Best Practices for Adding Class Libraries

Question

Hello everyone and thanks for the help in advance. I need to understand the benefits of adding multiple projects to a Visual Studio solution. Previously, for example when I created a data access class library that would be reused in multiple solutions, I created a separate solution, then referenced it in the consuming solution. But is this an inefficient way of accomplishing this or is it not a best practice? Any insight would be appreciated.

Answer 1

Hi Kmcnet, 

Thank you for reaching out to Microsoft Q & A forum. 

If the class library is primarily used within a single application, or if you're actively developing it alongside the application, it's generally best to include it as a project within the same Visual Studio solution. This makes development, debugging, and maintenance more convenient. 

On the other hand, if the library is intended to be reused across multiple solutions or applications, keeping it in a separate solution and referencing it or packaging it as a NuGet package is a better practice. This allows for version control and reuse without tightly coupling it to a specific project. 

In short, your current approach isn't incorrect, it just depends on how the library is intended to be used and maintained over time.   

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