How To Convert a .csproj File To Use Orleans NuGet Packages

This note shows how to manually convert a Visual Studio .csproj file which was created with Orleans v0.9 Visual Studio templates from using assembly references based on the $(OrleansSDK) environment variable to using Orleans NuGet packages.

These examples assume you are using the latest v1.0.3 NuGet packages from Feb-2015.

For simplicity I will use "v0.9" to refer to the "old" .csproj and "v1.0" to refer to the "new" .csproj although strictly speaking "v1.0 really means ">= v1.0.3" in practice because there was significant restructuring and changes in the Orleans NuGet packages before that point.

Grain Interface Project

Orleans Grain Interface project -- Example: HelloWorldInterfaces.csproj

You might want to preserve a copy of the old .csproj file before you start, if you do not have a copy already preserved in your source code control system.

Steps to to change Orleans Grain Interface project:

1. Do Build->Clean on the project to remove any old binaries.

2. Remove old v0.9 assembly references for any Orleans binaries.

    <ItemGroup>
        <Reference Include="Orleans">
              <HintPath>$(OrleansSDK)\Binaries\OrleansClient\Orleans.dll</HintPath>
              <Private>False</Private>
         </Reference>
    </ItemGroup>
   

3. Remove old v0.9 Orleans code-gen metadata and script trigger.

    <PropertyGroup>
          <OrleansProjectType>Server</OrleansProjectType>
    </PropertyGroup>
    <Import Project="$(OrleansSDK)\Binaries\OrleansClient\Orleans.SDK.targets" />
   

4. Make sure to re-save the .csproj to disk at this point, otherwise the next step will fail !

5. Use Visual Studio Package manager to add the Microsoft.Orleans.Templates.Interfaces package to the grain interfaces project.
   • Do this by right-click on project node in Solution Explorer, select "Manage NuGet Packages..." context menu item, then search for Orleans and select the Microsoft.Orleans.Templates.Interfaces package.
   • This will add a packages.config file to the project, and add the normal NuGet link code into the .csproj
   • This will also add the Orleans assembly references into the project, and recreate the code-gen metadata and script links for you.
6. Ensure .csproj file is saved to disk again.
7. Do Build->Rebuild on the project to rebuild with the new packages and binaries.
8. Going forward, you should only need to change the version number in packages.config to use a newer package -- either manually edit the packages.config file or use NuGet Package Manager UI in Visual Studio.

Orleans Grain Class project -- Example: HelloWorldGrains.csproj

Steps to to change Orleans Grain Class project:

Steps 1..4 and 6..8 are the same as for the grain interfaces .csproj above.

1. Build->Clean
2. Remove old v0.9 Orleans assembly references
3. Remove old v0.9 Orleans code-gen metadata
4. Save .csproj file to disk
5. Use Visual Studio Package manager to add the Microsoft.Orleans.Templates.Grains package to the project.
6. Follow Steps 6..8 from the grain interfaces .csproj above.

Problems?

If you have problems getting these conversions to work for you, then please post a full copy of your .csproj into a Gist on your GitHub account and then open a new Issue in the Orleans GitHub Project asking for assistance and pointing to the Gist for your specific project file.