Nuget scripting in VS 2017 - nuget

Question

I want to add a custom install script for my VS 2017 NuGet package.
Problem is, support for the install.ps1/uninstall.ps1 mechanism was removed. init.ps1 still works, but it would run every time the solution is opened, and that is unacceptable (it's a potentially lengthy process).
I read it's possible to define custom msbuild targets in the build dir, but I cannot get that to work because it requires manipulating the .nuspec file to include the files, and I can't see how to do that in VS 2017 with just the .csproj file.

Answer 1

but I cannot get that to work because it requires manipulating the .nuspec file to include the files
You can use the NuGet Package Explorer to add custom msbuild .targets in the build directory without manipulating the .nuspec file:
I can't see how to do that in VS 2017 with just the .csproj file.
As you know, Powershell script support was modified to no longer execute install and uninstall scripts, so we could not custom install scripts that is called when installing the nuget package, otherwise, we need to overwrite the NuGet API in visual Studio: IVsPackageInstaller interface(Not recommended).
So as a workaround, we could use define custom msbuild .targets file to achieve what you want achieve by the custom install script after install the nuget package. For example, you want custom install nuget script to change the default dll output, you can use a .target file with copy task to achieve it, you can create a file build\MyNuGet.targets containing:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<Project xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
<ItemGroup>
<MySourceFiles Include="$(ProjectDir)MyFolder\**" />
</ItemGroup>
<Target Name="MyNuGetCustomTarget" AfterTargets="Build">
<Copy SourceFiles="#(MySourceFiles)" DestinationFolder="$(OutDir)" />
</Target>
</Project>