add C++ PackageReference support #3145

mingkuang-Chuyu · 2019-12-03T13:15:08Z

Home issue

New Feature

As we all know, C ++ has not supported PackageReference, which has led to a lot of repeated redundancy in C ++ projects.

So I add request a PR, to add VC++ Project PackageReference support.

However, before merging PR, Microsoft.NuGet.targets file in another git
https://github.com/dotnet/NuGet.BuildTasks also needs to be updated.

For details, see the RP of NuGet.BuildTasks:
dotnet/NuGet.BuildTasks#67

Thanks~

mingkuang

Testing/Validation

Tests Added: No
Reason for not adding tests: Do't know.
Validation:

rrelyea · 2019-12-03T23:42:40Z

We need to get the C++ team involved in this.
Solving this to work with vcxproj projects from command line, but not working in VS -- is likely not a good strategy.

Here is the uservoice logging customer feedback about this:
https://developercommunity.visualstudio.com/idea/351636/use-packagereference-in-vcxproj.html

mingkuang-Chuyu · 2019-12-04T00:05:39Z

We need to get the C++ team involved in this.
Solving this to work with vcxproj projects from command line, but not working in VS -- is likely not a good strategy.

Here is the uservoice logging customer feedback about this:
https://developercommunity.visualstudio.com/idea/351636/use-packagereference-in-vcxproj.html

？？？？？
My solution can work well with very few changes. If you need vs native support, who knows when to support it? Now it's 2019, can we make C++ work better? Please understand us C++ developers.

mingkuang-Chuyu · 2019-12-04T00:14:31Z

Just read the calendar, it turns out that it will be 2020 soon, but nuget has not yet supported it.

rrelyea · 2019-12-04T00:18:44Z

@mingkuang-Chuyu - like @nkolev92 gave you feedback on another recent PR...

It is best for you to open an issue in nuget/home/issues - that describes what you want to do and why...
rather than discuss those kind of topics in the middle of a PR.

Tell us what you are trying to do...and why it is or isn't ok to do without changes in VS' C++ project system too.

Then, if we get agreement on your plans, a specification of the changes may be appropriate. Then a PR...

mingkuang-Chuyu · 2019-12-04T00:38:59Z

@mingkuang-Chuyu - like @nkolev92 gave you feedback on another recent PR...

It is best for you to open an issue in nuget/home/issues - that describes what you want to do and why...
rather than discuss those kind of topics in the middle of a PR.

Tell us what you are trying to do...and why it is or isn't ok to do without changes in VS' C++ project system too.

Then, if we get agreement on your plans, a specification of the changes may be appropriate. Then a PR...

Thanks， got it

mingkuang-Chuyu · 2019-12-04T02:25:00Z

@rrelyea Hi, I opened an issue at home, hoping to get everyone's approval, nuget makes C++ better!

best

Scottj1s · 2019-12-06T04:22:23Z

...uGet.Clients/NuGet.PackageManagement.VisualStudio/ProjectServices/VCProjectSystemServices.cs

+namespace NuGet.PackageManagement.VisualStudio
+{
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Contains the information specific to a Visual Basic or C# project.


update comment

Scottj1s · 2019-12-06T04:41:39Z

@mingkuang-Chuyu, thanks for your contribution. It looks like the VC support was mostly cloned from the existing VsManagedLanguagesProjectSystemServices.cs? Is there any functionality that you had to disable? For example, it looks like ProjectReference support was removed.

Scottj1s · 2019-12-06T04:42:06Z

...uGet.Clients/NuGet.PackageManagement.VisualStudio/ProjectServices/VCProjectSystemServices.cs

+        {
+            Assumes.Present(targetFramework);
+
+            //await _threadingService.JoinableTaskFactory.SwitchToMainThreadAsync();


why couldn't _threadingService be used?

I referenced it and it used NuGetUIThreadHelper.JoinableTaskFactory directly.

https://github.com/NuGet/NuGet.Client/blob/dev/src/NuGet.Clients/NuGet.PackageManagement.VisualStudio/ProjectSystems/CpsProjectSystem.cs#L46

I found out that they are actually the same object.

