The new .csproj format includes some significant improvements over the classic files, including tight integration with NuGet package management and significantly less-verbose structure. I want to gain these benefits whilst still using the .NET Framework 4.6 and ASP.NET (because my project depends on Umbraco which has yet to produce a .NET Core version).

The biggest challenge would seem to be the debugging experience - an ASP.NET Core project expects to run a dotnet core application and set up a reverse proxy to an IIS instance. This process is completely alien to the .NET Framework model and I wouldn&#39;t know where to start trying to set up debugging in Visual Studio.

Is there any way to get these two project models to mix?

Can the new csproj file structure be used with a ASP.NET Framework project?

When I am compiling my .csproj file using .NET Framework 4.0 MSBUILD.EXE file, I am getting an error: &quot;lable01&quot; not found in the current context of &quot;website01.csproj&quot;.

Actually, I need to add every ASP.NET page with its code-behind file&#39;s reference. I&#39;ve done it, it&#39;s working fine, but the above error is pending.

I hope it means that I need to add form name &quot;LABLE01&quot; in that .csproj file, but I do not know the syntax. Anybody please do provide me with the syntax to add form name in .csproj file.

How to edit .csproj file

I can&#39;t run my unit tests.

I have the next error:

&gt; Your project does not reference &quot;.NETFramework,Version=v4.6.2&quot;
&gt; framework. Add a reference to &quot;.NETFramework,Version=v4.6.2&quot; in the
&gt; &quot;TargetFrameworks&quot; property of your project file and then re-run NuGet
&gt; restore.


In `app.config `:

    &lt;startup&gt;
      &lt;supportedRuntime version=&quot;v4.0&quot; sku=&quot;.NETFramework,Version=v4.6.2&quot;/&gt;
    &lt;/startup&gt;

In Project &gt; Properties &gt; Application &gt; TargetFramework (.NET Framework 4.6.2) 

How can I fix it?




Your project does not reference &quot;.NETFramework,Version=v4.6.2&quot; framework. Add a reference to &quot;.NETFramework,Version=v4.6.2&quot; in the &quot;TargetFrameworks&quot;

In a C# solution, I added a existing project.  
After that, Visual Studio has added the following entry in other .csproj files:

    &lt;ItemGroup&gt;
        &lt;Service Include=&quot;{B4F97281-0DBD-4835-9ED8-7DFB966E87FF}&quot; /&gt;
    &lt;/ItemGroup&gt;

What&#39;s this for?  
Can I delete it?

What is &quot;Service Include&quot; in a csproj file for?

Anyone see this before?  I have a large Visual Studio project that keeps adding `[Subtype]Designer[/Subtype]` to my `.vcproj` then removing it on the next open and close of the project.  There is only one class defined in `StoredImageControl.cs`. Anyone know how to shut this off as it is really messing up my revision control.  

This is before:

    &lt;EmbeddedResource Include=&quot;StoredImageControl.resx&quot;&gt;
      &lt;DependentUpon&gt;StoredImageControl.cs&lt;/DependentUpon&gt;
    &lt;/EmbeddedResource&gt;

This is after

    &lt;EmbeddedResource Include=&quot;StoredImageControl.resx&quot;&gt;
      &lt;DependentUpon&gt;StoredImageControl.cs&lt;/DependentUpon&gt;
      &lt;SubType&gt;Designer&lt;/SubType&gt;
    &lt;/EmbeddedResource&gt;


&lt;Subtype&gt;Designer&lt;/Subtype&gt; Added then removed by Visual Studio on load/unload

How is

    &lt;None Include=&quot;C:\foo.bar&quot; /&gt;

different from

    &lt;Content Include=&quot;C:\foo.bar&quot; /&gt;

?

In a .csproj file, what is &lt;None Include=&quot;...&quot;&gt; for?

I&#39;m trying to write a plugin system with .NET Core, and one of my requirements are to be able to distribute the plugin DLL along with its dependencies to the user for install.

However, I can&#39;t figure out how to include my NuGet dependencies as a build artifact and have them output to the build folder, without having to use `dotnet publish` as a hack. Is there some way I can specify this in the .csproj file (project file)?


How do I get .NET Core projects to copy NuGet references to the build output?

With the move from `project.json` to the new `csproj` format introduced with VS2017, I&#39;m struggling to understand the difference between the `dotnet` cli and the new `msbuild` and when to use one over the other.

