install-and-use-a-package-in-visual-studio.md

title	description	author	ms.author	ms.date	ms.topic
Introductory Guide to Using NuGet Packages from within Visual Studio	A walkthrough tutorial on the process of installing and using a NuGet package in a Visual Studio project.	karann-msft	karann	01/23/2018	quickstart

Quickstart: Install and use a package in Visual Studio

NuGet packages contain reusable code that other developers make available to you for use in your projects. See What is NuGet? for background. Packages are installed into a Visual Studio project using the Package Manager UI or the Package Manager Console. This article demonstrates the process using the popular Newtonsoft.Json package and a Universal Windows Platform (UWP) project. The same process applies to any other .NET or .NET Core project.

Once installed, refer to the package in code with using <namespace> where <namespace> is specific to the package you're using. Once the reference is made, you can call the package through its API.

[!Tip] Start with nuget.org: Browsing nuget.org is how .NET developers typically find components they can reuse in their own applications. You can search nuget.org directly or find and install packages within Visual Studio as shown in this article.

Prerequisites

• Visual Studio 2017 with the Universal Windows Platform development workload, or
• Visual Studio 2015 Update 3 with Tools for Universal Windows Apps.

You can install the 2017 Community edition for free from visualstudio.com or use the Professional or Enterprise editions.

Create a project

NuGet packages can be installed into any .NET project, provided that the package supports the same target framework as the project.

For this walkthrough, use a simple Universal Windows (UWP) app. Create a project in Visual Studio using File > New Project... and selecting the Windows Universal > Blank App (Universal Windows). Accept the default values for Target Version and Minimum Version when prompted.

Add the Newtonsoft.Json NuGet package

To install the package, you can use either the Package Manager UI or the Package Manager Console. When you install a package, NuGet records the dependency in either your project file or a packages.config file. For more information, see Package consumption overview and workflow.

Package Manager UI

1. In Solution Explorer, right-click References and choose Manage NuGet Packages.

   

2. Choose "nuget.org" as the Package source, select the Browse tab, search for Newtonsoft.Json, select that package in the list, and select Install:

   

3. Accept any license prompts.

4. (Visual Studio 2017) If prompted to select a package management format, select PackageReference in project file:

   

5. If prompted to review changes, select OK.

Package Manager Console

1. Select the Tools > NuGet Package Manager > Package Manager Console menu command.

2. Once the console opens, check that the Default project drop-down list shows the project into which you want to install the package. If you have a single project in the solution, it is already selected.

   

3. Enter the command Install-Package Newtonsoft.Json (see Install-Package). The console window shows output for the command. Errors typically indicate that the package isn't compatible with the project's target framework.

Use the Newtonsoft.Json API in the app

With the Newtonsoft.Json package in the project, you can call its JsonConvert.SerializeObject method to convert an object to a human-readable string.

1. Open MainPage.xaml and replace the existing Grid element with the following:

   <Grid Background="{ThemeResource ApplicationPageBackgroundThemeBrush}">
       <StackPanel VerticalAlignment="Center">
           <Button Click="Button_Click" Content="Click Me" Margin="10"/>
           <TextBlock Name="TextBlock" Text="TextBlock" Margin="10"/>
       </StackPanel>
   </Grid>

2. Open the MainPage.xaml.cs file (located in Solution Explorer under the MainPage.xaml node), and insert the following code inside the MainPage constructor:

   public class Account
   {
       public string Name { get; set; }
       public string Email { get; set; }
       public DateTime DOB { get; set; }
   }
   
   private void Button_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
   {
       Account account = new Account
       {
           Name = "John Doe",
           Email = "john@microsoft.com",
           DOB = new DateTime(1980, 2, 20, 0, 0, 0, DateTimeKind.Utc),
       };
       string json = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(account, Formatting.Indented);
       TextBlock.Text = json;
   }

3. Even though you added the Newtonsoft.Json package to the project, red squiggles appears under JsonConvert because you need a using statement at the top of the code file:

   using Newtonsoft.Json;

4. Build and run the app by pressing F5 or selecting Debug > Start Debugging:

   

5. Select on the button to see the contents of the TextBlock replaced with some JSON text:

   

Related articles

• Overview and workflow of package consumption
• Finding and choosing packages
• Ways to install a package
• Configuring NuGet Behavior