Create custom project template in Visual Studio

You can create your own custom templates for any type of project, such as an Web, API, Console, or class library.

In this post, I'll create a Visual Studio custom project template for AWS Lambda with dependency injection setup and AWS X-Ray configuration.

Prerequisites

• Visual Studio
• AWS Toolkit for Visual Studio

Step 1: Create Lambda Project

Create a new project from Visual Studio and Select AWS Lambda Project (.NET Core C#).

Project name AWSLambdaTemplate and Select Empty Function from blueprints

Step 2: Update Lambda Function

Update AWS Lambda Function code to support dependency injection and AWS X-Ray setup.

1. Add below nuget packages to the project.

	<PackageReference Include="AWSSDK.Extensions.NETCore.Setup" Version="3.7.2" />
	<PackageReference Include="Microsoft.Extensions.Configuration" Version="7.0.0" />
	<PackageReference Include="Microsoft.Extensions.Configuration.EnvironmentVariables" Version="7.0.0" />
	<PackageReference Include="Microsoft.Extensions.Configuration.FileExtensions" Version="7.0.0" />
	<PackageReference Include="Microsoft.Extensions.Configuration.Json" Version="7.0.0" />
	<PackageReference Include="Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyInjection" Version="7.0.0" />
	<PackageReference Include="Microsoft.Extensions.Logging" Version="7.0.0" />
	<PackageReference Include="Microsoft.Extensions.Logging.Console" Version="7.0.0" />
	<PackageReference Include="AWSXRayRecorder.Core" Version="2.13.0" />
	<PackageReference Include="AWSXRayRecorder.Handlers.AwsSdk" Version="2.11.0" />

2. Add Startup.cs class for dependency injection and AWS X-Ray setup.

using Amazon.Extensions.NETCore.Setup;
using Amazon.XRay.Recorder.Handlers.AwsSdk;
using Microsoft.Extensions.Configuration;
using Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyInjection;
using Microsoft.Extensions.Logging;

namespace AWSLambdaTemplate
{
    public class Startup
    {
        public IServiceProvider Configure()
        {
            var environment = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("ASPNETCORE_ENVIRONMENT");
            var configuration = new ConfigurationBuilder()
                .SetBasePath(Directory.GetCurrentDirectory())
                .AddJsonFile("appsettings.json", optional: false, reloadOnChange: true)
                .AddJsonFile($"appsettings.{environment}.json", true)
                .AddEnvironmentVariables()
                .Build();

            var services = new ServiceCollection();

            //Add configuration
            services.AddSingleton<IConfiguration>(configuration);

            // Add logging service
            services.AddLogging(logging =>
            {
                logging.ClearProviders();
                logging.AddConsole();
            });

            //Register AWS X-Ray
            AWSSDKHandler.RegisterXRayForAllServices();

            // Get the AWS profile information from configuration providers
            AWSOptions awsOptions = configuration.GetAWSOptions();
            // Configure AWS service clients to use these credentials
            services.AddDefaultAWSOptions(awsOptions);

            return services.BuildServiceProvider();
        }
    }
}

3. Update Function.cs code.

using Amazon.Lambda.Core;
using Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyInjection;
using Microsoft.Extensions.Logging;

// Assembly attribute to enable the Lambda function's JSON input to be converted into a .NET class.
[assembly: LambdaSerializer(typeof(Amazon.Lambda.Serialization.SystemTextJson.DefaultLambdaJsonSerializer))]

namespace AWSLambdaTemplate;

public class Function
{
    private readonly ILogger _logger;
    private readonly IServiceProvider _serviceProvider;
    public Function()
    {
        _serviceProvider = new Startup().Configure();
        _logger = _serviceProvider.GetRequiredService<ILogger<Function>>();
    }

    public string FunctionHandler(string input, ILambdaContext context)
    {
        _logger.LogInformation($"Received input {input}");
        return "Hello from AWSLambdaTemplate";
    }
}

4. Create appsettings.json and appsettings.Development.json file. Copy the content below in appsettings.Development.json file and set copy to output directory to Copy if newer.

{
  "XRay": {
    "DisableXRayTracing": "true",
    "UseRuntimeErrors": "false",
    "CollectSqlQueries": "false"
  }
}

5. Open launchSettings.json file and add environment variables below.

"environmentVariables": {
        "ASPNETCORE_ENVIRONMENT": "Development",
        "AWS_XRAY_CONTEXT_MISSING": "LOG_ERROR"
      }

Step 3: Create template config

When you create a template, all files and folders in the template folder are included as part of the template except for the special config folder. This config folder is named .template.config.

