In case we forgot – the command is:

dotnet new -i “–The Template Reference Name Here–” 

The list of templates can be found in the old place but also here – Dotnet New Templates

What ones do I add:

dotnet new –install “Microsoft.AspNetCore.SpaTemplates”
dotnet new –install “Microsoft.Azure.WebJobs.ProjectTemplates”
dotnet new –install “Microsoft.Azure.WebJobs.ItemTemplates”
dotnet new –install “NUnit3.DotNetNew.Template”
dotnet new –install “Microsoft.AspNetCore.Blazor.Templates”   **Some of these already exist, but this one adds the webassembly type.
dotnet new –install “Microsoft.Azure.IoT.Edge.Module”
dotnet new –install “Microsoft.Azure.IoT.Edge.Function”
dotnet new –install “RaspberryPi.Template”

But for now the link still works…

https://apps.dev.microsoft.com

Do a console project with dotnet:

dotnet new console -o botsay

Then, of course, cd into the botsay directory… and edit the Program.cs (yeap you can do this in VS 2017)

Here’s the main method:

using System.Reflection;

ShowBot(string.Join(' ', args));
}

The ShowBot method is this:

static void ShowBot(string message)
{
    string bot = $"\n        {message}";
    bot += @"
    __________________
                      \
                       \
                          ....
                          ....'
                           ....
                        ..........
                    .............'..'..
                 ................'..'.....
               .......'..........'..'..'....
              ........'..........'..'..'.....
             .'....'..'..........'..'.......'.
             .'..................'...   ......
             .  ......'.........         .....
             .    _            __        ......
            ..    #            ##        ......
           ....       .                 .......
           ......  .......          ............
            ................  ......................
            ........................'................
           ......................'..'......    .......
        .........................'..'.....       .......
     ........    ..'.............'..'....      ..........
   ..'..'...      ...............'.......      ..........
  ...'......     ...... ..........  ......         .......
 ...........   .......              ........        ......
.......        '...'.'.              '.'.'.'         ....
.......       .....'..               ..'.....
   ..       ..........               ..'........
          ............               ..............
         .............               '..............
        ...........'..              .'.'............
       ...............              .'.'.............
      .............'..               ..'..'...........
      ...............                 .'..............
       .........                        ..............
        .....
";
    Console.WriteLine(bot);
}

It’s a simple core console app that takes a text phrase as input and shows the bot saying it.

Now the fun part… Of course, you should make sure that the code compiles. 
Go back to your command window and do the folllowing:

dotnet run
dotnet run -- "Hello from the bot"
dotnet run -- hello from the bot

It’s a Bot!

Now… let’s make a dotnet tool…

Edit your botsay.csproj file. You can do this in VS 2017 or your favorite notepad… 

You need to add these lines:

  <PackAsTool>true</PackAsTool>
<ToolCommandName>botsay</ToolCommandName>
<PackageOutputPath>./nupkg</PackageOutputPath> 

In the end the csproj file show look like:

<Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk">

  <PropertyGroup>
    <OutputType>Exe</OutputType>
    <TargetFramework>netcoreapp2.1</TargetFramework>

    <PackAsTool>true</PackAsTool>
    <ToolCommandName>botsay</ToolCommandName>
    <PackageOutputPath>./nupkg</PackageOutputPath>

  </PropertyGroup>

</Project>

Now the tool making part:

dotnet pack

dotnet tool install --global --add-source ./nupkg botsay

You can invoke the tool using the following command: botsay
Tool 'botsay' (version '1.0.0') was successfully installed.

Once you get the message back from the “dotnet tool”… command you now have a dotnet tool…
** You may have to close the command window and open a new one… depending on your OS, etc.

You can type botsay –You’re Message Here…

Now, as you experiment don’t forget to clean up 

dotnet tool uninstall -g botsay

You should read more about dotnet tool… start here: dotnet tool on Mircosoft docs

One can go to a lower EF Core version, well mostly… I’ve yet to get my Blazor Hosted Core test app to compile…. let alone the DB-Context to Scaffold… it just spews errors no matter which direction I go in… Oh Bother….

I have to remember that Blazor is “Experimental” – But it would be nice if would keep up with the forward moving components like EF Core and the latest VS releases. I wonder what all of the Blazor Template releases are doing- seems like each time I run up VS there’s a new Blazor Lang Update. Curious…