Develop Reference

Distributing .editorConfig custom settings through nuget package

I am having an issue trying to implement compiler-based code analysis in my C# .NetFramework solution. I decided to use Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.NetAnalyzers nuget package with some custom .editorconfig ruleset that I do not want to keep directly in the consuming project. I created another nuget with the .editorconfig and the idea is to copy the file to each consuming project before it is built in order to trigger the analysis (during build).
I tried an approach (described here) where the .editorconfig is copied to csproj location in a beforeBuild task defined in .props file
<Project xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
<PropertyGroup Condition="('$(Configuration)' == 'Debug')">
<RunAnalyzersDuringBuild>false</RunAnalyzersDuringBuild>
</PropertyGroup>
<ItemGroup>
<EditorConfigFilesToCopy Include="$(MSBuildThisFileDirectory)..\content\.editorconfig" />
</ItemGroup>
<Target Name="CopyEditorConfig" BeforeTargets="BeforeBuild">
<Message Text="Copying the .editorconfig file from '#(EditorConfigFilesToCopy)' to '$(MSBuildProjectDirectory)'"></Message>
<Copy
SourceFiles="#(EditorConfigFilesToCopy)"
DestinationFolder="$(MSBuildProjectDirectory)"
SkipUnchangedFiles="true"
UseHardlinksIfPossible="false" />
</Target>
</Project>
Unfortunately, the file seems to be copied too late as the msbuild ignores it during the build itself and does not fail due to CA violations as I would expect. If the file had been copied manually before running msbuild, it works.
Do You have any idea why it is like that and how to handle this issue properly?

Include ONLY .xml file of SPECIFIC nuget package in a different folder

We have a project (ProjectAbc) in a solution which is referencing a nuget package (which is our different project [ProjectXyz] from other solution). We use .net core framework and package reference to include nuget package (ProjectXyz) in .csproj file.
<PackageReference Include="ProjectXyz" Version="1.1.2.3" />
When the solution is build locally or in Prod, ProjectXyz.dll and ProjectXyz.xml gets generated in
ProjectAbc/bin/debug(locally) or release(inProd)/netcoreapp3.1
We want Only ProjectXyz.xml of Only ProjectXyz nuget package to get generated in following folder directly
ProjectAbc
I found various articles which directed me to do different things like copying file to output directory after building or using relative path. Though, tried different ways, I keep getting various errors. It may be because I am not aware of the syntax in .csproj file or also may be because I am not sure what I am doing.
What would be best way to copy file in above case or to generate file directly in the required folder?
for my comment response:
Since I am unable to paste the screenshot in my comment for #Perry Qian-MSFT. So pasting it here.
8/20/2020-----package screenshot---------------------------

