in the first place? Is there a built-in way to move project locations?
There was XML similar to this at the end of my project file:
<Target Name="EnsureNuGetPackageBuildImports" BeforeTargets="PrepareForBuild">
<PropertyGroup>
<ErrorText>This project references NuGet package(s) that are missing on this computer. Enable NuGet Package Restore to download them. For more information, see http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=322105. The missing file is {0}.</ErrorText>
</PropertyGroup>
<Error Condition="!Exists('..\WebApp\packages\SPECIFICPACKAGE')" Text="$([System.String]::Format('$(ErrorText)', '..\WebApp\packages\SPECIFICPACKAGE'))" />
</Target>
By changing the ..\Webapp\packages to ..\packages like the rest of the file, my solution compiles just fine now.
I had the same issue where I physically moved a project folder into the src folder and got the missing packages error. My fix was to open up the .csproj file in notepad and replace every instance of
this:
..\packages\
with this:
..\..\packages\
It solved the issue...
I'm trying to customize an existing NuGet package to add some new behavior, specifically into a package called StyleCop.MsBuild
Downloaded the source of the package from bitbucket repo (https://bitbucket.org/adamralph/stylecop-msbuild/wiki/Home)
Changed id of package in *.nuspec file from StyleCop.MSBuild to MyCustomPackage
Created *.nupkg file using NuGet Package Explorer
Uploaded *.nupkg file to my local NuGet server
So the only change was the id of the original package.
But now when I try to install MyCustomPackage into a project, it is installed on the solution level and not on the project level. Visual Studio creates a folder called '.nuget' in the root of the solution and places the packages.config file in there.
Not sure what causes this change since all I did was to change the package id.
Any help appreciated.
The StyleCop.MsBuild package has an msbuild target in the build folder and the convention is that the name should match the package id. So by changing the package id, the msbuild target file was not referenced anymore and the package became a solution level one.
https://docs.nuget.org/create/creating-and-publishing-a-package#import-msbuild-targets-and-props-files-into-project