Known Issues in .NET Core Tools (preview 2) for Visual Studio and Workarounds

Since releasing the DevExtreme ASP.NET MVC Wrappers for ASP.NET Core, we've seen some issues with the Visual Studio 2015 Tooling Preview 2 (for .NET Core 1.0).

Below are three issues with workarounds that could help you. Please keep in mind that many of the issues are likely related to the tooling software being in 'preview' mode. Microsoft is aware of most of these issues and they will likely address them in a future release.

Three known issues and workarounds

The following issues relate to ASP.NET Core projects (both .NET Framework and .NET Core):

1. Bower search dialog cannot find packages

This issue occurs when bower in Visual Studio can find a package but not install it. Take a look at the details here: aspnet/Tooling#506. This is a known issue which means it may be addressed in a future build.

Workaround

Edit the bower.json file manually. If bower.json is missing, enable 'Show All Files' in the Solution Explorer toolbar.

Then add your packages directly to bower.json and run the 'Restore Packages' command.

2. Bower may install wrong versions of packages

If git.exe is not available in your local PATH, then Bower may install the wrong versions of packages.

Yes, this is an unpleasant issue where the symptoms may include:

• missing JavaScript files
• various JavaScript runtime errors
• messages about using incompatible libraries

Luckily, Microsoft is aware of the issue which you can also track here: aspnet/Tooling#575. And there is a StackOverflow discussion too: http://stackoverflow.com/a/38460014

Solution:

1. Install Git for Windows
2. Delete your local bower directory: %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\bower
3. Restart Visual Studio
4. Delete wwwroot/lib
5. Restore bower packages

3. DevExtreme ASP.NET Core project templates fail to restore packages

This issue appears as the yellow error bar at the top of Solution Explorer:

Workaround

We've found a workaround for this issue and fixed it in the DevExtreme v16.1.6 release.

If you don't have v16.1.6 yet, then you can use this simple workaround: invoke package restore manually ("Restore Packages" item in the context menu of project node in Solution Explorer)

Also, this issue will likely be solved in Visual Studio tooling when the .NET Core projects are switched from project.json to csproj/MSBuild. Microsoft is aware of this issue as well.

Try DevExtreme Components for ASP.NET Core today!

Download DevExtreme v16.1.6 and let me know your thoughts about ASP.NET Core in the comments below. Thanks!

Keep in mind that the Visual Studio tooling (for .NET Core) is still in preview. We are sure that Microsoft will address the issues and provide the best environment to build .NET Core apps.

Leave me a comment below or email me: mharry@devexpress.com

Twitter: @mehulharry