How can I get cshtml intellisense in a non-web project?

[VictorioBerra]

I target SDK Microsoft.NET.Sdk.Worker, I created a cshtml and theres no intellisense inside it. I type @model MyVM and I get no completion when I do @Model.Firstname (or whatever MyVM member).

csproj:

<Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk.Worker">

  <PropertyGroup Label="Build">
    <TargetFramework>net5.0</TargetFramework>
    <UserSecretsId>redacted</UserSecretsId>
    <IsTransformWebConfigDisabled>true</IsTransformWebConfigDisabled>
  </PropertyGroup>

...


  <ItemGroup>
    <None Remove="Templates\GenericEmail.cshtml" />
  </ItemGroup>
  
  <ItemGroup>
    <Content Include="Templates\GenericEmail.cshtml" />
  </ItemGroup>

I have declared it as an embedded resource.

[jzabroski]

Use a transitive project reference. Problem solved.

[VictorioBerra]

@jzabroski

• Or maybe you are saying MyProject -> ViewModel Project -> Views Project (RazorLight and cshtml)?
• Do I HAVE to target web Sdk to have intellisense?

Honestly I am struggling to understand what is meant by "Transitive Reference" especially compared to a direct reference, there are no simple examples on google for RazorLight and Core with cshtml files and .NET 5, and 90% of the blogs discussing RazorLight just use strings in their samples which seems like the wrong way to write HTML templates.

It would be really nice to have more samples in this repository.

[VictorioBerra]

Okay a little more info now:

Changing the above csproj to the following based on your samples lit up the intellisense

  <ItemGroup>
    <Compile Remove="Templates\**" />
    <None Remove="*.cshtml" />
    <EmbeddedResource Include="Templates\**" />
  </ItemGroup>

However... I still want to hear about the transitive dependency solution. Maybe I should be putting this all in its own project?

[jzabroski]

I put my RazorLight code in a project called MyCompanyName.MyParentProjectName.Templating

I then reference it through a variety of "endpoint" projects that have system entrypoints.

[VictorioBerra]

If I follow this correctly, It sounds like you have:

MyAPIApp, MyMVCApp, and MyConsoleApp (these being the endpoints, or entrypoints) all reference MyCompanyName.MyParentProjectName.Templating. This situation would make it a direct dependency.

Otherwise, you might have MyAPIApp, MyMVCApp, and MyConsoleApp (these being the entrypoints) all reference MyCompanyName.MyParentProjectName.Businesslogic which ultimately references MyCompanyName.MyParentProjectName.Templating. This situation would make it a transitive dependency.

You also didn't clarify if MyCompanyName.MyParentProjectName.Templating targets web (<Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk.Web"> VS <Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk.Worker">), I say this because you marked your comment as the answer but just making something a "transitive" dependency does not magically give it intellisense in VS.

[jzabroski]

Hi. Thanks for the discussion. By transitive dependency I am referring to the SDK, as opposed to Razorlight. Razorlight IntelliSense is not enabled by Razorlight as much as it is by the SDK.

So... it is a transitive dependency. It's just not obvious that when you type Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk.Web" what you are partially saying is

<FrameworkReference Include="Microsoft.AspNet.App" />

The "magic" is at a couple of steps.

1. Our TemplatePageBase exposes properties that emulate how Razor pages work
2. Your models are technically an instance of that template. They hang off the Model property.
3. Visual Studio needs the SDK to know to load the Razor designer.
4. Specifying @inherits gives you intellisense on your viewmodel

Most people don't want an in depth answer so I try to keep it simple. Always willing to peel back layers.