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This directory contains the C# Protocol Buffers runtime library.
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Status: Beta - ready for external testing
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=========================================
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Usage
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=====
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The easiest way how to use C# protobufs is via the `Google.Protobuf`
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NuGet package. Just add the NuGet package to your VS project.
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You will also want to install the `Google.Protobuf.Tools` NuGet package, which
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contains precompiled version of `protoc.exe` and a copy of well known `.proto`
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files under the package's `tools` directory.
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To generate C# files from your `.proto` files, invoke `protoc` with the
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`--csharp_out` option.
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Supported platforms
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===================
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The runtime library is built as a portable class library, supporting:
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- .NET 4.5
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- Windows 8
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- Windows Phone Silverlight 8
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- Windows Phone 8.1
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- .NET Core
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You should be able to use Protocol Buffers in Visual Studio 2012 and
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all later versions. This includes all code generated by `protoc`,
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which only uses features from C# 3 and earlier.
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Building
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========
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Open the `src/Google.Protobuf.sln` solution in Visual Studio 2015 or
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later. You should be able to run the NUnit test from Test Explorer
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(you might need to install NUnit Visual Studio add-in).
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Although *users* of this project are only expected to have Visual
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Studio 2012 or later, *developers* of the library are required to
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have Visual Studio 2015 or later, as the library uses C# 6 features
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in its implementation. These features have no impact when using the
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compiled code - they're only relevant when building the
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`Google.Protobuf` assembly.
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History of C# protobufs
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=======================
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This subtree was originally imported from https://github.com/jskeet/protobuf-csharp-port
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and represents the latest development version of C# protobufs, that will now be developed
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and maintained by Google. All the development will be done in open, under this repository
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(https://github.com/google/protobuf).
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The previous project differs from this project in a number of ways:
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- The old code only supported proto2; the new code only supports
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proto3 (so no unknown fields, no required/optional distinction, no
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extensions)
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- The old code was based on immutable message types and builders for
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them
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- The old code did not support maps or `oneof`
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- The old code had its own JSON representation, whereas the new code
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uses the standard protobuf JSON representation
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- The old code had no notion of the "well-known types" which have
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special support in the new code
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- The old project supported some older platforms (such as older
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versions of Silverlight) which are not currently supported in the
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new project
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