Scottj1s · 2019-12-06T04:46:01Z

...uGet.Clients/NuGet.PackageManagement.VisualStudio/ProjectServices/VCProjectSystemServices.cs

+            await _threadingService.JoinableTaskFactory.SwitchToMainThreadAsync();
+
+            //C++ Project not support Reference
+            return new ProjectRestoreReference[] { };


does this refer to VC project-project references? What functionality is this omitting?

Because native C++ does not support assembly references, so I returned an empty list.

Scottj1s · 2019-12-06T04:50:45Z

...uGet.Clients/NuGet.PackageManagement.VisualStudio/ProjectServices/VCProjectSystemServices.cs

+                metadataValues.Add(LibraryIncludeFlagUtils.GetFlagString(privateAssetsFlag).Replace(',', ';'));
+            }
+
+            NuGetUIThreadHelper.JoinableTaskFactory.Run(async delegate


can you explain rationale for making some of these operations async, compared with VsManagedLanguagesProjectSystemServices.cs?

Sorry, this is a mistake.

mingkuang-Chuyu · 2019-12-06T05:28:19Z

@mingkuang-Chuyu, thanks for your contribution. It looks like the VC support was mostly cloned from the existing VsManagedLanguagesProjectSystemServices.cs? Is there any functionality that you had to disable? For example, it looks like ProjectReference support was removed.

Yes, cloned from the VsManagedLanguagesProjectSystemServices.cs.
: )

* AddOrUpdatePackageReferenceAsync remove NuGetUIThreadHelper.JoinableTaskFactory.Run * HasPackageReference call GetItemsIgnoringCondition Thanks to Scottj1s

mingkuang-Chuyu · 2019-12-14T06:00:19Z

@Scottj1s ,Hi, I added contentFiles support for VC++ Project.

mingkuang-Chuyu · 2019-12-22T09:53:50Z

src/NuGet.Clients/NuGet.PackageManagement.VisualStudio/Projects/VsProjectAdapter.cs

-                targetFrameworks: null,
-                targetFramework: null,
+                targetFrameworks: targetFrameworks,
+                targetFramework: targetFramework,


This is modified to provide targetFramework support for C++. In addition, I found that NuGet.CommandLine does this, so I copied its implementation.

Code Here:
https://github.com/NuGet/NuGet.Client/blob/dev/src/NuGet.Clients/NuGet.CommandLine/Common/MSBuildProjectSystem.cs#L63

This function requires NuGet.BuildTasks configuration to use.

Here are the changes I submitted in NuGet.BuildTasks (src/Microsoft.NuGet.Build.Tasks/Microsoft.NuGet.targets):
https://github.com/dotnet/NuGet.BuildTasks/pull/67/files#diff-5b809cf81a6b552123b02a4b102867c9

targetFramework matching order

(vs2019) native v14.20.27508, 14.21.27702, 14.22.27905, 14.23.28105 ... | (vs2017) native v14.10.25017, 14.11.25503, 14.12.25827, 14.13.26128 ... | (vs2015) native v14.0 | native v0.0

For example, if the following 2 paths exist in a package:

build\native14.0\Test.Static.targets

build\native14.20\Test.Static.targets

If we use the v142 toolset (14.23.28105 vs2019), then build\native14.20\Test.Static.targets will insert * .nuget.g.targets.

If we use the v141 toolset (vs2017), then build\native14.0\Test.Static.targets will insert * .nuget.g.targets.

For example, using targetFramework, we can configure different static libraries for different toolsets of C++ projects.

<dependencies> <group targetFramework="native14.0"> <dependency id="Detours.Static.v140" version="4.0.1" /> </group> <group targetFramework="native14.10"> <dependency id="Detours.Static.v141" version="4.0.1" /> </group> <group targetFramework="native14.20"> <<dependency id="Detours.Static.v142" version="4.0.1" /> </group> </dependencies>

In the project file (vcxproj), we can also do like this:

<ItemGroup> <PackageReference Include="Detours.Static.v141" Condition=" '$(TargetFramework)' == 'native14.13.26128' "> <Version>4.0.1</Version> </PackageReference> </ItemGroup>

mingkuang-Chuyu · 2020-03-05T08:43:57Z

What's going on?

