How to automatically add package reference into project file after installing .NET package?

Question

Just getting into F#, finally figured out how to add .NET packages to projects, but the way I managed to get it to work doesn't make sense. Once the package is installed (either with nuget or paket), I have to manually add a reference to the project file (either by editing it directly or with dotnet add package). This extra step is usually automated with other languages, so I presume that I'm doing something wrong.

These are the steps I did on a Mac M1:

1. "Install" F#

   nix-shell -p dotnet-sdk_7
   

2. Follow all the steps in Get started with F# with command-line tools - .NET | Microsoft Learn. (No errors.)

3. Install paket following the install guide.

4. Follow the walkthrough on adding dependencies.

   Specifically:

   1. added nuget FSharpPlus to paket.dependencies
   2. created the src/App/paket.references with the the line FSharpPlus
   3. ran dotnet paket install

   Once done, simply added open FSharpPlus to src/App/Program.fs, and ran dotnet restore followed by dotnet build, which blew up with

   error FS0039: The namespace or module 'FSharpPlus' is not defined.
   

The fix was simple enough,

dotnet add src/App/App.fsproj package "FSharpPlus" --version "1.5.0"

but it's hard for me to believe that one has to add these references manually for each package.

---

update: Alright, I'm officially clueless. Just out of curiosity, I added open Giraffe.Htmx to src/App/Program.fs, then ran

dotnet add src/App/App.fsproj package "Giraffe.Htmx" --version "1.9.6"
dotnet build

and everything worked... So what is the point of using paket or nuget then?

Answer 1

When using Paket with F#, you shouldn't typically need to manually edit your project files to add references if you follow the correct steps. The process with Paket should automatically handle the dependencies. Here's a general workflow that should work:

1. Initialize Paket in your solution directory.
2. Add the dependency to the paket.dependencies file.
3. Add the package to the paket.references file in your project's directory.
4. Run dotnet paket install which should download the package and automatically update your project (.fsproj) file to include the correct references.
5. You can then use dotnet restore and dotnet build to restore any additional packages and build the project.

If you're encountering issues, it's possible that there could be a problem with the Paket integration or a mismatch between the Paket version and the .NET SDK version. Checking the Paket documentation for compatibility notes or seeking help from the F# community might provide more insights. It could also be a platform-specific issue with the M1 Mac. Always ensure you are using the latest version of the tools compatible with your system.