Post Action Registry

Existing Post Actions

Description	ActionID
Restore NuGet packages	210D431B-A78B-4D2F-B762-4ED3E3EA9025
Run script	3A7C4B45-1F5D-4A30-959A-51B88E82B5D2
Open a file in the editor	84C0DA21-51C8-4541-9940-6CA19AF04EE6
Add a reference to a project file	B17581D1-C5C9-4489-8F0A-004BE667B814
Add projects to a solution file	D396686C-DE0E-4DE6-906D-291CD29FC5DE
Change file permissions (Unix/OS X)	CB9A6CF3-4F5C-4860-B9D2-03A574959774

Base configuration

Each post action has set of standard properties as well as custom properties defined by certain post action. The standard properties are listed below.

• Configuration :
  • actionId (string): Action ID.
  • condition (string) (optional): A C++ style boolean expression defining if post action should be run. This expression may use any symbols that have been defined.
  • description (string) (optional): A human-readable description of the action.
  • configFile (string) (optional): Additional configuration for the associated post action. The structure & content will vary based on the post action.
  • continueOnError (bool) (optional): If this action fails, the value of continueOnError indicates whether to process the next action, or stop processing the post actions. Should be set to true when subsequent actions rely on the result of the current action. The default value is false.
  • manualInstructions (array) (optional): An ordered list of possible instructions to display if the action cannot be performed. Each element in the list must contain a key named "text", whose value contains the instructions. Each element may also optionally provide a key named "condition" - a boolean expression. The first instruction with blank condition is considered a default. If true conditions are present, the last one of them will be considered valid, all other ignored. It is recommended not to have more than one true condition at the time.

Restore NuGet packages

Used to restore NuGet packages after project create.

• Action ID : 210D431B-A78B-4D2F-B762-4ED3E3EA9025
• Specific Configuration : None
• Supported in:
  • dotnet new3
  • dotnet new (2.0.0 or higher)
  • Visual Studio 2017.3 Preview 1 (ignored)

Example

"postActions": [{
  "condition": "(!skipRestore)",
  "description": "Restore NuGet packages required by this project.",
  "manualInstructions": [{
    "text": "Run 'dotnet restore'"
  }],
  "actionId": "210D431B-A78B-4D2F-B762-4ED3E3EA9025",
  "continueOnError": true
}]

Run script

Used to run a script after create.

• Action ID : 3A7C4B45-1F5D-4A30-959A-51B88E82B5D2
• Specific Configuration : There are three required properties that must be specified.
  • args
    • executable (string): The executable to launch.
    • args (string): The arguments to pass to the executable.
    • redirectStandardOutput (bool) (optional): Whether or not to redirect stdout for the process (prevents output from being displayed if true). The default value is true.
  • manualInstructions (required)
• Supported in:
  • dotnet new3
  • dotnet new (2.0.0 or higher)

The working directory for the launched executable is set to the root of the output template content.

Example

"postActions": [{
  "actionId": "3A7C4B45-1F5D-4A30-959A-51B88E82B5D2",
  "args": {
    "executable": "setup.cmd",
    "args": "",
    "redirectStandardOutput": false
  },
  "manualInstructions": [{
     "text": "Run 'setup.cmd'"
  }],
  "continueOnError": false,
  "description ": "setups the project by calling setup.cmd"
}]

Open a file in the editor

Opens a file in the editor. For command line cases this post action will be ignored.

