Visual Studio For Mac Add Nuget Package

Posted : admin | On 29-05-2021

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Nuget Package Manager For Visual Studio
How To Add Nuget Packages Visual Studio
Visual Studio For Mac Add Nuget Package Explorer
Visual Studio For Mac
Make Nuget Package Visual Studio

Project created, now to add MvvmCross as a Nuget Package: Use the MvvmCross package, at the latest version (v6.2.1) Visual Studio Mac is quite happy and so is the package output. I'd like to add the ASP.NET Core release branch feed to my VS Code feeds, so I can try out an RTM version of SignalR Core which might be compatible with my.NET Core 1.1.0 build. I found a number of posts recommending.NET Core Project Manager for this purpose, but I can't find the appropriate NuGet.config file on my MBP, nor any obvious UX to add additional package sources.

NuGet is the most popular package manager for .NET development and is built in to Visual Studio for Mac and Visual Studio on Windows. You can search for and add packages to your Xamarin, .NET Core and ASP.NET projects using either IDE.

This article describes how to include a NuGet package in a project and demonstrates the tool chain that makes the process seamless.

NuGet in Visual Studio for Mac

To demonstrate the NuGet package functionality, we'll first walk through creating a new application and adding a package to it. Then we'll discuss the IDE features that help manage packages.

Create a new project

First, create a project named HelloNuget as illustrated below. This example shows the iOS Single View Application template, but any supported project type would work:

Adding a Package

With the project open in Visual Studio for Mac, right-click on the Packages folder in the Solution Pad and select Add NuGet Packages:

This launches the Add Packages window. Ensure that the Source drop-down, is set to nuget.org:

When the window opens it loads a list of packages from the default package source: nuget.org. The initial results look like this:

Use the search box in the top-right corner to find a specific package, for example azure mobile. When you have found a package that you wish to use, select it and click the Add Package button to begin installation.

Once the package has been downloaded, it will be added to your project. The solution will change as follows:

The References node will contain a list of all the assemblies that are part of a NuGet package.
The Packages node displays each NuGet package that you have downloaded. You can update or remove a package from this list.
A packages.config file will be added to the project. This XML file is used by the IDE to track which package versions are referenced in this project. This file should not be hand-edited, but you should keep it in version control. Note that a project.json file can be used instead of a packages.config file. The project.json file is a new package file format introduced with NuGet 3, which supports transitive restore. More detailed information on project.json can be found in the NuGet documentation. The project.json file needs to be added manually and the project closed and re-opened before the project.json file is used in Visual Studio for Mac.

Using NuGet Packages

Once the NuGet package has been added and the project references updated, you can program against the APIs as you would with any project reference.

Ensure that you add any required using directives to the top of your file:

Most NuGet provide additional information, such as a README or Project page link to the Nuget source. You can normally find a link to this in the package blurb on the Add Packages page:

Package Updates

Package updates can be done either all at once, by right-clicking on the Packages node, or individually on each component.

Right-click on Packages to access the context menu:

Add NuGet Packages - Opens the window to add more packages to the project.
Update - Checks the source server for each package and downloads any newer versions.
Restore - Downloads any missing packages (without updating existing packages to newer versions).

Update and Restore options are also available at the Solution level, and affect all the projects in the solution.

You can also right-click on individual packages to access a context menu:

Version Number - The version number is a disabled menu item - it is provided for informational purposes only.
Update - Checks the source server and downloads a newer version (if it exists).
Remove - Removes the package from this project and removes the relevant assemblies from the project's References.

Adding Package Sources

Packages available for installation are initially retrieved from nuget.org. However, you can add other package locations to Visual Studio for Mac. This can be useful for testing your own NuGet packages under development, or to use a private NuGet server inside your company or organization.

In Visual Studio for Mac, navigate to Visual Studio > Preferences > NuGet > Sources to view and edit the list of package sources. Note that sources can be a remote server (specified by a URL) or a local directory.

Click Add to set-up a new source. Enter a friendly name and the URL (or file path) to the package source. If the source is a secure web server, enter the username and password as well, otherwise leave these entries blank:

Different sources can then be selected when searching for packages:

Version Control

The NuGet documentation discusses using NuGet without committing packages to source control. If you prefer not to store binaries and unused information in source control, you can configure Visual Studio for Mac to automatically restore packages from the server. This means that when a developer retrieves the project from source control for the first time, Visual Studio for Mac will automatically download and install the required packages.

Refer to your particular source control documentation for details on how to exclude the packages directory from being tracked.

Find and install a package

In Solution Explorer, right-click either References or a project and select Manage NuGet Packages....
The Browse tab displays packages by popularity from the currently selected source (see package sources). Search for a specific package using the search box on the upper left. Select a package from the list to display its information, which also enables the Install button along with a version-selection drop-down.
Select the desired version from the drop-down and select Install. Visual Studio installs the package and its dependencies into the project. You may be asked to accept license terms. When installation is complete, the added packages appear on the Installed tab. Packages are also listed in the References node of Solution Explorer, indicating that you can refer to them in the project with using statements.

