NuGet

NuGet is the package manager for .NET

→ nuget.org, learn.microsoft.com

Presentation

An essential tool for any modern development platform is a mechanism through which developers can create, share, and consume useful code. Often such code is bundled into "packages" that contain compiled code (as DLLs) along with other content needed in the projects that consume these packages.

For .NET, the Microsoft-supported mechanism for sharing code is NuGet, which defines how packages for .NET are created, hosted, and consumed, and provides the tools for each of those roles.

→ docs.microsoft.com/what-is-nuget

Common packages

Name	Website	Source
AutoMapper	automapper.org
Dapper	dapper-tutorial.net	GitHub
FluentAssertions	fluentassertions.com
FluentValidation	fluentvalidation.net
ImageSharp	sixlabors.com	GitHub
MediatR		GitHUb
Moq		GitHub
Selenium WebDriver
xUnit		GitHub

NuGet CLI

CLI documentation

• NuGet CLI reference

CLI useful commands

• Self-update: nuget update -self

• Create spec file: nuget spec

• Create packages: nuget pack

Recipes

Create a package

• Package creation workflow

Publish NuGet packages from AzureDevOps

• Versioning and publishing NuGet packages automatically using Azure DevOps Pipelines

• Customize your build (C#, Visual Basic)

Host public/private feeds

Name	Site
Azure Packages	Provided by Azure DevOps
MyGet	myget.org, Working with upstream sources
ProGet	inedo.com
NuGet Server	nugetserver.net
NuGet Gallery	GitHub

How-to

Host your NuGet feeds

→ docs.microsoft.com

Solutions available (list not exhaustive!):

1/ MyGet

Pros: very easy to setup (less than 5 minutes), secure, free account (limited but more than enough for personal projects and evaluate), available on internet, works well with VSTS, no maintenance of infra cost

2/ VSTS with Package Management VSTS extension

Pros: natively integrated with VSTS Build, no maintenance of infra cost

3/ Host & deploy a web application referencing NuGet.Server

Cons: seems like the only free solution BUT time needed to setup (creation of the solution, build & deploy) and maintain the server hosting the solution (+ infra cost), by default no backup or feed on internet

4/ Sonatype Nexus

Cons: community version do not manage NuGet feeds AND infra/maintenance cost plus feeds not on internet by default

Tips:

• Do not forget to add a NuGet.config file at the root of the solutions that will use the library (see Configuring NuGet behavior and NuGet.Config reference). Otherwise you won't be able to do dotnet restore on build systems such as VSTS. Example:

  <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
  <configuration>
    <packageSources>
      <add key="nuget.org" value="https://api.nuget.org/v3/index.json" />
      <add key="MyGet Devpro" value="https://www.myget.org/F/devpro-public/api/v3/index.json" />
    </packageSources>
  </configuration>

Publish a NuGet package from VSTS

→ docs.microsoft.com

Prerequisites:

• NuGet server (needs to be defined):

  • In your VSTS project Settings section (wheel icon) go in "Services" page

  • In "Endpoints" click on "New Service Endpoint" and select "NuGet"

  • Fill the different elements (this is very easy if you are using MyGet, the feed URL and ApiKey have been displayed when you configured your feed)

Steps:

• .NET Core > Restore: nothing particular here (don't forget the NuGet.config file if you are using other feeds than nuget.org)

• .NET Core > Build: nothing particular here

• .NET Core > Test: nothing particular here

• .NET Core > dotnet pack: as of today (Feb 2018), you cannot use "NuGet pack in VSTS" but you can do a "dotnet pack" instead (ref discussion on github).

• NuGet > NuGet push:

  Target feed location = External NuGet server (including other accounts/collections)

  Nuget Server = the name of the server you defined earlier

Tips:

• By default, the NuGet package will always have the version 1.0.0 (question raised on Stackoverflow). There are 3 solutions:

  1/ Update your build definition in VSTS 2/ Update your project file and add VersionPrefix and VersionSuffix 3/ Use MSBuild to control how you build your NuGet packages