Using NuGet libraries

Most .NET developers make heavy use of the NuGet packages repository to leverage libraries implemented by Microsoft and third-party providers. The process of adding dependencies on external libraries in C# script-based functions is different from a traditional .NET application.

There are the following two ways to reference an external assembly in a C# script-based function:

• Using an #r directive
• Adding a reference in the project.json file

Let us explore both options in more detail.

Option 1 - the #r directive

To reference framework assemblies and a number of other commonly used assemblies, you can use the #r AssemblyName directive.

For instance, a Newtonsoft.Json library that we have used in the ScoreTweet function is one of the common libraries that can be referenced with an #r directive. If we were to deploy ScoreTweetas a C# script-based function, we would need to add the following line before the function code:

    #r "Newtonsoft.Json" 

The full function code using the ...