Tip

To include prerelease versions in the search, and to make prerelease versions available in the version drop-down, select the Include prerelease option.

Uninstall a package

In Solution Explorer, right-click either References or the desired project, and select Manage NuGet Packages....
Select the Installed tab.
Select the package to uninstall (using search to filter the list if necessary) and select Uninstall.
Note that the Include prerelease and Package source controls have no effect when uninstalling packages.

Update a package

In Solution Explorer, right-click either References or the desired project, and select Manage NuGet Packages.... (In web site projects, right-click the Bin folder.)
Select the Updates tab to see packages that have available updates from the selected package sources. Select Include prerelease to include prerelease packages in the update list.
Select the package to update, select the desired version from the drop-down on the right, and select Update.
For some packages, the Update button is disabled and a message appears saying that it's 'Implicitly referenced by an SDK' (or 'AutoReferenced'). This message indicates that the package is part of a larger framework or SDK and should not be updated independently. (Such packages are internally marked with <IsImplicitlyDefined>True</IsImplicitlyDefined>.) For example, Microsoft.NETCore.App is part of the .NET Core SDK, and the package version is not the same as the version of the runtime framework used by the application. You need to update your .NET Core installation to get new versions of the ASP.NET Core and .NET Core runtime. See this document for more details on .NET Core metapackages and versioning. This applies to the following commonly used packages:
- Microsoft.AspNetCore.All
- Microsoft.AspNetCore.App
- Microsoft.NETCore.App
- NETStandard.Library
To update multiple packages to their newest versions, select them in the list and select the Update button above the list.
You can also update an individual package from the Installed tab. In this case, the details for the package include a version selector (subject to the Include prerelease option) and an Update button.

Manage packages for the solution

Managing packages for a solution is a convenient means to work with multiple projects simultaneously.

Select the Tools > NuGet Package Manager > Manage NuGet Packages for Solution... menu command, or right-click the solution and select Manage NuGet Packages...:
When managing packages for the solution, the UI lets you select the projects that are affected by the operations:

Consolidate tab

Developers typically consider it bad practice to use different versions of the same NuGet package across different projects in the same solution. When you choose to manage packages for a solution, the Package Manager UI provides a Consolidate tab on which you can easily see where packages with distinct version numbers are used by different projects in the solution:

In this example, the ClassLibrary1 project is using EntityFramework 6.2.0, whereas ConsoleApp1 is using EntityFramework 6.1.0. To consolidate package versions, do the following:

Select the projects to update in the project list.
Select the version to use in all those projects in the Version control, such as EntityFramework 6.2.0.
Select the Install button.

The Package Manager installs the selected package version into all selected projects, after which the package no longer appears on the Consolidate tab.

Package sources

To change the source from which Visual Studio obtains packages, select one from the source selector:

To manage package sources:

How To Add Nuget Packages Visual Studio

Select the Settings icon in the Package Manager UI outlined below or use the Tools > Options command and scroll to NuGet Package Manager:
Select the Package Sources node:
To add a source, select +, edit the name, enter the URL or path in the Source control, and select Update. The source now appears in the selector drop-down.
To change a package source, select it, make edits in the Name and Source boxes, and select Update.
To disable a package source, clear the box to the left of the name in the list.
To remove a package source, select it and then select the X button.
Using the up and down arrow buttons does not change the priority order of the package sources. Visual Studio ignores the order of package sources, using the package from whichever source is first to respond to requests. For more information, see Package restore.

Tip

If a package source reappears after deleting it, it may be listed in a computer-level or user-level NuGet.Config files. See Common NuGet configurations for the location of these files, then remove the source by editing the files manually or using the nuget sources command.

Package manager Options control

When a package is selected, the Package Manager UI displays a small, expandable Options control below the version selector (shown here both collapsed and expanded). Note that for some project types, only the Show preview window option is provided.

The following sections explain these options.

Show preview window

When selected, a modal window displays which the dependencies of a chosen package before the package is installed:

Install and Update Options

(Not available for all project types.)

Dependency behavior configures how NuGet decides which versions of dependent packages to install:

Ignore dependencies skips installing any dependencies, which typically breaks the package being installed.
Lowest [Default] installs the dependency with the minimal version number that meets the requirements of the primary chosen package.
Highest Patch installs the version with the same major and minor version numbers, but the highest patch number. For example, if version 1.2.2 is specified then the highest version that starts with 1.2 will be installed
Highest Minor installs the version with the same major version number but the highest minor number and patch number. If version 1.2.2 is specified, then the highest version that starts with 1 will be installed
Highest installs the highest available version of the package.