1) To build a new `csproj` netstandard library from the command line, should I be calling the `dotnet` cli (for example `dotnet restore` `dotnet build`) or use `msbuild` (for example `msbuild ExampleNetstandard.sln`).
 
2) Also, my understanding is that there are two versions of `msbuild`, one built on the full framework and another targeting `dotnet core`. Is this correct? Should I always use the `dotnet version`

3) Is `dotnet cli` standalone or does it require `msbuild` to be installed?. For instance when you install the dotnet SDK does this install msbuild as well? If so is this different to the version that is installed with vs2017?

Relationship between the dotnet cli and the new vs2017 msbuild

When .NET Core still used the `project.json` format, you could build a class library [targeting multiple frameworks][1] (e.g. net451, netcoreapp1.0).

Now that the official project format is `csproj` using MSBuild, how do you specify multiple frameworks to target? I am trying to look for this from the project settings in VS2017, but I am able to only target a single framework from the .NET Core frameworks (it doesn&#39;t even list the other full .NET Framework versions which I *do* have installed):

[![enter image description here][2]][2]


  [1]: https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/cesardelatorre/2016/06/28/running-net-core-apps-on-multiple-frameworks-and-what-the-target-framework-monikers-tfms-are-about/
  [2]: https://i.stack.imgur.com/fF4eA.png

How do you multi-target a .NET Core class library with csproj?

I am using .NET Core 2.0 on [Arch Linux][1] / Visual Studio Code and am trying to get [EF][2] tools to work, but I keep getting the error:

&gt; cannot find command dotnet ef

I&#39;ve just about looked everywhere and none of the suggestions worked.

The result of running &#39;dotnet ef&#39;:

```lang-none
[wasiim@wasiim-PC WebApiServerApp]$ dotnet ef --help
Cannot find command &#39;dotnet ef&#39;, please run the following command to install

dotnet tool install --global dotnet-ef
[wasiim@wasiim-PC WebApiServerApp]$ dotnet tool list -g
Package Id            Version      Commands
---------------------------------------------------
dotnet-dev-certs      2.2.0        dotnet-dev-certs
dotnet-ef             2.2.3        dotnet-ef
[wasiim@wasiim-PC WebApiServerApp]$
```

This is the &#39;dotnet --info&#39; result, if it&#39;s of help:

```lang-none
[wasiim@wasiim-PC WebApiServerApp]$ dotnet --info
.NET Core SDK (reflecting any global.json):
 Version:   2.2.105
 Commit:    7cecb35b92

Runtime Environment:
 OS Name:     arch
 OS Version:
 OS Platform: Linux
 RID:         arch-x64
 Base Path:   /opt/dotnet/sdk/2.2.105/

Host (useful for support):
  Version: 2.2.3
  Commit:  6b8ad509b6

.NET Core SDKs installed:
  2.2.105 [/opt/dotnet/sdk]

.NET Core runtimes installed:
  Microsoft.NETCore.App 2.2.3 [/opt/dotnet/shared/Microsoft.NETCore.App]

To install additional .NET Core runtimes or SDKs:
  https://aka.ms/dotnet-download
```

This is my .csproj file:

```lang-xml
&lt;Project Sdk=&quot;Microsoft.NET.Sdk.Web&quot;&gt;

  &lt;PropertyGroup&gt;
    &lt;TargetFramework&gt;netcoreapp2.2&lt;/TargetFramework&gt;
  &lt;/PropertyGroup&gt;

  &lt;ItemGroup&gt;
    &lt;Folder Include=&quot;wwwroot\&quot; /&gt;
  &lt;/ItemGroup&gt;

  &lt;ItemGroup&gt;
    &lt;PackageReference Include=&quot;Lucene.Net.Analysis.Common&quot; Version=&quot;4.8.0-beta00005&quot; /&gt;
    &lt;PackageReference Include=&quot;Lucene.Net.QueryParser&quot; Version=&quot;4.8.0-beta00005&quot; /&gt;
    &lt;PackageReference Include=&quot;Microsoft.AspNetCore.App&quot; Version=&quot;2.2.5&quot; /&gt;
   &lt;PackageReference Include=&quot;Lucene.Net&quot; Version=&quot;4.8.0-beta00005&quot; /&gt;
    &lt;PackageGroup Include=&quot;Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.SqlServer&quot; Version=&quot;1.1.0&quot; /&gt;
    &lt;PackageReference Include=&quot;Microsoft.AspNetCore.Razor.Design&quot; Version=&quot;2.2.0&quot; PrivateAssets=&quot;All&quot; /&gt;
    &lt;PackageReference Include=&quot;Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Design&quot; Version=&quot;2.2.4&quot; /&gt;
    &lt;DotNetCliToolReference Include=&quot;Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Tools.DotNet&quot; Version=&quot;2.0.3&quot; /&gt;

  &lt;/ItemGroup&gt;

&lt;/Project&gt;
```

