Hands-On Lab

ASP.NET MVC – NuGet

Lab version: 1.1.0
Last updated: 6/27/2020

Contents

Page 1
OVERVIEW................................................................................................................................................. 3

EXERCISE 1: CREATING A NUGET PACKAGE.......................................................................................4

Task 1 – Adding a nuspec File..............................................................................................................5
Task 2 – Creating the NuSpec Script....................................................................................................6
Task 3 – Generating the NuGet File.....................................................................................................6
Task 4 – Using Post-Build Events to Generate the Package.................................................................7
Task 5 – Building and Packaging the Solution....................................................................................10

EXERCISE 2: CONSUMING NUGET PACKAGES..................................................................................11

Task 1 – Consuming an External Library from Visual Studio 2010 NuGet Extension..........................11
Task 2 – Running the Solution...........................................................................................................13

SUMMARY................................................................................................................................................ 14

Page 2
Overview
Note: This Hands-on Lab assumes you have basic knowledge of ASP.NET. If you have not used ASP.NET
MVC before, we recommend you to go over ASP.NET MVC Fundamentals Hand-on Lab.

With .NET you can develop class libraries, web projects, complete solutions, frameworks, application
servers, web controls and helpers, etc. A live ecosystem of such packages (many of them open source
projects) is available for you to download from the Internet and add to your own solutions. You can also
create your own library and publish it. Nevertheless, this model implies some costs: you should locate
the appropriate software, download and compile it, resolve dependencies of other packages, etc.
With NuGet (http://nuget.codeplex.com) tool, you can download, create, and publish software
packages, ready to be used by other developers, resolving the hassles of dependencies tracking. You can
use a console tool to create a new package, upload it to a Microsoft server or to a server of your own,
browse and install them from Visual Studio.

In this Hands-on Lab, you will learn how to:

Make a NuGet package for MvcMusicStore application
Install NuGet Visual Extension tool in Visual Studio
Update an ASP.NET MVC application with a package downloaded from local NuGet Server

System Requirements
You must have the following items to complete this lab:
ASP.NET and ASP.NET MVC 3
Visual Studio 2010
SQL Server Database (Express edition or above)

Exercises
This Hands-On Lab is comprised by the following exercises:
1. Exercise 1: Creating a NuGet Package
2. Exercise 2: Consuming NuGet Packages

Page 3
Estimated time to complete this lab: 30 minutes.

Note: Each exercise is accompanied by an End folder containing the resulting solution you should
obtain after completing the exercises. You can use this solution as a guide if you need additional help
working through the exercises.

Next Step
Exercise 1: Creating a NuGet Package

Exercise 1: Creating a NuGet Package

In this exercise you will learn how to package your solution using NuGet.
For that purpose, you will run a script that will create the MusicStore package in your project folder. The
script will be configured with a nuspec (NuGet specification) file, which will specify all the package
settings and dependencies.

Note: A nuspec file is a manifest in XML format that is used to build the package and is also stored in
the package after the build process. It contains:
- The metadata for a package that includes the following fields: Id, version, authors (collection of
author elements), description, language, tags (collection), licenceUrl (Uri), projectURL (Uri), iconUrl
(Uri) and requrireLicenceAcceptance(boolean).
- An optional list of package’s dependencies. Each dependency element has the following attributes:
id (the ID of a package that this package depends on), version (the required version of the dependency
package. If you enter this value as a specific version number, such as 1.2.3, NuGet assumes that any
package of that version or later is allowable. You can be more specific about which versions are
allowable by using interval notation; for more information, see Specifying Version Ranges).
- An optional list of files to include in the package. Each file element has the following attributes:
src, target (both are paths).
Other considerations:
- If no version is specified, NuGet will assume that the latest version is being used.
- All paths are relative to the nuspec file, unless an absolute file is specified.
For more information, check http://nuget.codeplex.com/documentation?title=Nuspec Format.

Page 4
Below is a sample nuspec file that uses most of the described elements:
XML
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<package>
<metadata>
<id>NuGetSample</id>
<version>2.0.0</version>
<authors>Microsoft</authors>
<description>This is an example of a nuspec file</description>
<tags>NuGet nuspec hands-on-lab microsoft asp.net</tags>
<language>en-US</language>
</metadata>
<dependencies>
<dependency id="sample-package" version="3.0.0" />
<dependency id="another-package" version="4.0.0" />
</dependencies>
<files src="..\sample\anyfile.dll"/>
<files src="..\sample\requiredLibrary.dll" target="bin"/>
</package>

Task 1 – Adding a nuspec File

In this task, you will add a nuspec file that will contain a description of the package to be created.
1. Open the Source\Ex01-Creating NuGet Package\Begin\MvcMusicStore folder in Windows
Explorer.
2. Create a new empty txt file and rename it to MvcMusicStore.nuspec.
3. Open MvcMusicStore.nuspec in Visual Studio or any text/XML editor.
4. Add the following XML specification to the MvcMusicStore.nuspec file:
XML
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<package>
<metadata>
<id>MvcMusicStore</id>
<version>1.0</version>
<description>Music Store ASP.NET MVC Application</description>
<authors>Microsoft</authors>
<language>en-US</language>
</metadata>
</package>

Note: Language attribute is an ISO code. You could find more information about
interntionalization in this article at msdn.

