How to create a local nuget package and use it in my another project?

[BowenYang666]

I have a source generator project called metricsFactoryTest which will generate some factory code:

Now I want to reference this project in my another project called 'MainProject'.

One easy way to do this is to add a ProjectReference in the MainProject and this works for me
<ProjectReference Include="..\MetricsFactoryTest\MetricsFactoryTest.csproj" OutputItemType="Analyzer" ReferenceOutputAssembly="false" /> -->

But I want to publish the metricsFactoryTest to nuget package in the future and want to test locally if this package can work.

So I create a nuget package based on this guide: https://github.com/dotnet/roslyn/blob/main/docs/features/source-generators.cookbook.md#package-a-generator-as-a-nuget-package

here is my metricsFactoryTest.csproj file

and then I create a package using 'dotnet pack' cmd to generate
MetricsFactoryTest.1.0.0.nupkg

After that I install this local package through visual studio in my MainProject:

Then a package reference is generated in my MainProject.csproj
<PackageReference Include="MetricsFactoryTest" Version="1.0.0" />

but thenMetricsFactoryTest will not work, I cannot see this analyzers in the visual studio and I cannot use the code generated.

if I switch back to project reference <ProjectReference Include="..\MetricsFactoryTest\MetricsFactoryTest.csproj" OutputItemType="Analyzer" ReferenceOutputAssembly="false" />

the analyzer will show up again

So is there anything wrong with the my packaging steps? Not sure if I miss anything

[333fred]

I would start by looking in the nuget package and making sure that everything is where you expect it to be.

On a side note, are you using Unity? Unless that's true, please don't use ISourceGenerator; you should be using IIncrementalGenerator instead, see https://github.com/dotnet/roslyn/blob/main/docs/features/incremental-generators.md and https://github.com/dotnet/roslyn/blob/main/docs/features/incremental-generators.cookbook.md.

[333fred]

@BillWagner, we should really mark that page deprecated.

[WeihanLi]

@333fred besides the document, seemed it's not obsoleted now from code base, is it applicable to mark the ISourceGenerator as obsolete and provide a message to move to the IIncrementalGenerator

https://github.com/dotnet/roslyn/blob/main/src/Compilers/Core/Portable/SourceGeneration/ISourceGenerator.cs#L22

+ [Obsolete("Please move to IIncrementalGenerator, see details https://github.com/dotnet/roslyn/blob/main/docs/features/incremental-generators.md")]
public interface ISourceGenerator {}

[BowenYang666]

It is not ok. Please migrate to IIncrementalGenerator.

OK, I will try this

[BowenYang666]

I'm using IIncrementalGenerator now

But when using nuget package reference, the analyzer is gone

anything wrong with my metricFactory.csproj?

netstandard2.0 9.0 True false

<ItemGroup>
	<PackageReference Include="Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.Common" Version="4.11.0" />
	<PackageReference Include="Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.CSharp" Version="4.11.0" PrivateAssets="all" />
	<PackageReference Include="Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.Analyzers" Version="3.3.4" PrivateAssets="all" />
</ItemGroup>


<ItemGroup>
<!-- Package the generator in the analyzer directory of the nuget package -->
<None Include="$(OutputPath)\$(AssemblyName).dll" Pack="true" PackagePath="analyzers/dotnet/cs" Visible="false" />

[333fred]

I don't see anything obviously wrong with that, but that doesn't mean there isn't something wrong. I would do things to troubleshoot next:

1. Look at your actual nuget package, and make sure that the file is ending up where you think it is.
2. Get a binlog of the build for your main project, and verify that the analyzer is actually being passed to the compiler.

What would also be helpful is a repro that I could look at to help.

[BowenYang666]

I've put my code here
https://github.com/BowenYang666/MetricFactoryTest/blob/master/NugetTestLocal/MainProject.csproj

and my nuget package is here
MetricsFactoryTest.1.0.0.zip

[333fred]

Well, once I got your project building (deleting MetricsFactoryTest\MetricsFactoryTest.sln, adding a nuget.config to make the built nuget package visible to NugetLocalTest), your project built, and did run the generator from the nuget package. So it's something specific to your machine. Did you try getting a binary log and inspecting it?

[333fred]

Also, at a guess, you could have an outdated version in your nuget cache. Try clearing any existing MetricsFactoryTest packages from there.

[BowenYang666]

I've tried deleted the old MetricsFactoryTest nuget packages. Still cannot work.

This is how I reference the nuget package in my project

Can you tell me how to add a nuget.config? what does this config looks like, maybe I can try in that way.

And have you sucessfully run the program.cs, mine project will always report a error

[333fred]

I've tried deleted the old MetricsFactoryTest nuget packages

Did you delete it from your nuget cache?