Create SDK Project

We first need an SDK library for loading plugins and providing APIs for plugins.

Create SDK Project

Create a new WinUI class library in VS.

This article uses a project named ShadowExample.Core as an example.

winui

After creation, open the .csproj file and add the following code:

ShadowExample.Core.csproj

xml

<Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk">
  <PropertyGroup>
    <TargetFramework>net6.0-windows10.0.19041.0</TargetFramework>
    <TargetPlatformMinVersion>10.0.17763.0</TargetPlatformMinVersion>
    <RootNamespace>ShadowExample.Core</RootNamespace>
    <RuntimeIdentifiers>win10-x86;win10-x64;win10-arm64</RuntimeIdentifiers>
    <UseWinUI>true</UseWinUI>
	  <NoWarn>MSB3277</NoWarn>
    <LangVersion>12</LangVersion>
    <CopyLocalLockFileAssemblies>true</CopyLocalLockFileAssemblies> 

    <!-- Regular Nuget properties -->
    <Version>1.0.0.34</Version>  
    <PackageId>ShadowExample.Core</PackageId>  
    <Authors>kitUIN</Authors>  
    <GeneratePackageOnBuild>true</GeneratePackageOnBuild>  
    <PackageLicenseExpression>MIT</PackageLicenseExpression>  
    <PackageProjectUrl>https://github.com/kitUIN/ShadowPluginLoader.WinUI</PackageProjectUrl>  
    <RepositoryUrl>https://github.com/kitUIN/ShadowPluginLoader.WinUI</RepositoryUrl>  
    <Description>✨ ShadowExample.Core ✨</Description>  
    <Copyright>Copyright 2024</Copyright>  
    <PackageTags>kitUIN;wasdk;plugin-loader;plugin;extension;winui</PackageTags>  
    <PackageOutputPath>..\NugetPackages</PackageOutputPath>  
    <!-- <PackageReadmeFile>README.md</PackageReadmeFile> -->
  </PropertyGroup>
 

  <ItemGroup>
      <PackageReference Include="Microsoft.WindowsAppSDK" Version="1.4.230913002" />
      <PackageReference Include="Microsoft.Windows.SDK.BuildTools" Version="10.0.22621.755" />
      <PackageReference Include="ShadowPluginLoader.WinUI" Version="<Fill in latest version>" />  
  </ItemGroup>
	
</Project>

Where:

CopyLocalLockFileAssemblies exports files from dependency libraries to prevent missing libraries during metadata pre-generation
ShadowPluginLoader.WinUI is our required dependency library
- Latest version:
GeneratePackageOnBuild set to true will automatically package as nuget package during build
LangVersion is the C# version number, requires 12 or higher
Version is the program/nuget version number
PackageId is the nuget package name
Authors is the nuget package author
PackageLicenseExpression is the nuget package license
PackageProjectUrl is the nuget package project URL
RepositoryUrl is the nuget package repository URL
Description is the nuget package description
Copyright is the nuget package copyright
PackageTags is the nuget package tags
PackageOutputPath is the nuget package output path

Note

The content below  are settings for generating nuget packages
For MSBuild nuget generation, see: Creating NuGet packages using MSBuild
For available MSBuild properties, see: Package targets

After creating the project, we can directly build it, and a Tools.Config.props file will appear in this directory.

Note

For the Tools.Config.props file, see: Tools.Config.props

Set <IsPluginLoader> to true to indicate this project is a plugin loader project:

Tools.Config.props

xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<Project xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
    <PropertyGroup>
        <!-- Whether the current project is a PluginLoader -->
        <IsPluginLoader>true</IsPluginLoader>  
        <!-- Whether the current project is a Plugin -->
        <IsPlugin>false</IsPlugin>
        <!-- Auto Pack Plugin -->
        <AutoPluginPackage>true</AutoPluginPackage>
        <!-- Auto Generate I18N -->
        <AutoGenerateI18N>true</AutoGenerateI18N>
    </PropertyGroup>
</Project>

Content

Your PluginLoader library (can be called SDK) needs to provide plugin information for the main application and all plugins, and should include:

Create SDK Project ​