Migrating To Dotnet CLI From DNVM, DNX And DNU For ASP.NET Core

Most of us are aware that ASP.NET 5 has been renamed to ASP.NET Core. After that Microsoft has planned to use Dotnet CLI instead of DNVM, DNX, and DNU in RC2. I want to clarify that RC2 is not yet officially released, only nightly builds are available. In this article, I will explain how we can go for migration and will also compare the similar commands in Dotnet CLI which we are having with DNVM, DNX and DNU.

Dotnet CLI

.NET Command Line Interface (CLI) is a tool used for building .NET Core application and libraries. We can download and install CLI from the following path. For Mac and Linux installation you can visit the link. I am installing it for Windows but you can install it for Linux and Mac as well. After downloading the .exe file for windows execute the .exe file and install it.



Now I will create two applications side by side and compare them. The first application will be created using DNVM, DNX and DNU and I will use Yeoman as scaffolding tool.

Creating ASP.NET Core RC1 application using Yeoman, DNVM, DNX and DNU

Now go to run and type "cmd” to open command prompt and change the directory where you want to create the project.

Now write "yo aspnet” on command prompt (If you are not aware of installing visual studio code and yeoman then go through the following article ASP.NET 5 with Open Source - Part 1).



Select Console application and give the name "ConsoleApp_ASPNET_RC1".

It will create a console application and provides the list of commands like "dnu restore”, "dnu build”, dnx <Your App Name>. You can refer to the below screenshot for details.



Now do the following things:

1. Change the current working directory to "ConsoleApp_ASPNET_RC1” i.e. type "cd ConsoleApp_ASPNET_RC1” on command prompt.
   
   
2. Use "dnu restore” for restoring package and managing dependencies.
   
   
3. Run "dnu build” i.e. type "dnu build” on command prompt.
   
   
4. Type "dnx ConsoleApp_ASPNET_RC1” on console window and inthe next line you will get the output where "ConsoleApp_ASPNET_RC1” is the name of the console application
   
   C:\Users\DELL INSPIRON 15\ConsoleApp_ASPNET_RC1>dnx ConsoleApp_ASPNET_RC1
   
   Hello World

If you are creating a web application in that case you do not need to givethe application a name you need to use the command "dnx web”.

Creating a Console Application with Dotnet CLI

Now go to run and type "cmd” to open command prompt and change the directory where you want to create the project with Dotnet CLI.