How to get intellisense setup for a custom embedded package?

I'm creating a custom embedded package, and my current methodology is to take the editor folder or any other folder that has C# code, drag it into my test project, make edits there, and then drag that folder back to the embedded package directory.

My reason for doing this is if I edit a C# file in the embedded package it opens it in Visual Studio but treats it like a file outside of the currently loaded project (correctly so) and so does not give any intellisense at all.

How can I generate an .sln or .csproj specifically for my packages so I have the typical setup needed for intellisense in VS or VS Code?

 

Maybe it's not possible right now?

If that is the case, a cool feature would be: whenever generating the typical .sln and .csprojs, creating a separate .sln and .csproj automatically for any embedded packages..

Also it would be nice if there was a way to keep Unity from creating .meta files in embedded package folders.

For now, I'm considering the following:
- Copy existing .sln and .csprojs to my embedded package in a subdirectory `VS`.
- Search and replace project GUIDs with newly generated GUIDs (with the exception of ProjectTypeGuids).
- Mess around with the `<Compile ...` tags until it no longer looks for files in some Assets folder, but instead respects the folder structure I setup.
- Script all this through node so I can easily update Unity (as I know the .csprojs make reference to version specific paths of Unity DLLs).

Thoughts? Anybody foresee any issues with my direction?

 

@maximeb_unity, thanks for such a thorough response!

Based on your response I tried turning off Unity, deleting the .sln and .csproj files, and then running Unity again. But unless my C# code is in the Assets directory I still do not get any intellisense.

I'm using 2019.3.7f1 (latest according to Unity Hub). and Visual Studio community 2019.

As a further test I tried to use VS Code as well, but I still get no intellisense for files outside of the Assets folder. Is there something else I can do to help diagnose my issue?

 

The only com.unity.ide packages I see in the package manager are Rider Editor and VS Code... Is there something missing from my list?

This is a screenshot from my work computer which has VS2019 pro (not community) but I still have the same issue.


After taking this screenshot I clicked "Generate all .csproj files." That generated about 20 more .csproj files but intellisense still doesn't work.

When I say that I mean that in a method block I type `Unity.` or `UnityEngine.` or `UnityEditor.` and I expect a list of valid and available types to show up afterwards, but I get nothing of the sort. Also the syntax highlighting is a little off, like it can't identify what's a class and what's a struct, etc.There are no red error squiggles even if I just make up a type out of thin air like `Game5Object`.



However if I pull the same .cs file into my Assets folder and double click on it, suddenly everything is working as I expect.

Also I'm not sure how to check if the Unity VS extension has an update. Here is what I see:



EDIT:
Oh and I forgot to include how my package is being included.
In the packages folder I have a folder called "CubemapGenerator" and within that I have a "package.json" and a "Editor" folder which contains the .cs file I'm trying to edit.

Packages\CubemapGenerator\Editor\CubemapEditor.cs

 

I'm embarrassed to say this, but I just realized that I can't get the Editor code to work from the packages folder.. It only works while it's been copied to the asset's editor folder....

So maybe it's not even compiling. @maximeb_unity, you mentioned asmdef files. Maybe that's something I overlooked that still needs to be done?

 

I just found this, and it's probably what I'm missing: https://docs.unity3d.com/Manual/cus-asmdef.html

I'll update here once I've got it working.

 

@maximeb_unity, that's perfect. I just needed to add an asmdef in the Editor folder.

Please consider this resolved.

 

I just wanted to follow up as I hit this issue as well. I had to go to Edit->Preferences->External tools. Then check Generate .csproj for (you might not need all of these, I checked all of them though) "Embedded", "Local" and "Git" packages, and then click "Regenerate project files"

 

Confirmed. Attached a screen shot to help. Use local packages.

 

I advise upgrading your Visual Studio Code Editor to 1.2.0. That solved a bunch of problems with intellisense for me.

 

Should we always "Use local packages."? Are there any performance gains compared to embedded? I really don't think that I will reuse the code I have for other projects, and if I do, I can switch to Local later. The problem is that I have to set up repositories and version control for two codebases instead of one if I use Local.

