ASP.NET MVC HTML5 Toolkit is now available as a Nuget Package

Great news for those of you out there that use the MVC HTML5 Toolkit - it is now available to download as a Nuget package. If you haven't already had a look at the MVC HTML5 Toolkit, please read this article for more info or visit the Codeplex site.

For those of you out there that haven't yet heard of Nuget or started playing with it yet, please go to the website for more on how to install it. Basically, it's a free open source developer focused package management system for the .NET platform that simplifies the process of incorporating third party libraries into a .NET application during development. If you are working with a complicated library that has many dependencies, instead of manually adding each one and updating your configuration files - you simply download the Nuget package and it will update your entire project with the libraries and relevant config settings.

Once you have installed the Nuget tools, it literally takes seconds to add the MVC HTML5 Toolkit to your project. There are two ways of adding a package to your project.

Firstly, you can add a library package reference via the solution explorer.

Then search for MVC HTML5.

There is also the alternate way to add packages to your project via the Package Manager Console. You need to search and filter for the package you are looking for.

Then run the command to install the package.

Once you have completed either of these methods you will notice that the reference has been added to the solution explorer. Every time the toolkit is updated and you request it again you will be able to see the updates on the Library Package page and get the latest version without any effort!

Even if you don't use Nuget in your projects you may still want to download the HTML5 toolkit and add it manually. There are many benefits of HTML5 that I have blogged about before, please have a read here and here.

There are loads of other great projects that have been added to the Nuget gallery already. Please check them out at Nuget.org

I have also created a quick video that gives a run through on how to download the package using Nuget, please check it out.