Templating engine as library

[oyvindh]

It would be great to see a library, so that the templating engine could be integrated into programs without having to rely on calling out to a process. Happy to contribute :)

[mlorbetske]

Hi @oyvindh, that's actually the case already. The packages for doing so are currently not on NuGet, however they are available on MyGet at https://dotnet.myget.org/gallery/templating. Using the code that calls in to the engine in the CLI project or the IDE bootstrapperas a guide (depending on which one is closer to your use case) would be the best places to start.

[hh532]

Hi @mlorbetske , I'm working with oyvind on this. Would you mind linking the relevant files in the CLI project too? I have difficulty finding what I'm looking for, with the closest being the Dotnet.cs and Battery.cs files. Most promising is the "CreateNewCommandWithArgsForTemplate" method in CommandParserSupport.cs. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[mlorbetske]

CreateTemplateAsync in https://github.com/dotnet/templating/blob/4bd80f0577550c7f36867b53d0c074f8f3dcde17/src/Microsoft.TemplateEngine.Cli/New3Command.cs will probably be the best thing to look at if you’re working toward a command line experience.