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Recommended reading to better understand this document: .NET Standard | Project-Guidelines | Package-Projects

Add APIs

Determine what library

  • Propose a library for exposing it as part of the API review process.
  • Keep in mind the API might be exposed in a reference assembly that doesn't match the identity of the implementation. There are many reasons for this but the primary reason is to abstract the runtime assembly identities across different platforms while sharing a common API surface and allowing us to refactor the implementation without compat concerns in future releases.

Determine target framework

net5.0 is the target framework version currently under development and the new apis should be added to net5.0. More Information on TargetFrameworks

Making the changes in repo

Update pkg

  • If changing the target framework
    • Update SupportedFramework metadata on the ref ProjectReference to declare the set of concrete platforms you expect your library to support. (see [Specific platform mappings][net-standard table]). Generally will be a combination of netcoreapp2.x, netfx46x, and/or $(AllXamarinFrameworks).
  • If assembly or package version is updated the package index needs to be updated by running dotnet build <Library>/pkg/<Library>.pkgproj /t:UpdatePackageIndex

Update tests

  • Add new TargetFramework to the TargetFrameworks.
  • Add new test code following conventions for new files to that are specific to the new target framework.
  • To run just the new test targetFramework run dotnet build <Library>.csproj -f <TargetFramework> /t:Test. TargetFramework should be chosen only from supported TargetFrameworks.

Documentation

New public APIs must be documented with triple-slash comments on top of them. Visual Studio automatically generates the structure for you when you type ///.

If your new API or the APIs it calls throw any exceptions, those need to be manually documented by adding the <exception></exception> elements.

After your change is merged, we will eventually port them to the dotnet-api-docs repo, where we will review them for language and proper style (For more information, see the API writing guidelines).

Once the dotnet-api-docs change is merged, your comments will start showing up in the official API documentation at http://docs.microsoft.com/, and later they'll appear in IntelliSense in Visual Studio and Visual Studio Code. Once the documentation is official, any subsequent updates to it must be made directly in https://github.com/dotnet/dotnet-api-docs/. It's fine to make updates to the triple slash comments later, they just won't automatically flow into the official docs.

FAQ

How do I consume APIs from another package that aren't yet published?

If you are adding APIs across multiple packages at the same time. You can temporarily add a direct ProjectReference from the ref\csproj to the ref\csproj, src\csproj to the ref\csproj, and/or tests\csproj to pkg\pkgproj. Once a new set of packages have been published these ProjectReferences should be removed.

What to do if you are moving types down into a lower contract?

If you are moving types down you need to version both contracts at the same time and temporarily use project references across the projects. You also need to be sure to leave type-forwards in the places where you removed types in order to maintain back-compat.