• Action ID : 84C0DA21-51C8-4541-9940-6CA19AF04EE6
• Specific Configuration :
  • files (string): A semicolon delimited list of indexes to the primary outputs. Note: If primary outputs are conditional, multiple post actions with the same conditions as the primary outputs might be necessary.
• Supported in:
  • since Visual Studio 2017.3 Preview 1

Example

"primaryOutputs": [
  { "path": "Company.ClassLibrary1.csproj" },
  {
    "condition": "(HostIdentifier != \"dotnetcli\")",
    "path": "Class1.cs"
  }
],
"postActions": [
  {
    "condition": "(HostIdentifier != \"dotnetcli\")",
    "description": "Opens Class1.cs in the editor",
    "manualInstructions": [ ],
    "actionId": "84C0DA21-51C8-4541-9940-6CA19AF04EE6",
    "args": {
      "files": "1"
    },
    "continueOnError": true
  }
]

Add a reference to a project file

• Action ID : B17581D1-C5C9-4489-8F0A-004BE667B814
• Specific Configuration :
  • args
    • referenceType (string): Either "package", "project" or "framework".
    • reference (string): The package ID or relative path of the project to add the reference to.
    • projectFileExtensions (string) (optional): A semicolon delimited list of literal file extensions to use when searching for the project to add the reference to.
    • version (string) (optional) (package referenceType only): The version of the package to install.
    • forceUpdate (string) (optional) (package referenceType only) (VS 15.7 Preview 4+ only): Prior to Preview 4, the post action would always overwrite any already installed version of the package. In Preview 4+, this does not happen unless forceUpdate is set to true and the version being installed is newer then installed package.
• Supported in:
  • dotnet new3 ("framework" is not supported)
  • dotnet new (2.0.0 or higher - "framework" is not supported)
  • Visual Studio 2017.3 Preview 1

Example

"postActions": [{
  "Description": "Adding Reference to Microsoft.NET.Sdk.Functions Nuget package",
  "ActionId": "B17581D1-C5C9-4489-8F0A-004BE667B814",
  "ContinueOnError": "false",
  "ManualInstructions": [{
    "Text": "Manually add the reference to Microsoft.NET.Sdk.Functions to your project file"
  }],
  "args": {
    "referenceType": "package",
    "reference": "Microsoft.NET.Sdk.Functions",
    "version": "1.0.0",
    "projectFileExtensions": ".csproj"
  }
}]

Add project(s) to a solution file

• Action ID : D396686C-DE0E-4DE6-906D-291CD29FC5DE
• Specific Configuration :
  • args:
    • primaryOutputIndexes (string): A semicolon delimited list of indexes to the primary outputs. Note: If primary outputs are conditional, multiple post actions with the same conditions as the primary outputs might be necessary.
• Supported in:
  • dotnet new3
  • dotnet new (2.0.0 or higher)
  • Visual Studio 2017.3 Preview 1 (ignored)

Example

"postActions": [{
  "condition": "(postActionAddToSln)",
  "description": "Add projects to solution",
  "manualInstructions": [ { "text": "Run post action 'Add projects to a solution file'" } ],
  "args": {
    "primaryOutputIndexes": "0;2"
  },
  "actionId": "D396686C-DE0E-4DE6-906D-291CD29FC5DE",
  "continueOnError": true
}]

Change file permissions

Unix / OS X only (runs the Unix chmod command).

• Action ID : CB9A6CF3-4F5C-4860-B9D2-03A574959774
• Specific Configuration :
  • args: The permissions to set (see examples). Usually this will contain a glob like { "+x": "*.sh" } or a list of filenames like { "+x": ["script1", "script2"] }.
• Supported in:
  • dotnet new3
  • dotnet new (2.0.0 or higher)

Example

"postActions": [{
  "condition": "(OS != \"Windows_NT\")",
  "description": "Make scripts executable",
  "manualInstructions": [{
    "text": "Run 'chmod +x *.sh'"
  }],
  "actionId": "cb9a6cf3-4f5c-4860-b9d2-03a574959774",
  "args": {
    "+x": "*.sh"
  },
  "continueOnError": true
}]

or

"postActions": [{
  "condition": "(OS != \"Windows_NT\")",
  "description": "Make scripts executable",
  "manualInstructions": [ { "text": "Run 'chmod +x *.sh somethingelse'" }  ],
  "actionId": "cb9a6cf3-4f5c-4860-b9d2-03a574959774",
  "args": {
    "+x": [
      "*.sh",
      "somethingelse"
    ]
  },
  "continueOnError": true
}]