I have a project in C# for usiversity. I want to use SQLite in it, but how should I include it, knowing that I will have to give my teacher the full VS2015 project folder ?
I also use 2 computers with github to transfer the sources.
Since I don't know a lot about NuGet or external library (DLL) reference with Visual Studio, i have no idea what I should use.
Will NuGet install SQLite in the project folder, or should I choose the DLL (from here), and put it in the project folder ?
Also on a side question, should I ignore the SQLite files when commiting ?
You should use NuGet, and yes you should add your packages folder to the .gitignore.
I'd definitely suggest NuGet as well. NuGet can be set to automatically restore the files when a new person builds. (Package Restore, by the way, just means that NuGet will download the necessary files automatically). That way you don't have to pass around DLLs. It also helps make sure that everyone's on the correct version.
In general, it's considered a bad practice to check executable code into source control if you can avoid it. Doing so can make it much more difficult to track history and version differences, for example.
Related
I'm looking for a simple way to manage NuGet packages for the whole solution, to prevent conflicts between transitive NuGet packages when assembling all files into one installer.
When building a project all direct and indirect dependencies are analyzed and the NuGet resolution picks up the best matching version for each NuGet that is at least the same version as the lowest version and might also create binding redirects if necessary. (all good and fine)
The problem we have lately encountered was when we build the whole solution (200+ projects) at once, the resulting NuGet versions between all top level projects might not be identical. And due to the fact, that all resulting DLL and EXE files are installed into the same program files folder, the application can and will crash at runtime due to version mismatches when loading assemblies.
To better understand this issue I've created this sample repo.
The dependency graph looks like this:
Library1
Microsoft.IdentityModel.Tokens-5.2.1
Executable1
System.IdentityModel.Tokens.Jwt-5.3.0 (transitive reference: Microsoft.IdentityModel.Tokens-5.3.0)
Library1
results in: Microsoft.IdentityModel.Tokens-5.3.0
Executable2
Microsoft.IdentityModel.Tokens-5.2.1
results in: Microsoft.IdentityModel.Tokens-5.2.1
To demonstrate the problem, all projects compile to the same bin folder. When the whole solution is compiled and Executable2 is started, the application crashes, since the application expects Microsoft.IdentityModel.Tokens in version 5.2.1 but the actual version is 5.3.0.
For this constructed sample it is easy to find the problem and fix it with updating the Microsoft.IdentityModel.Tokens NuGet to the same version. (Manually, since Visual Studio Package Manager does not recognize this conflict in the consolidate tab).
But at a much greater scale it is far more complex to find those mismatches.
What we have found so far
Centrally managing NuGet package versions
Since it is not yet available, it cannot be used to solve the issue here.
Microsoft.Build.CentralPackageVersions
Unfortunately there is no IDE support for it, which makes managing NuGet packages very uncomfortable, which I would like to avoid if possible.
So my question is what is the best approach to avoid NuGet version conflicts between projects within the same solution?
We've experienced the same problem with some of our projects. We've been using Paket package manager since a couple of years and this has resolved that issue for us.
In short: you define on your solution level which packages you want to use in a file called 'paket.dependencies'. You can be very specific about versions, or let packet use the latest greatest. Then you can specify per project which NuGet package you want to use within that project in a 'paket.references' file. As the name implies, you reference to a package in the paket.dependencies file.
This will make sure, all references packages in your project will use the same package version. I hope this suits your needs as well.
First of all, I would like to clarify that I'm coming from a Java/Maven background.
I am managing Nexus and we have a team that are developing in .NET who are asking whether they can store exe files in Nexus under a Nuget repository. As this is not possible (and exe-s are not really artifacts as in "archives"), are Nuget packages a reasonable place to store exe-s? I would personally say "no", as, in my opinion, Nuget packages are supposed to just contain libraries and other resources, but as I'm not a .NET developer myself, I'd like to find out what the best practices are.
are Nuget packages a reasonable place to store exe-s?
If it's a tool, then yes. There are several good examples where Nuget is an excellent place to store exe-files.
For example:
The nuget package dotless has a tool (standalone exe), which is a compiler for CSS-files. This enables us to use that tool in our (TFS-) build server without installing any third party software on the build server.
But other than that, I agree with you. A Nuget-package is mainly for libraries and other resources that will be references in the project. But it's after all just a platform for spreading code between developers and different teams.