AugP · 2020-03-20T19:10:54Z

Hello and thank you for the contribution! I work on the C++ team. First I want to apologize for the delay in responding - we have been actively monitoring PackageReference feedback as well as this PR, and we should have been more communicative.

From our side, here is the situation:

We are working on plans to improve the C++ package management story. Specifically, we want to extend the features of our existing C++ package manager, vcpkg: https://github.com/microsoft/vcpkg, and improve build system integration, but across multiple build systems, not just MSBuild. We also want vcpkg to be able to support existing NuGet-packaged libraries in some way.
Our concern with going all in on PackageReference is that it an MSBuild-specific concept, which would not be extensible to CMake projects or other external build systems. Within the next year or less, we want to provide the means to attach any C++ library to any of the project systems we support. We are also considering ways to provide MSVC toolsets and other build-time tools as NuGet packages, and are determining that we would want something more powerful than PackageReference to accomplish this (and again we would want to be build system agnostic).
If we accept this PR and do any additional work required on the IDE side to unblock PackageReference usage for C++, the work would be rendered obsolete in the future when we move to the build system agnostic model. Our concern there is that if developers do the work to migrate to C++ PackageReference, they would later realize that we don't intend to provide ongoing support and want them to move to something else. I expect that would be a frustrating experience.

So our team is not decided on whether or not to add broad PackageReference support right now. If we do, we would be resolving the issue more quickly for the many people who are looking for this feature. But we would see the solution more like a band-aid solution than a complete one, and the NuGet C++ experience would still suffer in a few ways, as it does today for packages.config:

Automatic restore on project load would not work
Our project caching system would not work at the time a NuGet restore is done (impacts solution load times)

Both of those issues could be fixed in theory, but we would likely shift our resources instead to the bigger solution we have been planning as it would benefit more developers.

For now, we are definitely committing to PackageReference support for C++/CLI projects targeting .NET Core, as there are cases there where developers are required to pull in NuGet packages in a workflow where packages.config no longer works at all.

I am continuing conversations with my team to determine if broader PackageReference support makes sense as a path and will keep you posted.

mingkuang-Chuyu · 2020-03-24T14:05:28Z

@AugP Thanks~

I just want to say that vcpkg does not conflict with NuGet C ++ PackageReference support. NuGet is for VS users only, while vcpkg is for all toolchains. In addition, when vcpkg provides support for VS, cannot use the interface provided by NuGet? I also expect to be more powerful and versatile, but I‘m more worried that you have not done well in a few years ...

And now our Intranet use NuGet experience is very good, can you provide a simple solution to deploy the NuGet.Tools.vsix I compiled to the Exp environment? Currently it is too much trouble to install the Visual Studio SDK. If there is an easier way, I can quickly deploy my modified NuGet plug-in to my colleagues. Hope to get your help ~

The virus has been very serious recently, and I wish you all the best.

mingkuang

mingkuang-Chuyu · 2020-03-24T14:12:13Z

Finally, as users, we don't care if NuGet supports CMake or others.

Just like we care about VS supporting GCC projects?

mingkuang-Chuyu · 2020-03-25T04:21:23Z

I thought about it for a night and had some ideas. First of all, I don't quite agree with you.

1. NuGet not only provides libraries, but also provides custom tools to enhance the IDE experience.

For example, there is a custom UI compiler. Through NuGet, we can quickly configure a custom UI compiler for the projects.

For another example, because some of the company's customer environment is Windows 2000, I developed a Windows 2000 compatible toolkit for VS2019, so that 2019 CRT + UCRT can compile Windows 2000 compatible C ++ applications directly.

Does vcpkg provide enhanced support for the IDE in these scenarios?

2. PackageReference does not depend on MSBuild

It's supported by Microsoft.NuGet.Build.Tasks.dll. For MSBuild, it doesn't know any PackageReference.

Theoretically, we can implement an adapter for CMake and let CMake know about PackageReference.