You could use <package_name>.props file in nuget project ProjectXyz to copy such file into the project folder of ProjectAbc. You should use <package_id>.props.
1) First, in your ProjectXyz project, create a folder called build and then add a file called <package_id>.props, in your side, it is called ProjectXyz.props.
2) Add these in ProjectXyz.props file:
<Project>
<Target Name="CopyFilesToProject" BeforeTargets="Build">
<Message Text="Copying ProjectXyz.xml to project" />
<ItemGroup>
<SourceScripts Include="$(MSBuildThisFileDirectory)..\..\content\any\any\**\*.*"/> //file from the ProjectXyz nuget package
</ItemGroup>
<Copy
SourceFiles="#(SourceScripts)"
DestinationFiles="#(SourceScripts -> '$(MSBuildProjectDirectory)\%(RecursiveDir)%(Filename)%(Extension)')" //copy into the main ProjectAbc project folder
/>
</Target>
</Project>
3) Unload your ProjectXyz project and add these in ProjectXyz.csproj file:
<ItemGroup>
<Content Include="bin\Debug\xxx\ProjectXyz.xml(the path of the ProjectXyz.xml)" Pack="true"
PackagePath="content\any\any;contentFiles\any\any\;;">
<PackageCopyToOutput>true</PackageCopyToOutput>
</Content>
<None Include="build\ProjectXyz.props" Pack="true" PackagePath="build\$(TargetFramework)"/>
</ItemGroup>
4) Then you should pack your new ProjectXyz project.
5) Then you finish packing, you should first clean all nuget caches first.
Then in your ProjectAbc project, you should uninstall the old one and then install the new ProjectXyz nuget package.
After that, you should build ProjectAbc project first and then you will see that xml document from the nuget package is under the project folder of ProjectAbc.
====================================================================
Update 1
ProjectXyz project is net core or net standard while ProjectAbc is net core.
First, to help you understand the issue, instead, I try to pack ProjectXyz.xml file into other folder in the ProjectXyz.nupkg.
1) First, change to use these xml content in ProjectXyz.csproj file:
<ItemGroup>
<Content Include="bin\Debug\netcoreapp3.1\ProjectXyz.xml" Pack="true" PackagePath="XmlFolder">
<PackageCopyToOutput>true</PackageCopyToOutput>
</Content>
<None Include="build\ProjectXyz.props" Pack="true" PackagePath="build\$(TargetFramework)"/>
</ItemGroup>
The goal of it is to pack ProjectXyz.xml file into the folder called XmlFolder of XmlFolder.nupkg. And save ProjectXyz.xml file in the Nuget package.
Make sure that the file exists in the nuget package.
If the file does not exist, I think it is controlled by your git. Or you could put this ProjectXyz.xml in your project folder.
Try to right-click on your project-->Properties-->Build-->check this:
Just use <Content Include="ProjectXyz.xml" Pack="true" PackagePath="XmlFolder">
In our side, the file can be copied into nupkg nuget package so you should make sure that other tools like git will not interface it.
2) Then change to use these in ProjectXyz.props file:
<Project>
<Target Name="CopyFilesToProject" BeforeTargets="Build">
<Message Text="Copying ProjectXyz.xml to project" />
<ItemGroup>
//ProjectXyz.xml file from the ProjectXyz nuget package
<SourceScripts Include="$(MSBuildThisFileDirectory)..\..\XmlFolder\**\*.*"/>
</ItemGroup>
//copy ProjectXyz.xml file into the main ProjectAbc project folder
<Copy
SourceFiles="#(SourceScripts)"
DestinationFiles="#(SourceScripts -> '$(MSBuildProjectDirectory)\%(RecursiveDir)%(Filename)%(Extension)')"
/>
</Target>
</Project>
The goal of it is that when you install this nuget package, it will first run this target to copy the ProjectXyz.xml file from the nuget package into the main project ProjectAbc.
Note:
When you finishing installing nuget package, first build ProjectAbc project and the file will exists in ProjectAbc project folder.
3) Then right-click ProjectXyz-->Properties-->Pack to pack your project.
When you install the new ProjectXyz, you should first delete all files under
C:\Users\xxx(current user)\.nuget\packages.
Also, one more question I had is, the ProjectXyz is being referenced
in multiple projects like ProjectAbc, Project123. We dont want
ProjectXyz.xml file to show up in Project123 but only in ProjectAbc. I
guess with above solution, it might show in both of referencing
projects.
For this, you only need to add a condition in CopyFilesToProject target like this: $(ProjectXyz_Flag)==true and then create a property ProjectXyz_Flag and set its value to true in ProjectAbc.csproj file.
When you build ProjectAbc project, it will determine whether to copy the file based on the switch variable you are currently setting.
a) Add a condition called $(ProjectXyz_Flag) in ProjectXyz.props file:
Then repack your ProjectXyz project and do several clean steps as I said before.
When you install that package in ProjectAbc project, you should add such such property in ProjectAbc.csproj file:
<PropertyGroup>
<ProjectXyz_Flag>true</ProjectXyz_Flag>
</PropertyGroup>
Then when you build ProjectAbc project, it will execute the copy target and if you do not define that property, it will not copy that file in ProjectAbc.
And if those projects do not need ProjectXyz.xml file, you just do not define that switch property in those projects.
====================================================
Update 2
try to use nuget.exe cli to pack your project, you just need a custom nuspec file:
First, download nuget.exe cli and then configure its local path into PATH System Environment Variable. Then, you can call nuget in CMD.
Second, open CMD and cd xxx(project folder path), run nuget spec to generate the nuspec file and then modify the generated nuspec file:
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<package xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/packaging/2010/07/nuspec.xsd">
<metadata>
<!-- ... -->
</metadata>
<files>
<file src="xxx\ProjectXyz.xml" target="XmlFolder" />
<file src="build\ProjectXyz.props" target="build\netcoreapp3.1" />
</files>
</package>
Third, run nuget pack to pack this project.
==============================================================
Update 3
Please first clean your nuget caches or just delete all nuget caches under C:\Users\xxx(current user)\.nuget\packages. Then reinstall your nuget package.
Also, make sure that the xxx.props name is the same as your nuget package_id.
If your nuget package calls ProjectXyz(package_id). Then the props file should be named as ProjectXyz.props.
Besides, you should set msbuild project build output verbosity to detailed under Tools-->Options-->Projects and Solutions-->Build and Run.
Then, rebuild your ProjectAbc to check whether the target executes.
======================================================
Update 4
You should make sure that when you pack your package project.mnop, make sure that the project.mnop.props file has no syntax errors.
For an example, I have incorrectly wrote something like asdczxcx in the props file, however, since the build action of the props file is Content or None, Vs will not automatically analyze its errors and will not show the errors.
And the error shows the same as yours.
So you should delete that Illegal characters. Make sure that project.mnop.props has no syntax errors. Then repack your project.
After that, first uninstall the old nuget package project.mnop on the ProjectAbc.
Then, delete the cache project.mnop folder under C:\Users\xxx(current user)\.nuget\packages.
Finally, delete bin and obj folder of ProjectAbc, install the new version project.mnop, then rebuild your project ProjectAbc.
=============================================
Update 5
Actually, this should be an easier way. And your inspiration can be done with a more concise Nuget package structure.
You should only change this:
1) change to use ProjectXyz.xml from the lib folder in your ProjectXyz.props:
<SourceScripts Include="$(MSBuildThisFileDirectory)..\..\lib\netcoreapp3.1\ProjectXyz.xml"/>
</ItemGroup>
<Copy
SourceFiles="#(SourceScripts)"
DestinationFiles="#(SourceScripts -> '$(MSBuildProjectDirectory)\%(RecursiveDir)%(Filename)%(Extension)')"
/>
2) change your xxx.nuspec file to:
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<package >
<metadata>
........
<copyright>Copyright 2020</copyright>
<tags>Tag1 Tag2</tags>
</metadata>
<files>
<file src="build\ProjectXyz.props" target="build\netcoreapp3.1" />
</files>
</package>
3) then pack your project and then you can get what you want.
Note: SourceScripts uses the path $(MSBuildThisFileDirectory).
$(MSBuildThisFileDirectory) means the full path where the ProjectXyz.props file of the nuget package exists.
In your side, the $(MSBuildThisFileDirectory) means
C:\Users\xxxxx\.nuget\packages\project.mnop\45.0.0\build\netcoreapp3.1
And then use this path to find the file address of ProjectXyz.xml in the lib folder of the nuget package.

