If you’ve never heard of NuGet, or even if you have but not tried it, there’s never been a better time. It was only a few weeks ago that Scott Hanselman, a member of the Microsoft Web Platform team, recently announced that the runtime ADO.NET Entity Framework, DbContext API, and tools were being open-sourced! Entity Framework may be obtained as quick download utilizing a Visual Studio extension called NuGet. NuGet also allows you download other common packages that can make you more productive such as jQuery and the AJAX Control Toolkit.
NuGet Package Manager Console
NuGet packages can be installed through Visual Studio 2010 utilizing the package manager console, which is invoked by clicking the Tools menu and then clicking Library Package Manager. The package manager console is a PowerShell based, command-line interface where you can obtain a package by name typing the simple commandlet: Get-Package “package name”.
Managing NuGet Package Installations
With the latest version and Visual Studio 2010, you can also manage or update any packages without having to invoke the Powershell interface. If you right-click on your project and click Manage NuGet Packages in the context menu, you are presented with a window that shows you possible packages for installation or update.
I highly recommend you investigate the NuGet Visual Studio Extension. If you’re a complete newbie to it, check out their Getting Started page. God bless and happy coding!
Jeffrey Morgan says
I love NuGet. I use it all the time for C# & Web Development. There are so many useful tools and packages that make life easier.
Jon Guenther says
Indeed there are, Jeffrey! Thanks for your comment.