Visual Studio 2017 (ASP.NET Core) and Aurelia (ES6) from scratch manually?

Question

Is there a tutorial somewhere that shows you how to install & build Aurelia MANUALLY in Visual Studio 2017?

Why do this?

1. Ideally I'd like to use bundleconfig.json for as much as I can and use gulp for those things I can't do in bundleconfig.json.
2. I'll learn every aspect of the build/bundle/package process as possible instead of having a tool set that up for me. (Makes things easier to troubleshoot if I know how it is all setup.)
3. I won't be dependent on CLIs and packages that are not kept up to date. (Several that I've looked at are based on VS 2017 RCs).

I've tried several CLIs and "skeleton" projects but they all have their issues. Some haven't been updated to use the latest csproj.

Aurelia CLI: Project/Folder structure doesn't mirror any standard way of building SPAs that I've seen. Also doesn't mirror what you get when using Aurelia's own "Skeleton Project."

dotnew new spa templates: Though the most promising it's typescript only and not ES6. (Maybe there is a way to switch it easily?)

Aurelia's Skeleton Projects It adds dependencies that I do not need. It also does not work out of the box.

Answer 1

So here is what I've determined since originally writing this question.

My original thoughts with lessons learned:

Why do this?

1. Ideally I'd like to use bundleconfig.json for as much as I can and use gulp for those things I can't do in bundleconfig.json.

   Answer: I was only doing this because I was trying to embed Aurelia inside of a web api project in Visual Studio. I recommend you don't do this and instead keep it as a separate project. (Separation of concerns)

2. I'll learn every aspect of the build/bundle/package process as possible instead of having a tool set that up for me. (Makes things easier to troubleshoot if I know how it is all setup.)

   Answer: Though building from scratch would help me learn about this more it isn't a major roadblock. I was just inexperienced with more modern UI frameworks and their corresponding build processes. (RTFM)

3. I won't be dependent on CLIs and packages that are not kept up to date. (Several that I've looked at are based on VS 2017 RCs).

   Answer: - That happens no matter what route you go. You can wait for a library to mature more if this is a big concern.

The bottom line is my question was based on some incorrect thinking. If you are trying to go this route you really need to ask yourself why and determine if it is worth it. To me it was not. Just go with what works, learn and move on. Oh and don't resist Typescript!