ClickOnce include imported .targets when publishing (FFMPEG)

I have a WinForms application which I am publishing via ClickOnce. This applciation includes the Accord FFMPEG libraries, which are included as references.
The FFMPEG NuGet package folder includes a .targets file, which includes a variety of dlls needed for proper operation of the FFMPEG library (avcodec.dll, avformat.dll, avutil.dll). These are copied to the \bin folder when building the project. This is done by including this line in the .csproj:
Import Project="..\packages\Accord.Video.FFMPEG.3.3.0\build\Accord.Video.FFMPEG.targets" Condition="Exists('..\packages\Accord.Video.FFMPEG.3.3.0\build\Accord.Video.FFMPEG.targets')"
However when publishing the application via ClickOnce, these files are not included in the published folder. Is there a way to run the Import Project task and add the files into the published folder?

Unfortunately I didn't manage to get this working using the .targets file. My solution in the end was to copy the required dlls to the deployment folder and include them in the manifest, as below.
<ItemGroup Label="FFMPEG DLL">
<ClickOnce Include="..\packages\Accord.Video.FFMPEG.3.3.0\build\*.dll">
<InProject>false</InProject>
<Visible>false</Visible>
</ClickOnce>
</ItemGroup>
<Target Name="BeforeBuild">
<CreateItem Include="#(ClickOnce)" AdditionalMetadata="TargetPath=%(FileName)%(Extension);IsDataFile=false">
<Output TaskParameter="Include" ItemName="_DeploymentManifestFiles" />
</CreateItem>
</Target>
<Target Name="BeforePublish">
<Touch Files="#(IntermediateAssembly)" />
</Target>
This is using .NET 4.6.1 and VS2017.

