Proposal: Add Optional Code Package visual studio project template for WinUI 3

[harvinders]

Proposal: Add Optional Code Package visual studio project template for WinUI 3

Summary

We currently have a way to create optional package for UWP applications, we need feature parity so as to create and package plugins easily.

Rationale

• Allows us to create plugins and package them for main application

Scope

Capability	Priority
Project template for optional package	Must
Automatically link it with the main application	Could

Important Notes

Open Questions

At this time a workaround would also be helpful.

[StephenLPeters]

@fabiant3 and @marb2000 FYI

[marb2000]

@harvinders This is sounds like a project reunion proposal rather than WinUI

[harvinders]

@marb2000 I thought it goes with the tooling for WinUI 3. When we install the vsix for WinUI 3 we get all the project templates (Blank App, Class library) and optional package project template is just one more template to be packaged within the vsix.

[MDendura]

This would be really useful for me too, so I thought I'd tack my comment on the end of this issue as the project template docs point in this direction, rather than to the repo for Project Reunion.

I'd like to be able to have a Project Reunion host app that loads plugin assemblies from installed Optional Packages. The current Optional Package template for Visual Studio is tied to .NET Framework and UWP, and there seems to be no way to build an MSIX Optional Package for .NET 5.

[harvinders]

@marb2000 Any update on this?

[annmanvel]

WinUI3 XAML control library need to be loaded dynamically from external path; So, is there any option to load this into a WinUI 3 application? microsoft/WindowsAppSDK#2073

[harvinders]

@annmanvel the only possible way is to change few things as mentioned in #6299. This is just a work around and don't work if you use third-party controls or define string resources in the plug-in.