The problem is that the NuGet C++ Package transition relies on props/targets, and other toolchains don't know props/targets. If we provide more support for NuGet C++, then everyone will reduce the use of props/targets.

For example, if NuGet supports import IncludePath and LibraryPath for C++. Now there is a NuGet package named S360. Its nupkg configuration is as follows:

<package xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/packaging/2013/01/nuspec.xsd">
  <metadata minClientVersion="2.5">

   <!--...................................-->

  </metadata>
<files>
    <file src="S360\include\**" target="CppInclude"/><!--C++ include-->
    <file src="S360\Library\x64\**" target="CppLibrary\native\x64"/> <!--C++ x64 lib-->
    <file src="S360\Library\x86\**" target="CppLibrary\native\x86"/>
</files>
</package>

Then when NuGet's CMake adapter processes this NuGet package, it finds that the package contains CppInclude and CppLibrary directories, so it generates this configuration(CMake):

#S360.1.0.1.cmake

cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.5.2)

include_directories("XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX\CppInclude")

# if(${CMAKE_GENERATOR_PLATFORM} STREQUAL "Win32")
if(${CMAKE_VS_PLATFORM_NAME} STREQUAL "Win32")
   link_directories("("XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX\CppLibrary\native\x86")

# if(${CMAKE_GENERATOR_PLATFORM} STREQUAL "x64")
if(${CMAKE_VS_PLATFORM_NAME} STREQUAL "x64")
   link_directories("XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX\CppLibrary\native\x64")

Then import this S360.1.0.1.cmake, and cmake can handle this Nuget package now.

At last

I hope NuGet can accept my PR. My PR will help improve the VS C++ development experience without affecting your CMake support.

Thunaks

mingkuang-Chuyu · 2020-03-25T04:22:22Z

@AugP waiting for your good news.

mingkuang-Chuyu · 2020-04-22T02:58:11Z

Is there any progress now?

Nirmal4G · 2020-04-28T09:59:43Z

@AugP There are hybrid nuget packages that can be used for both VC and .NET projects. So, We have to support both NuGet (PackageReference) and VCPkg support in both MSBuild and CMake. I just hope whatever the solution is, doesn't let me diverge my native and managed projects. I also like the idea of Centrally managed dependencies in NuGet, would also support VC projects. And yes, the simplified project format (SDK-style) too!

rrelyea · 2020-07-16T22:12:38Z

Given the reply from @AugP (from Microsoft's C++ team) on 3/20/2020, we're going to close this PR.

I've copied his reply to the issue tracking this feature request: NuGet/Home#8874
Please move future discussions to that issue.

Thanks for engaging with us and the C++ team on this PR/Issue.

Zingam · 2021-07-16T13:54:02Z

@AugP A lot of time has passed since this post: #3145 (comment) and there still doesn't seem to be any roadmap of how non MSBuild system will be supported in WindowAppSDK, GameDK, etc.

mingkuang-Chuyu · 2021-07-29T03:20:08Z

Save the following piece of xml as “Directory.Build.props” and put it in your code directory. NuGet can be used for C++ platforms above VS 16.8!!!

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<!--
为Cpp工程强制开启 PackageReferences 支持

Visual Studio 2017使用以后只能让MSBuild以及nuget.exe支持包还原。

Visual Studio 2019 16.8或者更高版本可以直接让Visual Studio NuGet插件支持包管理。

使用方法：将此文件复制到 sln 或者 vcxproj同级目录。


作者：mingkuang
最后修订：2021-06-21

-->
<Project ToolsVersion="4.0" xmlns="https://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
  <ItemGroup Condition="'$(MSBuildProjectExtension)' == '.vcxproj'">
    <!--强制引入PackageReferences-->
    <ProjectCapability Include="PackageReferences" />
  </ItemGroup>
  <PropertyGroup Condition="'$(MSBuildProjectExtension)' == '.vcxproj'">
    <!--指定自己的体系为native-->
    <NuGetTargetMoniker Condition="'$(NuGetTargetMoniker)' == ''">native,Version=v0.0</NuGetTargetMoniker>
    <!--如果不指定这一行，那么arm64平台会找不到RID而失败-->
    <RuntimeIdentifiers Condition="'$(RuntimeIdentifiers)' == ''">win;win-x86;win-x64;win-arm;win-arm64</RuntimeIdentifiers>
  </PropertyGroup>
  