Including referenced project DLLs in nuget package [.Net Core RC3 *.csproj file]

I have a solution with two projects in it. First project is called Library1, which references project two called Referencelibrary. I am trying to embed the DLLs for ReferenceLibrary inside Library1's nuget package so that I don't have to publish 2 separate nuget packages. I've been able to embed ReferenceLibrary's DLL into the nuget package (so it seems) by adding the entries below into my csproj file:
<ItemGroup>
<ProjectReference Include="..\ReferenceLibrary\ReferenceLibrary.csproj">
<ReferenceOutputAssembly>true</ReferenceOutputAssembly>
<IncludeAssets>ReferenceLibrary.dll</IncludeAssets>
<IncludeAssets>ReferenceLibrary.pdp</IncludeAssets>
</ProjectReference>
</ItemGroup>
But when I import the nuget package and try to run my test app, I get the following exception:
I assumed that the DLLs had been embedded because prior to adding the "IncludeAssets" to the csproj, I wasn't able to import the nuget package because it was trying to reference the ReferenceLibrary nuget package. But after adding those entries, it allowed me to import it. But now it bombs at run-time. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
;)

There is now a more up-to-date workaround described here. Simply add the TargetsForTfmSpecificBuildOutput and Target nodes to your .csproj file as shown below.
<Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk">
<PropertyGroup>
<TargetsForTfmSpecificBuildOutput>$(TargetsForTfmSpecificBuildOutput);CopyProjectReferencesToPackage</TargetsForTfmSpecificBuildOutput>
</PropertyGroup>
<Target Name="CopyProjectReferencesToPackage" DependsOnTargets="ResolveReferences">
<ItemGroup>
<BuildOutputInPackage Include="#(ReferenceCopyLocalPaths->WithMetadataValue('ReferenceSourceTarget', 'ProjectReference'))" />
</ItemGroup>
</Target>
</Project>
Official documentation for this extension point in the pack target can be found here.
You might also then want to add the attribute PrivateAssets="All" to the ProjectReference element to suppress that project from appearing as a NuGet dependency in the generated package, e.g.:
<ProjectReference Include="MyNonNugetDependentProject.csproj" PrivateAssets="All" />

This appears to be a known limitation with the built-in NuGet packaging for core projects in Visual Studio 2017 and is discussed here:
https://github.com/NuGet/Home/issues/3891
In that discussion thread there is a hack that worked for me:
https://github.com/NuGet/Home/issues/3891#issuecomment-309792369
<ItemGroup>
<_PackageFiles Include="$(OutputPath)\ReferencedProjectDll.dll">
<BuildAction>None</BuildAction>
<PackagePath>lib\net45\</PackagePath>
</_PackageFiles>
</ItemGroup>
Note that you need to change the assembly name AND you might need to also change the package path to match the version of .NET Framework you are using. Above example is for 4.5 but you might be on the more current 4.6.

For placing DLLs within a folder of my choice I used the other customization point as described at Microsoft.
So I ended up with the following:
<PropertyGroup>
<IncludeBuildOutput>false</IncludeBuildOutput> <!-- omit the package creating library itself -->
<PackProject>true</PackProject>
<TargetsForTfmSpecificContentInPackage>$(TargetsForTfmSpecificContentInPackage);CreatePackNupkg</TargetsForTfmSpecificContentInPackage>
</PropertyGroup>
<Target Name="CreatePackNupkg">
<ItemGroup>
<TfmSpecificPackageFile Include="$(OutputPath)\<whatever>.*.dll">
<PackagePath>folder/subfolder</PackagePath>
</TfmSpecificPackageFile>
</ItemGroup>
</Target>
The NuGet.Pack package is created the same way (have a look).

We could not include referenced project DLLs with three or above projects.
For example, the ReferenceLibrary.dll will be added to References for Library1 when project Library1 reference to project ReferenceLibrary. But only the Library1.dll will be add to the References of test app project when you reference project Library1 to project test app. The referenced project DLLs “Referencelibrary” will be omitted . See Flexible Project-to-Project References for more detail.
If you want to embed the DLLs for ReferenceLibrary inside Library1's nuget package and reference it to the test app project, you can add the ReferenceLibrary project reference to test app project after add the reference project Library1
or set ReferenceLibrary.dll as a dependence of Library1 project, you can add the below entries into Library1.csproj, then package the Library1 and install this package to test app via NuGet:
<ItemGroup>
<Reference Include="ReferenceLibrary, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, processorArchitecture=MSIL">
<HintPath>..\packages\ReferenceLibrary.1.0.0\lib\net461\ReferenceLibrary.dll</HintPath>
<Private>True</Private>
</Reference>
</ItemGroup>
Update：
If we want to embed the DLLs for ReferenceLibrary inside Library1's nuget package, we should make sure the ReferenceLibrary.dll include in the Library1 package, No matter how we embed the DLLS. So you can add ReferenceLibrary.dll to the Library1.nuspec as file when we pack the Library1 package and set target to the lib folder. Below is my Library1.nuspec:
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<package >
<metadata>
<id>Library1</id>
<version>1.0.0</version>
<authors>xxxx</authors>
<owners>xxxx</owners>
<requireLicenseAcceptance>false</requireLicenseAcceptance>
<description>Package description</description>
<releaseNotes>Summary of changes made in this release of the package.</releaseNotes>
<copyright>Copyright 2017</copyright>
<tags>Test</tags>
</metadata>
<files>
<file src="..\Library1\bin\Debug\Referencelibrary.dll" target="\lib\net461" />
<file src="..\Library1\bin\Debug\Library1.dll" target="\lib\net461" />
</files>
</package>
Note that: You also need include the Library1.dll in the Library1.nuspec.