  [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arch_Linux
  [2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entity_Framework




Cannot find command &#39;dotnet ef&#39;

I have a C# project say MyProject.csproj located at &quot;C:\Projects\MyProject\&quot;. I also have files that I want copied into the output directory of this project. But, the files are at the location &quot;C:\MyContentFiles\&quot;, i.e. they are NOT within the project cone. This directory has sub-directories as well. The contents of the directory is not managed. Hence I have to include all what is under it.

When I include them as &#39;Content&#39; in the project, they are copied, but the directory structure is lost. I did something like this:-

    &lt;Content Include=&quot;..\..\MyContentFiles\**&quot;&gt;
      &lt;CopyToOutputDirectory&gt;PreserveNewest&lt;/CopyToOutputDirectory&gt;
    &lt;/Content&gt;

How do I copy these files/directories recursively into the output directory of the project with the directory structure preserved?

Including content files in .csproj that are outside the project cone

I have just updated all my nuget packages for my solution (dotnet core 1.1 project).

I am now getting the following warnings and I don&#39;t really know what they mean.

[![NETStandard.Library downgrade warning][1]][1]

-----------

**Update:** I am still getting warnings mentioned above. My web projects warn about the Microsoft.NETCore.App package (see screenshot below) and my lib projects warn about NETStandard.Library (see screenshot above)

[![Microsoft.NETCore.App downgrade warning][2]][2]

When trying to update Microsoft.NETCore.App in the NuGet package manager, I am getting the following error:

[![NuGet upgrade error][3]][3]

Hope someone can help me get rid of those warnings and setup everything it is meant to be, so I can update all my packages.



  [1]: https://i.stack.imgur.com/m6d9K.png
  [2]: https://i.stack.imgur.com/Ozt7k.png
  [3]: https://i.stack.imgur.com/efeSv.png

Detected package downgrade warning (dotnet core, vs 2017)

I&#39;m frequently adding a lot of content files (mostly images and js)  to my ASP.NET project. I&#39;m using VS publish system, and on publish, new files are not published until I include them in the project. I would like to auto include all files in specified directory. Is there a way to specify which directories should be auto-included in csproj file or anywhere else?

Is there a way to automatically include content files into asp.net project file?

In &quot;old school&quot; MSBuild projects - as still used by Windows Forms in VS2017 for example - files could be &quot;nested&quot; via a `DependentUpon` item in the csproj file.

I used this to group unit tests together in Noda Time, e.g.

    &lt;Compile Include=&quot;LocalDateTest.PeriodArithmetic.cs&quot;&gt;
      &lt;DependentUpon&gt;LocalDateTest.cs&lt;/DependentUpon&gt;
    &lt;/Compile&gt;

That led to easily-navigable tests:

[![Nested tests][1]][1]

I knowingly &quot;lost&quot; this feature when moving to `project.json` for .NET Core, but had hoped it would return when converting to MSBuild. However, it looks like MSBuild projects based on the .NET Core SDK (root element `&lt;Project Sdk=&quot;Microsoft.NET.Sdk&quot;&gt;`) don&#39;t get the same treatment in Visual Studio 2017, even if an `ItemGroup` is added manually with the same elements as the &quot;old school&quot; project.

ASP.NET Core projects receive automatic nesting for minified CSS and Javascript, but it&#39;s not clear how to apply that to C# in .NET Core library projects.


  [1]: https://i.stack.imgur.com/mXuFy.png

Can files be nested in VS2017 Solution Explorer for .NET Core (non-ASP.NET Core) projects?

Usually a C# project has a .csproj file associated with it. What is that file for? What data does it contain? 

What does the .csproj file do?

When adding certain NuGet packges to a project, sometimes a strange item appears in the first property group of the .csproj file.