  <!--从兼容性考虑，继续向上搜索 Directory.Build.props-->
  <PropertyGroup>
    <DirectoryBuildPropsPath>$([MSBuild]::GetPathOfFileAbove('Directory.Build.props', '$(MSBuildThisFileDirectory)../'))</DirectoryBuildPropsPath>
  </PropertyGroup>
  <Import Project="$(DirectoryBuildPropsPath)" Condition="'$(DirectoryBuildPropsPath)' != ''"/>
</Project>

levicki · 2022-01-21T00:02:38Z

@AugP

For now, we are definitely committing to PackageReference support for C++/CLI projects targeting .NET Core...

Why only .Net Core? Would it be too much effort to also support .Net Framework targets?

I'd love to be able to use .Net Framework NuGet packages in my C++/CLI projects without having to introduce .Net Core dependencies (vendor's code on those systems which we are interfacing with is also a mix of pure C++, C++/CLI with .Net Framework, and C# and we have no idea if and when they might switch to .Net Core).

Finally, is there any ETA for this feature?

Thanks in advance for your time.

add C++ PackageReference support

46b740b

mingkuang-Chuyu requested review from dominoFire, donnie-msft, dtivel, heng-liu, kartheekp-ms, nkolev92, zivkan and zkat as code owners December 3, 2019 13:15

mingkuang-Chuyu mentioned this pull request Dec 4, 2019

VC Project not support nuget PackageReference style NuGet/Home#8874

Open

Scottj1s reviewed Dec 6, 2019

View reviewed changes

mingkuang-Chuyu added 2 commits December 6, 2019 17:02

* update comment

59acbc3

* AddOrUpdatePackageReferenceAsync remove NuGetUIThreadHelper.JoinableTaskFactory.Run * HasPackageReference call GetItemsIgnoringCondition Thanks to Scottj1s

add C/C++ BuildAction ClCompile,ResourceCompile & asm Spuuort.

e426537

mingkuang-Chuyu added 2 commits December 17, 2019 15:20

BuildActions add C++ ild(Interface Definition Language) support.

83d19d7

VC++ project add targetFramework support

98d1dc2

mingkuang-Chuyu commented Dec 22, 2019

View reviewed changes

zivkan added the Community PRs created by someone not in the NuGet team label Mar 5, 2020

Scottj1s mentioned this pull request Jun 2, 2020

Proposal: Address Project Reunion goals by addressing Visual Studio restrictions microsoft/WindowsAppSDK#58

Open

rrelyea closed this Jul 16, 2020

zivkan mentioned this pull request Sep 9, 2020

Enable custom CPS projects to be restored #3644

Merged

crusader-mike mentioned this pull request Nov 16, 2021

[Bug]: under certain conditions package restore fails with ProjectNotNominatedException when NuGetPackage is not initialized in VS NuGet/Home#11392

Closed

add C++ PackageReference support #3145

add C++ PackageReference support #3145

Conversation

mingkuang-Chuyu commented Dec 3, 2019 • edited Loading

Home issue

New Feature

Testing/Validation

rrelyea commented Dec 3, 2019

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mingkuang-Chuyu commented Mar 5, 2020

AugP commented Mar 20, 2020

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mingkuang-Chuyu commented Mar 25, 2020 • edited Loading

1. NuGet not only provides libraries, but also provides custom tools to enhance the IDE experience.

2. PackageReference does not depend on MSBuild

At last

mingkuang-Chuyu commented Mar 25, 2020

mingkuang-Chuyu commented Apr 22, 2020

Nirmal4G commented Apr 28, 2020

rrelyea commented Jul 16, 2020

Zingam commented Jul 16, 2021

mingkuang-Chuyu commented Jul 29, 2021

levicki commented Jan 21, 2022

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