Some extended version of Neo answer. Additionally instruct MSBuild to pack all pdb symbols to chosen symbols format. (built in pdb or snupkg)
<PropertyGroup>
<TargetsForTfmSpecificBuildOutput>$(TargetsForTfmSpecificBuildOutput);CopyProjectReferencesToPackage</TargetsForTfmSpecificBuildOutput>
<TargetsForTfmSpecificDebugSymbolsInPackage>$(TargetsForTfmSpecificDebugSymbolsInPackage);CopyProjectReferencesSymbolsToPackage</TargetsForTfmSpecificDebugSymbolsInPackage>
</PropertyGroup>
<Target Name="CopyProjectReferencesToPackage" DependsOnTargets="ResolveReferences">
<ItemGroup>
<BuildOutputInPackage Include="#(ReferenceCopyLocalPaths->WithMetadataValue('ReferenceSourceTarget', 'ProjectReference'))" />
</ItemGroup>
</Target>
<Target Name="CopyProjectReferencesSymbolsToPackage" DependsOnTargets="ResolveReferences">
<ItemGroup>
<SupposedSymbolFiles Include="#(ReferenceCopyLocalPaths->'%(RootDir)%(Directory)%(Filename).pdb')"/>
<TfmSpecificDebugSymbolsFile Include="#(SupposedSymbolFiles)" Condition="Exists('%(Identity)')">
<TargetFramework>$(TargetFramework)</TargetFramework>
</TfmSpecificDebugSymbolsFile>
</ItemGroup>
</Target>

ABCpdf nuget package XULRunner folder is corrupt?

I'm trying to update my (previously working) pdf-creating web application to use the ABCpdf.NET and ABCpdf.NET Gecko Runtime nuget packages.
I've installed both packages (both are version 8.1.1.6) however when I run my application, I get the following WebSupergoo.ABCpdf8.Internal.PDFException:
Failed to add HTML: Gecko engine hit an error it was unable to recover
from. Possible causes: XULRunner folder is corrupt or is from another
version of ABCpdf.
After installing the ABCpdf.NET Gecko Runtime package, I got a dialog telling me that I would need to manually copy the XULRunner folder into my output directory. In order to achieve this, I added the following to my applications .csproj file:
<Target Name="AfterBuild">
<CallTarget Targets="CopyAbcpdfToDeployFolder" />
</Target>
<Target Name="CopyAbcpdfToDeployFolder">
<ItemGroup>
<SourceDir Include="$(ProjectDir)XULRunner\**\*.*" />
</ItemGroup>
<Copy SourceFiles="#(SourceDir)" DestinationFolder="$(WebProjectOutputDir)\$(OutputPath)%(SourceDir.RecursiveDir)\XULRunner" />
</Target>
(This seems to be working correctly - the XULRunner folder and its contents are present in my bin folder after a build)
The line of code that is failing is as follows:
theDoc.AddImageUrl(url);
Can anyone help me get this working?

As it turns out, my changes to the .csproj file we not copying all files into the correct subfolders. In order to copy the folder structure and files recursively, the XML should have looked like this:
<Target Name="AfterBuild">
<CallTarget Targets="CopyXULRunnerToDeployFolder" />
</Target>
<Target Name="CopyXULRunnerToDeployFolder">
<ItemGroup>
<MyFiles Include="XULRunner\**\*.*" />
</ItemGroup>
<Microsoft.Build.Tasks.Copy SourceFiles="#(MyFiles)" DestinationFiles="#(MyFiles->'$(OutputPath)\XULRunner\%(RecursiveDir)%(Filename)%(Extension)')"/>
</Target>

I was able to accomplish the same outcome with the following MSBuild xml:
<ItemGroup>
<Content Include="XULRunner\**\*.*">
<CopyToOutputDirectory>PreserveNewest</CopyToOutputDirectory>
</Content>
</ItemGroup>
I fell upon this setup after dealing with issues concerning the building of a package via MSDeploy not including the XULRunner files.
Not sure if there's anything patently wrong with this, but so far it works for me on a multiple staged deployment setup.