Add a third-party library to the Visual Studio Code project

Add a third-party .NET library by editing the CSPROJ project file.

Prerequisites

Set Visual Studio Code as the default external code editor. See Set the default code editor.

To add a third-party library to the Visual Studio Code project

Copy the .NET assembly for the library to the ProjectFiles/NetSolution project folder.
From the main toolbar, select Open .NET Solution.
The default external code editor opens.
Tip: Rockwell Automation recommends using Microsoft Visual Studio 2022 or Microsoft Visual Studio Code as the default code editor. Some development assistance features may not be available when using a different code editor.
In Visual Studio Code, open the CSPROJ project file.
Add the following <Reference> element as a child of the <ItemGroup> element.
```
<Reference Include="library">
  <HintPath>path</HintPath>
</Reference>
```
library

The library that you want to add. For example: MyLibrary

path

The path to the library from 1. For example: "MyLibrary.dll". Include the path to the library in the project directory to allow the project .NET solution to be compiled on different devices. In this way, the library is correctly referenced whenever acessing the project from other devices.
```
<ItemGroup>
  <Reference Include="MyLibrary">
    <HintPath>MyLibrary.dll</HintPath>
  </Reference>
  
</ItemGroup>
```
If the library is located in a different folder than the one set by default ProjectFiles/NetSolution, provide a path accordingly, for example:
```
  <Reference Include="MyLibrary">
    <HintPath>../SampleFolder/MyLibrary.dll</HintPath>
  </Reference>
```
Save the CSPROJ file.