 

I'm experiencing the same thing. Only get intellisense when I move the package contents into the asset folder. None of the above suggestions helped me fix this.

Any other ideas?

 

Hmm we really can't think of any other suggestions than what's already in the thread: update VSCode, get the latest com.unity.ide package, ensure you have an asmdef in the Editor folder in your package (https://docs.unity3d.com/Manual/cus-layout.html), in Preferences -> External Tools -> check the relevant package sources -> Regenerate project files.

Possibly try these steps in a later Unity version and let us know if you still have issues

 

I've followed each reply in this thread and can't figure a way to enable Intellisense in my local project as a "file:" dependency in manifest.

My custom package (https://github.com/nemostein/locus) is local (not inside the Packages folder).
I have a .asmdef and package.json for my package.
My Unity project have my package in the manifest as :

"sourbit.locus": "file:D:/Workspaces/sourbit/locus"

If I generate a .csproj for my local packages, Unity creates a Sourbit.Locus.csproj with the wrong file paths in the files section:

<Compile Include="Packages\sourbit.locus\...

Because my package don't resides inside the Packages folder the whole project fails to compile.

Not generating the additional .csproj files allows me to work with my Unity project fine, but there is no Intellisense in the package project.

If I move my package code to the Projects/Sourbit.Locus/ folder (any other folder name fails) and generate the .csproj for embedded packages it works, but I'm REALLY against this, since my intention is to decouple my (reusable) package from (specific) Unity projects...

VSCode 1.63.2
VSCode C# extension (ms-dotnettools.csharp) 1.23.17

Unity 2022.1.0b2
com.unity.ide.vscode 1.2.4

.NET SDK 6.0.101
.NET Runtime 6.0.1
Mono 6.12.0

Code ($):

1. ~ $ dotnet --info
2. SDK do .NET (refletindo qualquer global.json):
3.  Version:   6.0.101
4.  Commit:    ef49f6213a
5. Ambiente de runtime:
6.  OS Name:     Windows
7.  OS Version:  10.0.19044
8.  OS Platform: Windows
9.  RID:         win10-x64
10.  Base Path:   C:\Users\nemos\scoop\apps\dotnet-sdk\current\sdk\6.0.101\
11. Host (useful for support):
12.   Version: 6.0.1
13.   Commit:  3a25a7f1cc
14. .NET SDKs installed:
15.   6.0.101 [C:\Users\nemos\scoop\apps\dotnet-sdk\current\sdk]
16. .NET runtimes installed:
17.   Microsoft.AspNetCore.App 6.0.1 [C:\Users\nemos\scoop\apps\dotnet-sdk\current\shared\Microsoft.AspNetCore.App]
18.   Microsoft.NETCore.App 6.0.1 [C:\Users\nemos\scoop\apps\dotnet-sdk\current\shared\Microsoft.NETCore.App]
19.   Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App 6.0.1 [C:\Users\nemos\scoop\apps\dotnet-sdk\current\shared\Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App]
20. To install additional .NET runtimes or SDKs:
21.   https://aka.ms/dotnet-download
22.  
23. ~ $ mono --version
24. Mono JIT compiler version 6.12.0 (Visual Studio built mono)
25. Copyright (C) 2002-2014 Novell, Inc, Xamarin Inc and Contributors. www.mono-project.com
26.         TLS:           __thread
27.         SIGSEGV:       normal
28.         Notification:  Thread + polling
29.         Architecture:  amd64
30.         Disabled:      none
31.         Misc:          softdebug
32.         Interpreter:   yes
33.         LLVM:          supported, not enabled.
34.         Suspend:       preemptive
35.         GC:            sgen (concurrent by default)
36.  

Tested VSCode "omnisharp.useGlobalMono" setting as "always", "auto" and "never"


Current Workaround:
I have a empty Unity project with all my custom packages embedded only to keep the Omnisharp happy and working, then I link the packages I want in my actual Unity project as a local package or git URL.

It works, but this is counter-intuitive and is getting awkward as my list of packages increases because
I can't open vscode with only one package at a time since it can't find the related .csproj

 

I am using this workaround as well, but instead of using VS Code, I am using Visual Studio. It works, as you said, but I would also like to know if there is a better way.