How do I specify dependencies in a .NET Standard Class Library?

Question

A .NET Standard Class Library doesn't use a .nuspec file; there is a "Package" tab in the project settings where you enter all the metadata for the NuGet package. These go in the .csproj file.

I want to create a solution with projects A and B, where project B depends on project A. Both need to go on NuGet as separate packages. But if someone installs the NuGet package for B, it should also install the package for A.

How do you specify this simple dependency for a .NET Standard Class Library? I'm not assuming that adding a reference will be enough to do this.

Answer 1

NET Standard .csproj files use PackageReference and ProjectReference MSBuild items to control dependencies on packages loaded from NuGet or your solution, respectively. They both support metadata tags PrivateAssets, IncludeAssets, ExcludeAssets, which control what exactly and how your project depends on in those dependencies. By default, all dependencies are auto-generated by the Visual Studio with PrivateAssets, which means those dependencies are consumed, but they're not marked as dependencies for consumers of your project (which is gonna be a package in NuGet). So, you just need to replace the PrivateAssets metadata with the IncludeAssets (maybe with proper values). For example, my SuperPackage.csproj file looks like below:

..................
  <ItemGroup>
    <PackageReference Include="Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.FxCopAnalyzers" Version="2.6.0">
      <PrivateAssets>all</PrivateAssets>
    </PackageReference>
    <PackageReference Include="Newtonsoft.Json" Version="11.0.2">
      <IncludeAssets>compile</IncludeAssets>
    </PackageReference>
  </ItemGroup>

  <ItemGroup>
    <ProjectReference Include="..\ClassLibrary1\ClassLibrary1.csproj">
      <IncludeAssets>compile</IncludeAssets>
    </ProjectReference>
  </ItemGroup>
</Project>

So, I have the PackageReference to the 'Newtonsoft.Json' package from NuGet marked as a dependency, and the ProjectReference to the ClassLibrary1 project within the single solution. When the SuperPackage project is built with checked 'Generate NuGet package on build', I get the following SuperPackage.nupkg:

Check this doc for more details: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/nuget/consume-packages/package-references-in-project-files

Answer 2

From what I have found it is not yet supported in .csproj files and you should use .nuspec to specify dependencies. Have a look how they do it in xUnit, for example.