    &lt;PropertyGroup&gt;
      ...
      &lt;NuGetPackageImportStamp&gt;3d051ef3&lt;/NuGetPackageImportStamp&gt;
    &lt;/PropertyGroup&gt;

The stamp is different every time, and doesn&#39;t appear to be sequential.

I can&#39;t find any reference to `&lt;NuGetPackageImportStamp&gt;` in the NuGet documentation.  What is it for and how does it work?  Is it necessary?

One package that appears to add this every time is [StyleCop.MSBuild][1], at least with the current 4.7.49 version.  Simply add that package to a new project and you&#39;ll see this mystery item appear in your project file.


  [1]: https://www.nuget.org/packages/StyleCop.MSBuild/

What is NuGetPackageImportStamp for?

Where do I put InternalsVisibleTo from AssemblyInfo in the new Visual Studio 2017 .csproj project file?


Visual Studio 2017 and the new .csproj InternalsVisibleTo

Here&#39;s a snippet from my csproj file:


    &lt;ProjectReference Include=&quot;..\program_data\program_data.csproj&quot; Condition=&quot;&#39;$(Configuration)&#39;==&#39;Debug&#39;&quot;&gt;
          &lt;Project&gt;{4F9034E0-B8E3-448E-8794-CF9B9A5E7D46}&lt;/Project&gt;
          &lt;Name&gt;program_data&lt;/Name&gt;
    &lt;/ProjectReference&gt;

What I&#39;d like to do is include `program_data.dll` for **multiple** build configurations, for example, both Release and Debug.

I tried doing the following

    Condition=&quot;&#39;$(Configuration)&#39;==&#39;Debug&#39; || &#39;$(Configuration)&#39;==&#39;Release&#39;&quot;

but Visual Studio chokes on this. 

Is there a way I can do this, or must I have a separate `&lt;ProjectReference&gt;` for each build config?

Project reference conditional include with multiple conditions

When I add an assembly reference to a project in Visual Studio 8 the Aliases property, of that reference, is set to &quot;global&quot;.  What is this property good for and why is it set to global?

MSDN tells me that this is a list of aliases for the assembly but not why I might want to use this property or why most are aliased as &quot;global&quot;.

[MSDN reference](http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/vslangproj80.reference3.aliases.aspx)

What use is the Aliases property of assembly references in Visual Studio 8

I&#39;m packaging example code for an SDK distribution.  In the distribution, the relative path from code to the SDK assemblies is different from the build machine.  For example:

**Distribution**

    csharp/bin/assembly.dll
    example/ex1/ex1.csproj

**Build Machine**

    foo/sdk/csharp/bin/assembly.dll
    bar/baz/quux/ex1/ex1.csproj

Assume that I can&#39;t move anything.  Is there a way I can instruct `ex1.csproj` to look in both

`../../csharp/bin/` **and** `../../../../foo/sdk/csharp/bin/` for `assembly.dll`?

In C++ I&#39;d put the dependency path in a standalone property sheet and distribute a different version with the SDK.  But C# doesn&#39;t have property sheets, and I don&#39;t want to maintain two versions of the full project.

I&#39;ve seen [this question][1] which states that I can&#39;t use multiple `&lt;HintPath&gt;` tags, so I&#39;m looking for another way to approximate the same behavior.


  [1]: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/462564/hintpath-on-a-added-reference-in-visual-studio

.csproj multiple hint paths for an assembly

I am using VS2010 and I tried to add a few assemblies from local hard disk to my C# project through file reference. Peeking into the `csproj` file, I found sometimes the file reference appears as

    &lt;Reference Include=&quot;name&quot;&gt;

However sometimes it appears as

    &lt;Reference Include=&quot;name, Version=xxx, Culture=neutral, 
                                              processorArchitecture=MSIL&quot;&gt;

What could cause the difference?

---

Inspired by k3b&#39;s answer, I did another test. I created a new class library project.

 1. Add a file reference. The initial value of *Specific Version* in *Properties* pane is *False*. The `csproj` file look like

        &lt;Reference Include=&quot;Name&quot;&gt;
          &lt;HintPath&gt;...&lt;/HintPath&gt;
        &lt;/Reference&gt;

 2. Change *Specific Version* in *Properties* pane to *True*. VS adds version in the `Include` attribute.

        &lt;Reference Include=&quot;Name, Version=...&quot;&gt;
          &lt;HintPath&gt;...&lt;/HintPath&gt;
        &lt;/Reference&gt;

 3. Change *Specific Version* in *Properties* pane to *False* again. VS adds a child element `SpecificVersion`.

        &lt;Reference Include=&quot;Name, Version=...&quot;&gt;
          &lt;HintPath&gt;...&lt;/HintPath&gt;
          &lt;SpecificVersion&gt;False&lt;/SpecificVersion&gt;
        &lt;/Reference&gt;

So it seems that the rule is:

 - When *Version* is present in *Include* attribute and there is no `SpecificVersion` child element, the file assembly is configured to be Specific Version
 - The `SpecificVersion` child element is only appended with value *False*.

