Error in a dependency / Syntax error in bower.json

Question

I created a new ASP.NET V5 web project, and added a NPM configuration (package.json) file:

{
    "version": "1.0.0",
    "name": "ASP.NET",
    "private": true,
    "devDependencies": {
        "bower": "1.4.1"
    }
}

Then I added a bower.json file:

{
    "name": "ASP.NET",
    "private": true,
    "dependencies": {
        "bootstrap": "*"
    }
}

I get the following error showing up:

---

Edit

This happens when I create an empty ASP.NET v5 project. When I create an MVC project, it works fine. I've managed to get the empty project to work when I add in all the client-side related items from the MVC project (e.g. gulpfile.js) so it must have been missing something it needed.

Answer 1

I had a similar problem and in my case the solution was:

1. Go to Tools -> Options -> Project and Solutions -> External Web Tools
2. Uncheck:
   • .\node_modules\.bin
   • $(VSINSTALLDIR)\Web\External
   • $(VSINSTALLDIR)\Web\External\git

Works fine under Visual Studio 2015 Community, however please bear in mind that I do have separately installed and configured both nodejs and git and I don't use any of VS built-in tools.

UPDATE

In Visual Studio 2017 Community the path is:

Tools -> Options -> Project and Solutions -> Web Package Management -> External Web Tools

Answer 2

Something I did and it worked perfectly was:

1. Copy all the content (dependencies) of my .bower.json to a notepad (temporary backup)
2. Delete all dependencies from bower.json
3. Go to wwwroot/lib and delete manually all the libraries installed (good bye to all the folders there).
4. Copy the list of my dependencies from my temporary backup (notepad on point 1).
5. Save the file and wait.
6. Magically it works fine.

Answer 3

I needed to uninstall the bower component from inside the NPM folder.

I had installed it earlier, then removed it from the package.json file, but it was still in the NPM folder. Once removed, it worked fine.