.NET Core 2.0 status

[toddams]

Microsoft has rolled out .NET Core 2.0-preview1 and I thought that it's a good time to start 2.0 version of RazorLight. But today got an email from Razor repo about another refactoring / breaking changes, like this one: https://github.com/aspnet/Announcements/issues/242 . That makes things a little bit more complicated, as I don't know whether Microsoft guys will not do yet another breaking change before stable release. So I created this issue in order to let you know about the status of the development.

We are waiting for stable release and right after that 2.0 will start it's development.

[danwalmsley]

Is development likely to start soon? On my project I'm holding up a release for this and don't want to have to find an alternative to razorlight being that it works so well. The apis should be fairly stable now.?

[toddams]

Hello @danwalmsley I understand your situation and indeed we need to start development already, to at least have some base functionality, even though 2.0 is still in preview. I hope there won't be any major breaking changes

[dukecheng]

Hi @toddams

As the 2.0 preview 2 already released one month after, and RTM will be on 9.18, do you have any plan to release a preview version for the RazorLight? that can let us use for now?

[toddams]

@DukeCheng At the moment I'm in a process of development, the thing is that there were a lot of changes, and for me it's kinda making everything from scratch. Lack of time and other factors are the main reason why it's not yet ready. But no doubts, I will try to deliver a new version asap

[kspearrin]

We too need this for NET Core 2.0. We are still using ASP.NET Core 1.1.2, but have updated to netcoreapp2.0 to gain additional .NET Standard APIs. RazorLight seems to have issues with .NET Core 2.0 (even through still ASP.NET Core 1.1.2).

[kspearrin]

@toddams is it possible for you to push your WIP we we can see how things are changing?

[kspearrin]

.NET Core 2.0 has been released today. https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/dotnet/2017/08/14/announcing-net-core-2-0/

[danwalmsley]

bump!

[toddams]

I understand you guys, that you may need it in your projects, etc. So here I'm giving myself a deadline. First beta will be released in the middle-end of September.

[kspearrin]

Thanks for the update @toddams That helps with planning at least.

[dukecheng]

@toddams Thanks, we are expecting your first version.

[MattMofDoom]

Sweet! 👍

[mechm]

any update on this - i am getting System.TypeLoadException: 'Could not load type 'Microsoft.AspNetCore.Razor.RazorEngineHost' from assembly 'Microsoft.AspNetCore.Razor, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=adb9793829ddae60'.' This works fine with 1.6 but not 2.0 .netcore.

[grokky1]

Hey all... Also have problems now that I've upgraded to netcoreapp2.0. I was wondering whether it's possible to use some sort of workaround until the new version is released.

I remember reading somewhere that it's possible to reference .NET framework assemblies somehow. Maybe we can reference the current version of RazorLight from a netcoreapp2.0 assembly, and it'll work. Problem is I don't know how to get this working. Have any of you managed to do something like that???

(To be clear what I mean is to do something in our csproj. I don't mean changing anything in RazorLight itself)

The problem is here. Error is Method not found: 'System.IServiceProvider Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyInjection.ServiceCollectionContainerBuilderExtensions.BuildServiceProvider(Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyInjection.IServiceCollection)'.

[grokky1]

@kspearrin Have you found a workaround for now? Your comment seems to indicate that you managed to upgrade to 2.0 somehow?

[kspearrin]

No workaround. I moved to another alternative in the meantime. :(

[grokky1]

@kspearrin I like RazorLight, and I want to carry on using it, but until the next version is released, would you mind letting me know what alternative there is? The only one I know of is Postal, but it hasn't been updated in years...

[kspearrin]

I switched to using a markdown implementation with https://github.com/Knagis/CommonMark.NET

Much more basic, but it works for me, for now.

see https://github.com/bitwarden/core/blob/master/src/Core/Services/Implementations/MarkdownMailService.cs

[grokky1]

~@kspearrin Good idea! It is basic like you said, but a decent workaround until RazorLight is updated.~

Spoke to soon... I discovered after some fiddling that in my case it's too much effort / impossible to convert from Razor templates to markdown. I've gone back to Core 1.1 until this library is updated... 😢 Thanks for the advice though, it was worth a try!

