How to Add a .NET Core 3.0 Custom Control to Your Visual Studio Toolbox in Less Than 3 Minutes
Tags: webdev, dotnet, productivity
Published: 2020-02-17 09:18:15

---
title: How to Add a .NET Core 3.0 Custom Control to Your Visual Studio Toolbox in Less Than 3 Minutes
published: true
date: 2020-02-13 12:25:43 UTC
tags: webdev, dotnet, productivity, 
canonical_url: https://www.syncfusion.com/blogs/post/add-net-core-3-0-custom-control-to-your-visual-studio-toolbox.aspx
cover_image: https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/i/5g5b322b215nlybrkn2q.png
---

If you are looking to configure [.NET Core](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.NET_Core) custom controls in your [Visual Studio toolbox](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/visualstudio/ide/reference/toolbox?view=vs-2019), this article is right for you. I’ll guide you through configuring a .NET Core 3.0 custom control in Visual Studio 2019, available as a NuGet package. Following are the prerequisites for the toolbox configuration:

- Visual Studio 2019 (update 16.3.1 and later)
- .NET Core SDK 3.0

## NuGet structure to support .NET Core 3.0 toolbox

The custom control will be populated in the toolbox only if the NuGet package has the **VisualStudioToolsManifest** file inside the tools folder. The tools folder will be present parallel to the lib folder inside the NuGet package. Refer to this [link](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/nuget/guides/create-ui-controls#add-toolboxassets-pane-support-for-xaml-controls) for more information about the structure of the VisualStudioToolsManifest file.

For the normal working of the NuGet package, this VisualStudioToolsManifest file isn’t necessary. Its only purpose is to configure a custom control in the Visual Studio toolbox. Add this file in the right location during NuGet packaging.

You can find the structure of the VisualStudioToolsManifest file in the following image. ![Structure of Visual Studio Tools Manifest](https://www.syncfusion.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Structure-of-Visual-Studio-Tools-Manifest.png)

- The Reference attribute points to the name of the assembly.
- ContainsControls attribute specifies whether there are any controls to be listed in the Visual Studio toolbox for the given assembly.
- VSCategory/BlendCategory is the name for the toolbox to be displayed in Visual Studio.
- Type is the fully qualified name for the control including the namespace.

## Install NuGet

Install NuGet to check if it adds the control to toolbox:

1. Create a .NET Core project in the platform you intend to configure the .NET Core 3.0 controls in your toolbox. ![Create a new project dialog](https://www.syncfusion.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Create-a-new-project-dialog.png)
2. Ensure that the target framework is set to .NET Core 3.0. ![Setting target framework to .NET Core 3.0](https://www.syncfusion.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Setting-target-framework-to-.NET-Core-3.0.png)
3. Right-click the project and select the **Manage NuGet Packages** … option. ![Manage NuGet Package Option](https://www.syncfusion.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Manage-NuGet-Package-Option.png)
4. The **NuGet Package Manager** window will open. Navigate to the **Browse** tab and search for the NuGet package that has .NET Core 3.0 support.

1. Select the NuGet package and click **Install**. ![Installing the NuGet package](https://www.syncfusion.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Installing-the-NuGet-package.png)

1. A confirmation message will be displayed. Click **OK**. The Output window will display the NuGet installation details followed by a completion message. ![Installation completion message in Output Window](https://www.syncfusion.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Installation-completion-message-in-Output-Window.png)
2. Now, open Visual Studio toolbox to check if the control is displayed in it. ![Control listed in the VS Toolbox](https://www.syncfusion.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Control-listed-in-the-VS-Toolbox.png)

The control’s name will be displayed along with its Namespace.

**Control name (Namespace)**

## Conclusion

I hope this blog was helpful in configuring your NuGet package to list custom controls in the Visual Studio toolbox for .NET Core 3.0.

Syncfusion provides 70+ high-performance, lightweight, modular, and responsive [ASP.NET Core UI controls](https://www.syncfusion.com/aspnet-core-ui-controls) such as [DataGrid](https://www.syncfusion.com/aspnet-core-ui-controls/grid), [Charts](https://www.syncfusion.com/aspnet-core-ui-controls/charts), and [Scheduler](https://www.syncfusion.com/aspnet-core-ui-controls/scheduler). You can use them to improve your application development.

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