Notes.txt

Important points when developing plugins


- All views (cshtml files) and web.config file should have "Build action" set to "Content" and "Copy to output directory" set to "Copy if newer"

- When you develop a new plugin from scratch, and when a new class library is added to the solution, open its .csproj file (a main project file) in any text editor and replace its content with the following one

<Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk">
  <PropertyGroup>
    <TargetFramework>net461</TargetFramework> 
  </PropertyGroup>  
  <PropertyGroup Condition="'$(Configuration)|$(Platform)'=='Release|AnyCPU'">
    <OutputPath>..\..\Presentation\Nop.Web\Plugins\PLUGIN_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY</OutputPath>
    <OutDir>$(OutputPath)</OutDir>
  </PropertyGroup>
  <PropertyGroup Condition="'$(Configuration)|$(Platform)'=='Debug|AnyCPU'">
    <OutputPath>..\..\Presentation\Nop.Web\Plugins\PLUGIN_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY</OutputPath>
    <OutDir>$(OutputPath)</OutDir>
  </PropertyGroup>
  <!-- This target execute after "Build" target -->
  <Target Name="NopTarget" AfterTargets="Build">
    <!-- Delete unnecessary libraries from plugins path -->
    <MSBuild Projects="$(MSBuildProjectDirectory)\..\..\Build\ClearPluginAssemblies.proj" Properties="PluginPath=$(MSBuildProjectDirectory)\$(OutDir)" Targets="NopClear" />
  </Target>
</Project>

Replace “PLUGIN_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY” in the code above with your real plugin output directory name. 

It’s not required. But this way we can use a new ASP.NET approach to add third-party references. It was introduced in .NET Core. Furthermore, references from already referenced libraries will be loaded automatically. It’s very convenient.