One thing I still do not understand:

 - For my new test project, if I remove the file reference and add it back again, it goes back to format in point 1, which is the default.
 - For my existing project, if I remove the file reference and add it back again, I get back format in point 3. Although it also means that Specific Version is not used, I am wondering why it does not go back to format in point 1.

Understanding a csproj assembly reference

When upgrading a project that is compiling and running fine on .NET Core 1.0 or 1.1, updating the target framework to .NET Core 2.0 (`netcoreapp2.0`) causes the build to fail with the following error:

     error NU1003: PackageTargetFallback and AssetTargetFallback cannot be used together. Remove PackageTargetFallback(deprecated) references from the project environment.

What is the reason for this error and how can it be resolved to make the project build again?

Upgrading to .NET Core 2.0: PackageTargetFallback and AssetTargetFallback cannot be used together

All of a sudden, I am getting the following errors for 3 projects in a solution:

    Error NU1105 Unable to find project information for &#39;C:\code\example\src\libs\example.I18n\example.I18n.csproj&#39;. 
    The project file may be invalid or missing targets required for restore.

The only thing that has changed in the project is a couple of DB changes, but I never had any issues in the past. The only other thing is that I updated to Visual Studio 2017 15.5. Could that cause issues?

I have tried removing and recloning the solution from source control, but still getting errors. No problems on my colleagues&#39; machines, so it must be something local.

Example of one of the .csproj files if this helps:

&lt;!-- language: lang-xml --&gt;

    &lt;Project Sdk=&quot;Microsoft.NET.Sdk&quot;&gt;
    
      &lt;PropertyGroup&gt;
        &lt;TargetFramework&gt;net452&lt;/TargetFramework&gt;
        &lt;AssemblyName&gt;Example.I18n&lt;/AssemblyName&gt;
        &lt;PackageId&gt;Example.I18n&lt;/PackageId&gt;
        &lt;GenerateAssemblyConfigurationAttribute&gt;false&lt;/GenerateAssemblyConfigurationAttribute&gt;
        &lt;GenerateAssemblyCompanyAttribute&gt;false&lt;/GenerateAssemblyCompanyAttribute&gt;
        &lt;GenerateAssemblyProductAttribute&gt;false&lt;/GenerateAssemblyProductAttribute&gt;
      &lt;/PropertyGroup&gt;
    
      &lt;ItemGroup&gt;
        &lt;PackageReference Include=&quot;Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.Core&quot; Version=&quot;1.1.2&quot; /&gt;
        &lt;PackageReference Include=&quot;Microsoft.Extensions.Logging&quot; Version=&quot;1.1.1&quot; /&gt;
        &lt;PackageReference Include=&quot;MessageFormat&quot; Version=&quot;1.0.1&quot; /&gt;
      &lt;/ItemGroup&gt;
    
      &lt;ItemGroup Condition=&quot; &#39;$(TargetFramework)&#39; == &#39;net452&#39; &quot;&gt;
        &lt;Reference Include=&quot;System&quot; /&gt;
        &lt;Reference Include=&quot;Microsoft.CSharp&quot; /&gt;
      &lt;/ItemGroup&gt;
    
    &lt;/Project&gt;


Error NU1105 Unable to find project information - The project file may be invalid or missing targets required for restore

I&#39;m working with a dotnet core csproj and I&#39;ve added a new file. It doesn&#39;t initially get added to the csproj at all because of convention over configuration. But as soon as I change its Build Action from None to Embedded resource, two entries are written to the csproj file:

    &lt;None Remove=&quot;MyFile.sql&quot; /&gt;

and

    &lt;EmbeddedResource Include=&quot;MyFile.sql&quot; /&gt;

What does that first entry mean? It seems superfluous to me.

All Csproj Solutions on Gang of Coders

Total of 24 Csproj Solutions