If You’re a .NET Developer, Meet NuGet

Are you a .NET developer? If so, you’re probably familiar with NuGet- an incredible package manager that makes your life easier by helping you to include libraries and dependencies in your projects. However, have you ever thought of creating your own NuGet package? Well, whether you’re making a package for your company’s internal library or publishing it publicly, Visual Studio has got your back! Let’s jump right into the process of creating a cool NuGet package in Visual Studio.

Step One: Create a Class Library

First and foremost, let’s create a new Class Library project in Visual Studio since we are creating a NuGet package that we will use in our development process. To do this, open Visual Studio and select File > New > Project from the main menu. You can then select Class Library from the list of available project types, name your project, and set the project’s location on your computer. Click Create to create the project you’ve just created.

Step Two: Add Your Code

You’re now ready to add code to your just-created class library project. This could involve creating one or multiple classes or using .NET or other libraries’ pre-existing classes. Once you’re done adding your code, build the library by selecting Build > Build Solution from the main menu. Congratulations! This process will generate a DLL file for your library in your project’s bin folder.

Step Three: Create a NuGet Package

Now that you have your class library compiled and ready, it’s time to create the NuGet package itself. Thanks to Visual Studio, this process is relatively easy since they’ve provided a built-in tool for creating packages. To create a fresh NuGet package, find your project in the Solution Explorer, right-click on it and select Create NuGet Package from the context menu.

In the Create NuGet Package dialog box, you’ll provide detailed information for your package, such as its version number, authors, description, and dependencies. After filling in all necessary information, click on Create to create your package. Awesome! Visual Studio will generate a .nupkg file containing your package in your project’s output folder.

Step Four: Publish Your Package

Finally, you’re ready to publish your NuGet package to either the NuGet gallery or your internal package repository. To publish your package to the NuGet gallery, create an account on the NuGet website and utilize the NuGet Package Explorer tool to upload your package. If you’re publishing to an internal repository, follow your organization’s protocol for publishing packages, and you’re good to go.

Conclusion

In conclusion, now it’s clear that creating a NuGet package is a pretty straightforward process. As we’ve just learned, you can create your own reusable libraries and share them with other .NET developers by following these simple steps. Whether making a private library for internal use or a public package that others can use in their projects, NuGet packages have become a powerful tool for managing code dependencies in .NET development.