Page 5
Task 2 – Creating the NuSpec Script
In this task, you will create a script that will automatically use NuGet executable with
MvcMusicStore.nuspec specifications:
1. Open the Source\Ex01-Creating NuGet Package\Begin folder in Windows Explorer.
2. Create a new txt file and rename it to CreateNuGetPackage.cmd.
3. Open CreateNuGetPackage.cmd in Visual Studio or any text editor, and add the following
lines:
cmd
@echo off
..\..\Assets\NuGet.exe pack MvcMusicStore\MvcMusicStore.nuspec

Note: Package file will be automatically named with nuspec attributes as

<name>.<version>.nupkg
The NuGet.exe command-line utility is a wrapper for the PackageBuilder API used to create
packages. Therefore, as an alternative you can use the API directly to create packages.

Task 3 – Generating the NuGet File

1. Execute the CreateNuGetPackage.cmd file by double-clicking it. After that, check that a new
package file MvcMusicStore.1.0.nupkg was generated in the same folder.
2. Rename MvcMusicStore.1.0.nupkg as a .zip file.
3. Open it with Windows Explorer to see its content. Note that the NuGet package contains the
nuspec file used to build the package as well as the solution files.

Page 6
 Figure 1
.nuget file content

Task 4 – Using Post-Build Events to Generate the Package

In this task, you will use Visual Studio Post-Build events to automatically generate the NuGet package
each time the solution is built. In order to do that, you will include the NuGet script into post-build
events set up. Therefore, NuGet.exe will get executed in the same way as before, but you will not need
an extra step each time you want to package:
1. Open the begin solution at Source\Ex01-Creating NuGet Package\Begin\MvcMusicStore.
2. Open MvcMusicStore project Properties from Solution Explorer:

Page 7
 Figure 2
Project properties

3. Open the Build-Events tab and click on Edit Post-Build.

Figure 3
Adding Build Events – C#

Page 8
 Figure 4
Adding Build Events – VB

4. Copy the following line into the Post-build Command Line dialog and click OK:
Post-build Command
"$(SolutionDir)..\..\..\Assets\NuGet.exe" pack "$
(SolutionDir)MvcMusicStore.nuspec"

Page 9
 Figure 5
Creating a Post-build event

Task 5 – Building and Packaging the Solution

In this task, you will build the solution and verify that the package is generated after the build.
1. Build the solution or press CTRL+F5.
2. Check that the package was generated at the bin folder:

Figure 6
Post-build NuGet generated at \bin folder

Page 10
 3. Rename MvcMusicStore.nupkg as a .zip file.
4. Open it with Windows Explorer to see the content. Note that each nuget package contains
the nuspec file used to build the package.

Next Step
Exercise 2: Consuming NuGet Packages

Exercise 2: Consuming NuGet Packages

In this exercise, you will learn how to consume external libraries in your project by using NuGet public
repositories. You will be able to add any packaged library from the cloud into your project.
With that goal in mind, in this exercise you will add an ELMAH (Error Logging Modules and Handlers)
Library to your project, enabling you to see the error log generated by the library.

Note: ELMAH (Error Logging Modules and Handlers) is a pluggable library for error and exception
logging that can be dynamically added to an ASP.NET web application.
To read more about ELMAH, see this article at msdn.

Task 1 – Consuming an External Library from Visual Studio 2010 NuGet Extension
In this task, you will include ELMAH library into your project to add an error log.
1. Open the begin solution at Source\Ex02-Consuming and Packing
NuGet\Begin\MvcMusicStore.
2. From Solution Explorer, open References folder and right-click to add Library Package
Reference.

Page 11
 Figure 7
NuGet Tool – Adding a package reference

3. Select ELMAH from the package list and click Install.

Figure 8
NuGet Tool – Installing a package reference

Page 12
 Figure 9
Package Manager Options – Elmah Library added to the solution

Figure 10
Project folder– Elmah Library download location

Task 2 – Running the Solution

In this task, you will run the solution to see ELMAH log working:
1. Press F5 to run MvcMusicStore solution.

Page 13
 2. Browse an inexistent URL like /test. You should see a “The resource cannot be found” error
message.
3. Browse /elmah.axd to see the log that will include a line for the error logged when browsing
an inexistent URL:

Figure 11
Elmah Library log view

Next Step
Summary

Summary
By completing this Hands-On Lab you have learned how to use NuGet Packages in your solution:
Create a NuGet package for your application
Add a Package Reference from Visual Studio

Page 14