Network Programming in .NET

NuGet seems to be a great way to get windows developers to use your code, it makes it easy to package up an assembly to be used in another project. Seconds after uploading, I started to get developers downloading my code.

Here was a problem that I hit when I tried to package my assembly, there may be a better solution, but this worked for me.

I created a boiler-plate NuSpec file from my DLL by running

nuget spec MyAssembly.dll

I had to open the nuspec file in notepad, and edited the fairly obvious fields, like URL description, etc. Then, I went to pack the nuspec and dll together with this command:

NuGet Pack YourPackage.nuspec

However, I then got a warning:

WARNING: 1 issue(s) found with package ‘xxxx.dll’.

Issue: Assembly outside lib folder.
Description: The assembly ‘xxx.dll’ is not inside the ‘lib’ folder
and hence it won’t be added as reference when the package is installed into a project.
Solution: Move it into the ‘lib’ folder if it should be referenced.

The nupkg file was created, and I uploaded it to nuget.org, however, when I tried to download this again, using

PM> Install-Package xxxxx.dll
Installing ‘xxxxx.dll 1.0.0’.
Successfully installed ‘xxxx.dll 1.0.0’.

There was no reference added to my project, so, I couldn’t access the assembly.

So, after reading a bit, I edited my nuspec file, and added this node in the metadata

<references>
<reference file=”xxxx.dll” />
</references>

created a lib folder, and copied the dll into it. – and changed the version number

I repacked, and re-uploaded the nupkg, and when I downloaded it again, I got a reference automatically added to my test project.

And it’s all live on https://www.nuget.org/packages/OfflineAdvertsLib.dll