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Bower apparently does not work for installing Bootstrap into a Visual Studio project any more:

https://developercommunity.visualstudio.com/content/problem/134643/bootstrap-cannot-be-installed-via-bower.html

I am doing an ASP.Net Core 2 MVC project in Visual Studio 15.4.

It seemed simple enough to me that I would just download Bootstrap and drop it in my project, then reference the bootstrap.css file from my views in the normal manner using the link tag.

I downloaded bootstrap-4.0.0-alpha.6.dist and placed it in the wwwroot folder of my project. The folder is definitely unzipped and where I think it is. Down one level is a folder named css, and in this folder resides bootstrap.css.

Then I have an ordinary view like this: 

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
    <title>Test Page</title>
    <link rel="stylesheet" href="~/bootstrap-4.0.0-alpha.6-dist/css/bootstrap.css" />
</head>
<body>
    <h3 class="text-center">Hello, World!</h3>
</body>
</html>

And it seems that the page cannot locate the stylesheet. When I run the project, the Bootstrap classes are not applied. And when I click on the View Source option for the page and click on the address for the stylesheet, it indeed tells me that it cannot find the stylesheet: 

No webpage was found for the web address: http://localhost:62732/bootstrap-4.0.0-alpha.6-dist/css/bootstrap.css
HTTP ERROR 404

I have tried every variation on the address that I can think of, such as: 

<link rel="stylesheet" href="../wwwroot/bootstrap-4.0.0-alpha.6-dist/css/bootstrap.css" />

but to no effect. I have also gotten this result in three different browsers.

I did this outside of Visual Studio with ordinary text files and got it to work. There must be something I don't understand about how MVC views resolve the locations of stylesheets.

Does anyone know what I'm doing wrong, or else a better approach to a workaround for the issue?

Scitosol
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  • Note: I was able to use a CDN link successfully: but at this point, I am still curious why what I was doing didn't work. – Scitosol Nov 01 '17 at 22:31
  • Hope this SO link may help: [To install a Nuget Package File Locally](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/10240029/how-do-i-install-a-nuget-package-nupkg-file-locally) – Xplorer Jun 16 '20 at 08:03
  • Hope this may help : [Steps to install Nuget Package File Locally](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/10240029/how-do-i-install-a-nuget-package-nupkg-file-locally) – Xplorer Jun 16 '20 at 08:08

2 Answers2

8

The simplest way is to use the NuGet console.

simply navigate to:

Open VS >> Tools menu >> NuGet Package Manager >> Console Command.

Alternatively: Options >> NuGet Package Manager >> Package Sources dialog box.

Once the console appears at the bottom page, type: 

PM> Install-Package bootstrap -Version 3.3.7

If this gives you any issues or helps, please let me know.

Tebogo Khanye
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  • Please also check the latest bootstrap version available, I didn't take this into consideration. – Tebogo Khanye Nov 01 '17 at 22:41
  • Thanks, Bruce. I actually tried that approach, and it seemed to work, in that a bootstrap node appears under NuGet in the project Dependencies. However, I could not figure out how to then reference Bootstrap from a view. There didn't seem to be any actual files brought into the project. – Scitosol Nov 01 '17 at 22:51
  • Did you refresh your Solution Explorer on the right pane after the installation? – Tebogo Khanye Nov 01 '17 at 22:54
  • Don't see a refesh option per se, but I have closed and reopened the project. The wwwroot folder is still empty. – Scitosol Nov 01 '17 at 23:01
  • Ok, it's just a refresh icon at the top of the Solution Explorer, anyways bootstrap files should be added to your solution if you say the command ran successfully. Additionally, you can go to the NuGet Package Manager (not the console) to check if bootstrap was in fact installed in your solution. – Tebogo Khanye Nov 01 '17 at 23:12
  • I think the issue with the Bower configuration file within Visual Studio has been resolved. I just tried it again and it worked. – Scitosol Nov 28 '17 at 00:09
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NuGet package manager: https://www.nuget.org/packages

You could also copy the folder of the package after it has been installed on a project. You can find packages used in your project at:

C:\Users\%user_name%\source\repos\%project_name%\packages

Copy the folder of the package that you want for offline purposes and paste it in:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\NuGetPackages

So whenever you want to add packages you don't have to write it as a command. Remember to restart your Visual Studio after you do it.

Go to Tools > Nuget Package Manager > Manage Nuget Packages for Solution..., then change the Package source to Microsoft Visual Studio Offline Packages. It should be there in the Browse section.

For more information, see this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2AyQnYrNR4

Nati
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  • Command Line[OFFLINE]: PM> Install-Package bootstrap -Source %PATH% PATH being the location without the package so like "Install-Package bootstrap -Source C:\Users\Nati\Desktop\Offline_packages\" if its in the folder "Offline_packages" – Nati Nov 14 '21 at 16:19