.net core (csproj) global.json 'projects' equivalent

Question

With .net core (project.json) I used to switch between nuget packages and source code by adding the path to source code to the projects field in the global.json. After I did that it would add all the projects that it could find in that path that could replace the nuget packages I referenced.

I used this feature alot because I have my own nuget packages that I use, but I want to test the changes in my other project before I publish. But once I switched to Sdk 1.0.0/VS 2017/csproj .net core that feature seemed to disappear.

The alternative is just manually adding each project, switch the references manually (since they are broken up into project, nuget and sdk references), and then after switch it all back.

Any thoughts or advice would be great.

UPDATE: Sounds like there is no equivalent in csproj (as expected), but there are msbuild workarounds for now (As of the initial VS 2017/.NET Core SDK 1.0.0 release)

There is a request to create a tool github.com/dotnet/sdk/issues/1151 - still open — Michael Freidgeim

Chris Chris · Accepted Answer · 2017-03-16T09:50:25

Yes, I too had gotten used to this functionality and built my workflow around it. I am still looking for a solution but I'm currently playing with the idea of using conditional logic in the csproj files. Since it's now msbuild, you can do things like this:

    <Choose>
    <When Condition="Exists('..\..\..\MyProject')">
        <ItemGroup>
            <ProjectReference Include="..\..\..\MyProject\src\MyProject\MyProject.csproj" />
        </ItemGroup>
    </When>
    <Otherwise>
        <ItemGroup>
            <PackageReference Include="MyProject" Version="1.0.0" />
        </ItemGroup>
    </Otherwise>
</Choose>

This replaces the hard reference to a package with a conditional that uses a project reference if it can find the source code (in this case the directory), and a package reference if can't.

So by default you would be referencing the package, but if you want to debug one of your projects, you check it out in the location that the conditional checks, and add the project to your solution.

This way you only need to change your solution file (by adding the project) when you want to include source code, instead of rewiring all your project references.

.net core (csproj) global.json 'projects' equivalent

2 Answers