Only fitsharp.dll and fit.dll are included when referencing the Nuget package

[kopfsick]

Maybe I'm doing something wrong here, but I added a reference to the fitsharp Nuget package from my project containing my test code. In the build pipeline this project gets published and Fitnesse runs tests. However, I need to manually copy all dlls other than fitsharp.dll and fit.dll as these are not included as either references or content in the nuspec.

How do I use the Nuget package in a sensible way in a build pipeline?

Of course, I can copy the contents of, in my case, the "net6.0-windows" of the Nuget package and add as content to my project, but then I would have to update it manually when moving to .NET 7/8/9.

[sqeezy]

With the current configuration of the nuget package only you have to use MSBuild to copy additional assemblies. this can be done by adding somehing like this to your csproj:

<ItemGroup>
  <PackageReference Include="fitsharp" Version="2024.2.27" GeneratePathProperty="true" />
</ItemGroup>

<Target Name="CopyAdditionalContent" AfterTargets="Build">
  <Copy SourceFiles="$(PkgFitsharp)\lib\net6.0-windows\Runner.dll" DestinationFolder="$(OutDir)" />
</Target>

This way you have to list the assemblies you need, but it's far less cumbersome to update. net6.0-windows could also be replaced by $(TargetFramework) in the path.

[kopfsick]

Thank you! I was not aware of the GeneratePathProperty flag. This method makes it a bit better, and I will do it this way. However, couldn't the other assemblies be added as content/reference in the package? Is there a downside to that? I'm not experienced with creating packages so I'm just asking :)

[sqeezy]

The "new" way of doing this is to have a nuget package per assembly. This could be done for fitsharp as well but the effort is kind of high.

There are also similar ways of including parts of a nuget package as reference. See this blog entry for an example. This way might be better if you actually need the reference not just the assembly in your output folder.