The new command is used to create new .NET Core projects. Projects are created using templates installed via NuGet packages.
Templates are laid out in their NuGet packages in a hierarchical fashion that enables the creation of simple trees of templates
with categories that are then merged across the installed template packages to create an overall template tree. This tree allows
the display of an interactive menu when creating new projects, while also allowing for direct project creation using a template
node's full path, e.g. dotnet new -t aspnetcore/mvc/empty
As templates are in normal NuGet packages and installed into the standard NuGet packages folder, they can depend on other NuGet packages that are used in their templates, such that when they're installed, all the required packages to create new projects using the contained templates are installed too.
Displaying help:
~/code> dotnet new --help
Usage:
dotnet new
dotnet new -t|--template <template/path> [-n|--name <ProjectName>] [[-v|--variable <Name> <Value>] [-v|--variable <Name> <Value>]]
dotnet new <arguments>
Arguments:
-t|--template <template/path> The path of the template to use
-n|--name <ProjectName> The name of the new project, created in current folder if not specified
-v|--variable <Name> <Value> Variable to be passed to the template (can be specified more than once)
-l|--list Lists installed templates
-i|--install <TemplatePackageId> [version] Installs templates from a package with optional version
-i|--install <TemplatePackagePath> Installs templates from a package
-u|--uninstall <TemplatePackageId> Uninstalls a templates package
-r|--restore Restores installed template packages
Listing installed templates:
~/code> dotnet new --list
MS.DotNetCore.New.Templates 1.0.0
- Console Application [console]
- Class Library [classlib]
~/code>
Installing new templates from a package:
~/code> dotnet new --install MS.DotNetCore.New.Templates.AspNetCore 1.0.0
Installing templates from MS.DotNetCore.New.Templates.AspNetCore
Installed 3 templates:
- ASP.NET Core Empty Application [aspnetcore/empty]
- ASP.NET Core MVC Web Site [aspnetcore/mvc/website]
- ASP.NET Core MVC Web API Application [aspnetcore/mvc/webapi]
~/code> dotnet new --list
MS.DotNetCore.New.Templates 1.0.0
- Console Application [console]
- Class Library [classlib]
MS.DotNetCore.New.Templates.AspNetCore 1.0.0
- ASP.NET Core Empty Application [aspnetcore/empty]
- ASP.NET Core MVC Web Site [aspnetcore/mvc/website]
- ASP.NET Core MVC Web API Application [aspnetcore/mvc/webapi]
~/code>
Creating a new project with a specific template:
~/code> mkdir MyApp && cd MyApp
~/code/MyApp> dotnet new --template console
Created project "MyApp" in ~/code/MyApp
~/code/MyApp> cd ../
~/code> dotnet new -t console --name MyApp2
Created project "MyApp2" in ~/code/MyApp2
~/code> dotnet new -t aspnetcore/mvc/website --name MyWebApp
Created project "MyWebApp" in ~/code/MyWebApp
~/code>
Creating a new project using the template menu:
~/code> dotnet new
Templates
-----------------------------------
1. Console Application [console]
2. Class Library [classlib]
3. ASP.NET Core [aspnetcore]
Select a template [1]: 1
Enter a project name [Project1]: MyApp
Enter a target framework [netstandardapp1.5]:
Created project "MyApp" in ~/code/MyApp
~/code/MyApp> cd../
~/code> dotnet new
Templates
-----------------------------------
1. Console Application [console]
2. Class Library [classlib]
3. ASP.NET Core [aspnetcore]
Select a template [1]: 3
ASP.NET Core Templates
-----------------------------------
1. ASP.NET Core Empty Application [aspnetcore/empty]
2. ASP.NET Core MVC [aspnetcore/mvc]
Select an ASP.NET Core template [1]: 2
ASP.NET Core MVC Templates
-----------------------------------
1. ASP.NET Core MVC Empty [aspnetcore/mvc/empty]
2. ASP.NET Core MVC Web Site [aspnetcore/mvc/website]
3. ASP.NET Core MVC Web API Application [aspnetcore/mvc/webapi]
Select an ASP.NET Core MVC template [1]: 2
Enter a project name [Project1]: MyWebApp
Enter a target framework [netstandardapp1.5]:
Created "MyWebApp" in ~/code/MyWebApp
~/code/MyWebApp>
Templates are placed in NuGet packages in the content/templates folder. Optionally, in the root of the folder is a templates.json file
that describes the templates contained and if present is used to enhance the project creation experience.
The layout allows for multi-level category nodes with template nodes as the leaves. In the case a category node contains just a single template node, that template will be automatically selected when the category is chosen.
Template files support basic variable substitution, with the only variables automatically supplied being $ProjectName$ and $RuntimeId$.
Other variables can be added via the templates.json file.
Variables have an ID, question text, optional default value, and optionally conditions that must be true for the variable to be prompted for.
In the case it isn't, the default value is used. The only condition supported is "rid", which checks for a match against the machine's runtime
ID.
Example templates.json for the default templates:
{
"projectTemplates": {
"console": {
"title": "Console Application",
"children": {
"csharp": {
"title": "Console Application (C#)",
"variables": {
"framework": {
"question": "Please select a target framework",
"default": "netstandardapp1.5",
"conditions": {
"rid": ["win7"]
}
}
}
}
}
},
"classlib": {
"title": "Class Library",
"children": {
"csharp": {
"title": "Class Library (C#)",
"variables": {
"framework": {
"question": "Please select a target framework",
"default": "netstandardapp1.5",
"conditions": {
"rid": ["win7"]
}
}
}
}
}
}
}
}The following demonstrates the layout of template NuGet packages. Note how templates from separate packages can share their structure such that they're templates can occupy the same parts of the resultant installed template "tree".
~/.nuget/
packages/
MS.DotNetCore.New.Templates/
content/
templates/
templates.json
console/
csharp/
title.txt
files/
Program.cs
classlib/
csharp/
files/
project.json
Program.cs
MS.DotNetCore.New.Templates.VB/
content/
templates/
templates.json
console/
vb/
files/
project.json
Program.vb
classlib/
vb/
files/
projext.json
Program.vb
MS.DotNetCore.New.Templates.AspNetCore/
content/
templates/
templates.json
aspnetcore/
empty/
csharp/
files/
project.json
Program.cs
mvc/
empty/
csharp/
files/
project.json
Program.cs
Startup.cs
Controllers/
HomeController.cs
wwwroot/
website/
csharp/
webapi/
csharp/
tools/
Ah, ok. :) So I was overthinking it. :)