Or as Nuget puts it:
No matter what your package does or what code it contains, NuGet is
how you package that functionality into a component that can be shared
with and used by any number of other developers.
If the purpose of your nuget package is to deploy an executable program, then sure you can store an exe in there - what other option is there after all!
I am building a new project in ASP.NET 5.
In my solution I have added a new Class Library (Package) project.
I right click on this project and choose for Manage Nuget packages to install PetaPoco.Core.
When I install everything seems fine except that the PetaPoco.cs file is not in my project.
In my references I se the PetaPoco version 5.1.171 installed.
Is this something different then a normal class library and do I need to use something else in order to use the installed PetaPoco class or is it a problem during the installation?
I have removed and reinstalled this but still the same.
Someone that can help me out?
/Michael
It looks like the PetaPoco.Core package isn't setup to be used in portable class libraries (PCLs).
Including content files in PCLs like the Models folder that PetaPoco.Core creates requires a different NuGet setup than a regular project. Documentation on this can be found on NuGet. I downloaded their package directly and can confirm that it is not setup in the way the linked resource describes.
It may be that the project requires features that are not available yet cross-platform, or they simply haven't had time to make changes to support PCLs, or some other reason that I am not aware of.
NuGet packages are usually installed as DLLs in the bin folder of your project, with the needed references also added automatically to the project. They usually don't include source files. You may find sources - if available - on the package/project website.
Visual Studio IntelliSense will pick up the DLLs and show what it can about the classes and methods inside, including comments and method signatures.
See here for a tutorial, including how to build your own NuGet packages.
EDIT: PetaPoco is the exception that does add a .cs file... see comment below.
I know people normally add a dll file into the reference of Visual Studio very easily as follow:
1) Right Click on Reference
2) Choose Add Reference
3) Browse and choose dll file
However, with this approach, VS seems to store the absolute path, pointing to my dll file, rather than copy dll file into VS's project memory.
What if I remove the dll file from the hard driver? or what if I want to deploy the project on another computer?
Sorry, I am quite new to .Net
As described in your question, this is the way you reference a class library or any other DLL-like reference.
Once compiled, your project copies its dependencies into its bin folder where you can find the referenced DLLs.
If you can't find the referenced DLL, set its Copy Local property to true.
Another way around is to set your Reference Paths. This will force, on compile-time, your project to update itself with DLLs from the specified reference paths.
The best practice was to create a Shared folder where all referenced libraries were in, so that you could write your reference paths once and for all per project.
Technologies being so great and vast on improvements, there's now NuGet Package Manager.
What is NuGet?
A collection of tools to automate the process of downloading, installing, upgrading, configuring, and removing packages from a VS Project.
How to use NuGet?
You may install it from within Visual Studio if it is not already installed, through the Extension Manager.
Otherwise, please visit the NuGet CodePlex Home Page.
Here's how Finding and Installing a NuGet Package Using the Package Manager Console has never been easier! =)
So when you open up an existing project, NuGet manages to get all the dependencies for you without any more effort from you. This should solve your concerns.
First of all, I apologize if this is a basic question. I tried looking this up, but for some reason, I got more confused. So, I decided to ask here. Is a dll file and a nuget package the same? Are they both just being referenced in the project?
When you add features to your project via a nuget package, you're just adding files to your project. It can be javascript files (like jQuery), DLLs that your project references (like Newtonsoft JSON), or a whole bunch of things (like Entity Framework or Owin/SignalR) -- anything really.
The advantage of using the nuget package system is that it tracks it all for you. It notifies you if your added packages received an update, it removes the files and unreferences them if you take the package off your project. It handles all of that for you, so you don't have to track the files that the nuget package added, place them in special folders, make sure they get copied in your builds, all that micromanaging stuff.
From the docs, https://www.nuget.org.
"What is NuGet? NuGet is the package manager for the Microsoft
development platform including .NET. The NuGet client tools provide
the ability to produce and consume packages. The NuGet Gallery is the
central package repository used by all package authors and consumers."
A package can contain one or more dlls in addition to other assets such as config files etc.
You can add libraries via reference into your project but you would not notice when they were updated.
NuGet is a Visual Studio extension that makes it easy to pull in not only libraries but components, and most importantly their configuration into your visual studio project. It will help you manage your packages installed on your project and it will notify you when the package has new version released.
Let's say I created my own DLL, I could add my own DLL by reference. However, it won't be available in NuGet until I package and publish it first to make it available at the NuGet Package Gallery.