How to Add Assembly References in Visual Studio Code

How do I add assembly references in Visual Studio Code?

.csproj Project file

The following topic applies to .csproj project file and : .NET Core 1.x SDK, .NET Core 2.x SDK

Adds a package reference to a project file.

dotnet add package

Example

Add Newtonsoft.Json NuGet package to a project:

dotnet add package Newtonsoft.Json

.json Project file

The following topic applies to .json project file:

This guide walks you through the process of adding any assembly reference in Visual Studio Code. In this example, we are adding the assembly reference System.Data.SqlClient into .NET Core C# console application.

Note

• At step #6, enter the assembly reference that you want.
• Some assembly reference is applicable to .NET Framework and it will gives you error(s).
• OleDb is not available in .NET Core, probably because it's not cross platform.

Prerequisites

1. Install Visual Studio Code
2. Install .NET Core SDK (Preview 2 version)
3. Install NuGet Package Manager from the Visual Studio Code Extension Marketplace
4. Install C# extension from Visual Studio Code Extension Marketplace

Steps

1. Launch Visual Studio Code
2. Open your project folder
3. Launch VS Code Command Palette by pressing F1 or Ctrl+Shift+P or Menu Bar > View > Command Palette

4. In Command Palette box, type nu

5. Click on NuGet Package Manager: Add Package

6. Enter package filter e.g. system.data (Enter your assembly reference here)

7. Press Enter
8. Click on System.Data.SqlClient

9. The following prompt pops up

10. Click on Restore

11. The following Output panel pops up

12. In the Explorer panel, click on project.json to open it

13. In the Editor panel, it shows the assembly reference added into project.json file

14. Assembly reference, System.Data.SqlClient used in Program.cs

How to reference assemblies using Visual Studio Code?

The new .NET Core SDK restore command is dotnet restore

To add any asssembly reference in Visual Studio Code, please refer to my post.

Adding reference to another project from visual studio code

Let's say you have two projects:

1) Project1.Api

2) Project2.Executable

Command line syntax for dotnet add reference:

    cd Project2.Executable
    dotnet add reference ../Project1.Api/Project1.Api.csproj

If you check the Project2.Executable.csproj file, you will see the following entry:

    <ItemGroup>
         <ProjectReference Include = "..\Project1.Api\Project1.Api.csproj" />
    </ItemGroup>

Can't reference dll assembly to the Visual Studio Code project

You can use dotnet-add reference CLI command which provides a convenient option to add project references to a project.

Example: Add a project reference:

dotnet add app/app.csproj reference lib/lib.csproj

For more information, refer this.

How to add DLL reference in Visual Studio Code

You need to add a reference to any .dll files in your csTemp.csproj file as such:

  <ItemGroup>
     <Reference Include="OpenHardwareMonitorLib">
      <HintPath>**path\to\your\dll**</HintPath>
     </Reference>
  </ItemGroup>

VSCode you must add a reference to assembly 'netstandard' but compiles fine

Thanks to @Martin Ullrich and for a good question to @Chris Kooken. I think it should be an approved answer in here for the next visitors to the page.

Following these steps helped me to solve the issue:

 * Go to the VSCode settings (File > Preferences > Settings).
 * Search with the keywords omnisharp use global mono to locate the configuration.
 * Change the value to never from either auto or always.
 * REMEMBER to restart the VSCode to activate the change (I restarted it twice to be sure).

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