Can ASP.NET vNext use non-vNext references?

Question

So I have a ASP .NET vNext project in VS 14 CTP. I am targeting .NET Framework 4.5.1. I added a reference to a NuGet package, which does not have a build specific for vNext.

Answer 1

If you have both k10 and net451 frameworks listed in project.json, VS 14 by default builds project against both frameworks. In such case if any of the assemblies are not built for k10 framework, build fails with package not found error. So net 451 packages should specifically be added in net451 section of project.json. I am just pasting an example project.json where Microsoft.Bcl package is listed in net451 section

{
"dependencies": {
    "Microsoft.AspNet.Server.IIS": "1.0.0-*",
    "Microsoft.AspNet.Mvc": "6.0.0-*"
    <more packages>
},
"configurations": {
    "net451": {
        "dependencies": {
            "Microsoft.Bcl": "1.1.9"
            }        
  }
 }
}

Answer 2

According to ASP.NET improvements in Visual Studio 2015 CTP 5, you will be able to reference standard projects from a vNext project. You can do this by simply using 'Add Reference' menu with right click, or manually adding it to the project.json under dependecies.

Just avoid making cycling references (A references B and B references A) since that will cause Visual Studio to auto refresh the focus of your window on every 5 seconds.