Core-to-Core: Converting a Framework-Dependent App to Self-Contained in Visual Studio 2015

Below are instructions on how to change a Framework-Dependent .NET Core application to a Self-Contained one (i.e. where all the assemblies are included) in Visual Studio 2015.

1) Start Visual Studio.

2) Open a new project by selecting File -> New -> Project (CTRL-SHIFT-N)

3) In the New Project window, choose .NET Framework 4.6 or higher and a programming language, select Web, then ASP.NET Core Application (.NET Core), give your project a name and click on OK.

4) In the next window, select Web Application and click on the OK button.

5) Open the project.json file in your solution and remove "type":"platform" under dependencies -> Microsoft.NETCore.App. The markup should look something like this:

"dependencies": {
  "Microsoft.NETCore.App": {
    "version": "1.0.1"
  }
}

6) Add the following as the last element in the project.json file to specify the platform you want to deploy your application to. A complete list of Runtime IDs can be found here.

"runtimes": {
    "win81-x64": {}
}

7) Rebuild your project (CTRL-SHIFT-B)

Now, you can deploy your solution to the platform of your choice without the need for certain assemblies to be installed on the server to support a particular .NET Core version.

Note: A Self-Contained ASP.NET Core application does require more memory to run because it is loading all the assemblies required by the version. You can reduce the memory usage by changing the garbage collection mode from server to workstation in the System.GC.Server element of the project.json file from "true" to "false".

  "runtimeOptions": {
    "configProperties": {
      "System.GC.Server": false
    }
  }

Article ID: 1476, Created: June 15 at 2:50 PM, Modified: Yesterday at 8:19 PM

Core-to-Core: Converting a Framework-Dependent App to Self-Contained in Visual Studio 2015

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