feat: add .NET 8 (LTS) support to FluentUI Blazor project templates

[fkitsantas]

🙋 Feature Request

Allow users to choose .NET 8 (LTS) when creating new FluentUI Blazor projects using the official templates. This ensures compatibility with production environments and aligns with Microsoft's support strategy for long-term stable releases.

🤔 Expected Behavior

When creating a new FluentUI Blazor project using the latest template, users should be given the option to target .NET 8 (LTS) in addition to .NET 9, which is currently in preview or not used widely in production environments.

😯 Current Behavior

The current project templates for FluentUI Blazor only support .NET 9, which is not ideal for production scenarios since .NET 8 is the current Long-Term Support (LTS) version. To use .NET 8, I had to manually download and use an older version of the template.

💁 Possible Solution

Update the template logic to support multi-targeting or allow a selection during the creation process so users can choose between .NET 8 (LTS) and .NET 9. Alternatively, maintain separate template versions for each .NET version and allow users to install the one that matches their runtime needs.

🔦 Context

In production environments, using LTS versions of .NET is a best practice for stability and long-term support. Being forced to use .NET 9 for the latest FluentUI Blazor templates makes adoption more difficult or risky. Offering .NET 8 support directly in the latest template would streamline development and adoption.

💻 Examples

When running:

dotnet new fluentui-blazor

Prompt or flag option like:

--framework net8.0

Should be available. Ideally, dotnet new UI templates should allow framework selection like other templates (e.g., Blazor WebAssembly).

[vnbaaij]

When creating a new FluentUI Blazor project using the latest template, users should be given the option to target .NET 8 (LTS) in addition to .NET 9, which is currently in preview or not used widely in production environments.

No, .NET 9 is definitely not in preview. It has been officially released in November 2024 and is widely being used in production environments. Is is just as much a same quality release as .NET 8 but it just comes with a shorter support cycle.

In production environments, using LTS versions of .NET is a best practice for stability and long-term support.

That is definitely not a best practice. You'll miss out on a ton of performance and stability enhancements by staying on an older version.

Update the template logic to support multi-targeting or allow a selection during the creation process so users can choose between .NET 8 (LTS) and .NET 9. Alternatively, maintain separate template versions for each .NET version and allow users to install the one that matches their runtime needs.

We have 4 templates in our template package.

• The Fluent .NET MAUI Blazor Hybrid and Web App template and the plain Blazor version of that one, were introduced with .NET 9 so there is no .NET 8 version available

• The Fluent UI Blazor Web App template: Offers choice of .NET 8 and .NET 9
  

• The Fluent .NET Aspire Starter kit: Offers choice of .NET 8 and .NET 9
  

• The Fluent Blazor WebAssemble Standalone App: currently only offers .NET 9. I'll investigate if we can add .NET 8 there because the standard Blazor template does offer .NET 8 as an option.

Which version of the templates do you have installed and what template were you using to create a solution with?

[fkitsantas]

I was trying to install The Fluent Blazor WebAssembly Standalone App. However upon trying to create a new project this only allows me to go for .NET 9 and .NET 8 (LTS) is not supported for some reason unless you try version 4.10.4 or older.

[vnbaaij]

WebAssembly / .NET 8 option will be added in v4.12.1