Designing Portable Libraries - (Best Practices for .NET Standard)

Portable libraries are a great way to write code that can be used across multiple platforms. With the introduction of .NET Standard, it's become even easier to create portable libraries that can be used in a wide variety of projects. In this tutorial, we'll discuss best practices for designing portable libraries using .NET Standard.

Syntax

.NET Standard allows you to create libraries that can be used across multiple platforms. The syntax for creating a portable library using .NET Standard is as follows:

<PropertyGroup>
  <TargetFrameworks>netstandard1.4;net461</TargetFrameworks>
</PropertyGroup>

Example

To illustrate best practices for designing portable libraries using .NET Standard, let's look at an example. Suppose we have the following class library that we'd like to make portable:

using System;

namespace MyLibrary
{
    public class MyClass
    {
        public void MyMethod()
        {
            Console.WriteLine("Hello, world!");
        }
    }
}

To make this library portable, we need to target .NET Standard. We can do this by adding the following to our .csproj file:

<Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk">

  <PropertyGroup>
    <TargetFrameworks>netstandard2.0;net461</TargetFrameworks>
  </PropertyGroup>

</Project>

This tells .NET Standard to target the .NET Framework 4.6.1 and .NET Standard 2.0. We can now build our library and use it in projects that target .NET Framework 4.6.1 or higher, as well as .NET Core or any other platform that supports .NET Standard 2.0.

Explanation

Designing portable libraries using .NET Standard involves using a set of rules and guidelines that ensure your code can be used across multiple platforms. When creating a portable library, it's important to keep in mind the platforms you want to target and make sure your library is compatible with all of them.

Use

Portable libraries are useful when you want to write code that can be shared across multiple projects and platforms. By targeting .NET Standard, you can create a library that can be used in .NET Framework, .NET Core, Xamarin, and other platforms that support .NET Standard.

Important Points

Here are some important points to keep in mind when designing portable libraries using .NET Standard:

• Use the latest version of .NET Standard to ensure maximum compatibility across platforms.
• Avoid using platform-specific APIs or features that are not supported by .NET Standard.
• Test your library on all platforms you want to support to ensure compatibility and usability.

Summary

In this tutorial, we discussed best practices for designing portable libraries using .NET Standard. We covered the syntax, example, explanation, use, and important points of designing portable libraries using .NET Standard. By following these best practices, you can create portable libraries that can be used in a wide variety of projects and platforms.