[chrisofe]

Could really do with this! Any news on when a beta will be available?

[andrew-blyth]

+1 for an update ASAP

[cdroulers]

https://gist.github.com/cdroulers/9ed5b5b2e5c035a0e6912a88c7043f96

Here is my replacement since my use-case was very simple (render full page HTML with a few model variables, no layouts or anything). But since it uses the Framework Razor stuff, I think it would work with layouts and whatnot. While debugging, the framework was requesting the "_ViewImports.cshtml" file. I therefore assume that it would parse layouts and whatever!

[grokky1]

@cdroulers Cool thanks for helping out! I'm gonna try this... That gist says your use case was embedded files. I only use RazerLight for rendering strings. Have you managed to use it that way?

[cdroulers]

@grokky1 Yes, the renderer simply creates a string like RazorLight. By embedded Files, I mean my .cshtml templates are simply embedded in the DLL instead of being on the file system (easier for deployment, less configuration for root path, etc.)

[grokky1]

@cdroulers No what I mean is the inputs to RL - it supports 1) files, 2) embedded resources, and 3) strings. Your gist (from what I can udnerstand) uses embedded resources as inputs. Would that workaround somehow support string input as well?

Maybe @toddams can give us an idea how to make this workaround work for all 3 use cases...

[cdroulers]

Ohh, I get what you mean. I'm not a Razor expert, but I'm guessing you could create a "StringFileProvider" that simply returns the "fileName" it was passed, which would be your Razor Template. Change the ViewLocationFormats to "{0}" and I think you'll get the value straight away. Feels hacky, but would be appropriate for a temporary fix!

[andrew-blyth]

@cdroulers . Well done for publishing an alternative. We also use an embed file and it works for us..

[dukecheng]

@toddams Hi, Does any progress on this project and do you need contribution, if you needed, Please tell me, I also worked out a basic version that worked on .net core 2.0 based on lasted RazorLight master branch code.

[wapplegate]

@DukeCheng Is there any way you can release a temporary nuget package for the update you've done? Need to get something set up quick and I don't want to move away from using the RazorLight library.

[toddams]

Small update, so you don't think I'm dead or smth :) This night I managed to generate and compile first razor template using 2.0 version. Now I need to add features (like Includes, Layouts, Injects) /caching/unit-tests/etc.

As planned, in the middle of September I will release first beta with the same set of features as 1.0 version had, but with new Razor engine and NetStandard 2.0 support. TagHelpers and other sweets are postponed as there are too much MVC-specific stuff inside and I will take more time than I expected.

[dukecheng]

@toddams Wow, You are live, very happy to here you are still working on this.

[dukecheng]

@Singularity222

the temp code is here: https://github.com/dukecheng/razorlight2 and I still have many problems, currently stuck at model part, I am still investigate how to resolve it. now it just can complete a very simple signal page, not support layout yet.

This code is copy from CURRENT RAZORLIGHT code, it is just for study and learning, the copyright belong to @toddams

[grokky1]

@toddams Very happy to hear that!

If you want guinea pigs to test on, many of us will be glad! 😄 You could release betas on myget and I'm sure all of us on this thread will give you feedback!

[wapplegate]

@toddams Is there any way you can deploy a beta nuget package with just the basic features working in .NET Core 2.0? I would be willing to make a donation to your project if so. I'm in a bit of a time crunch and would greatly appreciate it.

[toddams]

@Singularity222 I see. What features do you use in your templates?

[wapplegate]

Honestly, just the basic functionality is all I need at the moment. No layout files or anything like that. Right now I'm just pulling a very basic razor view from the database and using the ParseString method with a very simple model. That's all.

[wapplegate]

Also, if the performance is slow for the time being it's no issue. Won't be going to production for a while. Have internal deadlines though and don't want to duplicate my effort. I'd be willing to beta test / help with the project. I like using razor for templates and don't want to switch to something else.

[johnknoop]

@Singularity222 you could always clone https://github.com/dukecheng/razorlight2 and build it yourself. If you need it in several projects, just put it on a MyGet feed.