Refer below folder structure to create template.json and other files.

    src
     └───AWSLambdaTemplate
         └───.template.config
            │   └───template.json
            │   └───ide.host.json
            │   └───icon.png
            │
            └───AWSLambdaTemplate.csproj
            └───Function.cs
            └───aws-lambda-tools-defaults.json
            └───appsettings.json
            └───appsettings.Development.json
  

• Create .template.config folder.
• Open .template.config folder and create new template.json file.
• Open and Update below content in template.json file.

{
	"$schema": "http://json.schemastore.org/template",
	"author": "Pankaj Rawat",
	"classifications": ["AWS", "Cloud"],
	"name": "RawatPankaj.Com AWS Lambda Project",
	"defaultName": "AWSLambda",
	"identity": "RawatPankaj.Com.AWSLambda",
	"shortName": "RawatPankaj.Com.AWSLambda",
	"tags": {
		"language": "C#",
		"type": "project"
	},
	"sourceName": "AWSLambdaTemplate"
}

This config file contains all of the settings for your template.

• Create ide.host.json file in same location (Optional).

{
	"$schema": "http://json.schemastore.org/vs-2017.3.host",
	"icon": "icon.png"
}

• Add icon.png file for template project (Optional). This icon will appear in Visual Studio with custom project template.

Step 4: Create template package

• Create nuspec file RawatPankaj.Com.Lambda.Template.nuspec with the content below.
  Note:- Change file name and content below as per your folder structure. Refer below folder structure

       src
        └───AWSLambdaTemplate
        │   └───.template.config
        │   │   └───template.json
        │   │   └───ide.host.json
        │   │   └───icon.png
        │   │
        |   └───AWSLambdaTemplate.csproj
        |   └───Function.cs
        |   └───aws-lambda-tools-defaults.json
        |   └───appsettings.json
        |   └───appsettings.Development.json
        │
        └───RawatPankaj.Com.Lambda.Template.nuspec
  

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<package
	xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/packaging/2012/06/nuspec.xsd">
	<metadata>
		<id>RawatPankaj.Com.Lambda.Template.nuspec</id>
		<version>1.0.0</version>
		<description>
            Project template for creating a .NET Lambda project with DI, Logging and X-Ray.
            </description>
		<authors>Pankaj Rawat</authors>
		<license type="expression">Apache-2.0</license>
		<packageTypes>
			<packageType name="Template" />
		</packageTypes>
	</metadata>
	<files>
		<file src="Content\**\*.*" exclude="Content\**\bin\**\*.*;Content\**\obj\**\*.*" target="Content" />
	</files>
</package>

• Create nuget package (Make sure you have nuget.exe on your system or download from nuget.org)

Run below command to create nuget package.

nuget.exe pack RawatPankaj.Com.Lambda.Template.nuspec -OutputDirectory .\nupkg

Step 5: Install template package

Run below command to install template package

dotnet new install C:\project\AWSLambdaTemplate\RawatPankaj.Com.Lambda.Template.nuspec.1.0.0.nupkg

Step 6: Test new template

Open Visual Studio new instance and Create a new project. You can search by name or scroll down to the bottom. Select AWS Lambda Basic Project and Create project.

Step 7: Uninstall template (Optional)

If you want to make any changes to the template. You have to first uninstall template from Visual Studio.

Below is the location of Visual Studio custom template.

C:\Users\<user>\.templateengine\packages

To uninstall template from Visual Studio, Open powershell and run below commands.

• Create Reset-Template function

function Reset-Templates{
    [cmdletbinding()]
    param(
        [string]$templateEngineUserDir = (join-path -Path $env:USERPROFILE -ChildPath .templateengine)
    )
    process{
        'resetting dotnet new templates. folder: "{0}"' -f $templateEngineUserDir | Write-host
        get-childitem -path $templateEngineUserDir -directory | Select-Object -ExpandProperty FullName | remove-item -recurse
        &dotnet new --debug:reinit
    }
}

• Run Reset-Template

Step 8: Share template package

You can use nuget.org to share your custom Visual Studio project template.

1. Sign in to nuget.org and Click on Upload menu.
2. Browse your nuget package (.nupkg file)
3. Verify nuget package detail and click Submit.

you can download my custom project template from below command

dotnet new install RawatPankaj.Com.Lambda.Template.nuspec

References

Template Sample

Create a project template

Create a template package

Custom templates for dotnet new

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