So I am trying to write an ASP.NET Core app in VS 2015. My office uses VS 2015, so that is what I have to use. I definitely cannot go to VS 2017 and writing an app thathas to be written/maintained with VS Code is also not an option (I am allowed to use VS Code myself if I wish, but I cannot make it so that anyone who works on this project has to do it in VS Code). So, all of that said, I am having some difficulties. For one, I have a regular .NET class library that contains my object model - as this object model needs to be reusable across applications (as well as across tiers of this application). I find that I cannot add this class library as a direct reference to my ASP.NET Core project. I have tried targeting the full .NET Framework with my ASP.NET Core app (.NET 4.6.1) and making sure my class library also targets 4.6.1. I have come across indications that to add my own libraries I have to host them as NuGet packages? If so, that does not fit into our source control structure here. It's extremely unlikely that I could convince the powers that be to adopt an entirely new source control mechanism for this project.
In researching solutions to this issue I have encountered a great deal of "project.json is not supported anymore and you should not use it". As far as I know, however, there is no way to work on an app in VS 2015 with the new .csproj project files. So my question - as someone new to ASP.NET Core - is: how can/should I set up my application in VS 2015? It seems odd to me that ASP.NET Core at any stage would not support referencing an object model library directly. I would think that is a very common scenario. Of course, all of the tutorials/books/videos give you the standard "OK, now add a 'Models' folder in your project..." instruction. But I think as developers we all agree that in the real world code duplication is a bad thing. And in the real world we all have to deal with things like multiple apps sharing (at least part of) the same object model. If nothing else, you would at least need to share some common interfaces. Further, if the project.json setup is now officially frowned upon does that mean VS 2015 is no longer considered a viable option for coding ASP.NET Core apps? Am I going to be forced to revert to ASP.NET MVC if I want to fulfill my requirements for this application (which will also eventually include referencing service libraries that utilize COM components)? If anyone can provide some insight into these questions for me, I would be very grateful!
Thanks!