Scratch that, I just noticed that @toddams already has put it on NuGet :-)

[wapplegate]

I actually did try that and was running into issues rendering my templates when added to my project unfortunately. Just haven't had time to dig into it deeper yet.

[pmpbpl]

I have tired to use nuget package, but unfortunately there is version conflict for Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.Common.

Web app is targeting netcoreapp2.0.

*.Web (>= 1.0.0) -> *.Service (>= 1.0.0) -> Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.Common (>= 2.3.2) *.Web (>= 1.0.0) -> Microsoft.VisualStudio.Web.CodeGeneration.Design (>= 2.0.0) -> Microsoft.VisualStudio.Web.CodeGenerators.Mvc (>= 2.0.0) -> Microsoft.VisualStudio.Web.CodeGeneration (>= 2.0.0) -> Microsoft.VisualStudio.Web.CodeGeneration.EntityFrameworkCore (>= 2.0.0) -> Microsoft.VisualStudio.Web.CodeGeneration.Core (>= 2.0.0) -> Microsoft.VisualStudio.Web.CodeGeneration.Templating (>= 2.0.0) -> Microsoft.VisualStudio.Web.CodeGeneration.Utils (>= 2.0.0) -> Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.CSharp.Workspaces (>= 2.3.1) -> Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.Workspaces.Common (>= 2.3.1) -> Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.Common (>= 2.3.1).

[johnknoop]

I'm also trying it out. It runs alright, but when parsing my Razor view, I get this:

The name 'Model' does not exist in the current context

...for a simple @Model.MyProperty expression.

[csanctis]

I am trying the new 2.0 version but and I am also getting the "The name 'Model' does not exist in the current context" message. And version 1 does not work as it cannot find the RazorEngine class for the parse.

[pmpbpl]

I have tired to use nuget package, but unfortunately there is version conflict for Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.Common.

Microsoft.AspNetCore.All 2.0.0 is setting Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.Common to version 2.3.1, when I specified version 2.3.2 build have succeeded.

Now I have same problem as @johnknoop and @csanctis.

[toddams]

On Sunday I will upload first aplha to MyGet with just basic razor.

[toddams]

Install-Package RazorLight -Version 2.0.0-alpha1

So first alpha is there. Please, keep in mind, that this package is only released because some people REALLY need it on their project, I don't recommend to use in your super-production. Here are quicknotes:

• There are a lot of breaking changes. Project literally has been made from scratch
• IRazorLight interface is still there. There is no "Parse" method. Use "CompileRenderAsync" instead (method names might change in future releases)
• EngineFactory no longer static
• No IEngineConfiguration yet.
• No MVC version with @inject yet.
• No ViewStarts yet
• FileSystem templates are not tracked and therefore are not invalidated from cache yet when you change them
• No string caching (Most people used it to for templates that are taken from database. Recommended approach is to create custom RazorLightProject class that will load your templates from database. That's all you need and this way, your templates will be cached). I will create a sample tomorrow with EntityFramework and NpgSql

So what is implemented?

• Basic Razor support
• Model
• Layout,
• Sections
• Caching

I've pushed the changes to dev-2.0 branch

I have created gitter channel - https://gitter.im/Razor-Light If you have super-urgent questions - feel free to ask

[akabii]

Nice one @toddams just tried it out. Works like charm. Really appreciate

        services.AddSingleton<IRazorLightEngine>(f =>
        {
            return (new EngineFactory())
                .ForFileSystem($"{Environment.ContentRootPath}\\Views");
        });

and then used like emailContent.Body = await _engine.CompileRenderAsync("Test.cshtml", model);

[toddams]

For those, who store templates in database, @DukeCheng provided very nice sample https://gist.github.com/toddams/8ebf21be9597ee48f47085b879b46ca7

[toddams]

Alpha2 is out with support of Includes and Raw.

Closing this issue, as primary goal is achieved. If you have any questions regarding an existing functionality - use gitter. In case of bug - open a new issue.

Information about new releases you can find at Releases section - https://github.com/toddams/RazorLight/releases