From 6ab02048bf1e5c6449b1ee4917965c79be397763 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Tig <tig@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Mon, 25 May 2026 15:16:14 -0600
Subject: [PATCH 1/2] Add optional project reference support for Terminal.Gui
 source

When TerminalGuiRoot is set (e.g. -p:TerminalGuiRoot=../Terminal.Gui),
the NuGet PackageReference is replaced with a ProjectReference to the
local Terminal.Gui source. This enables immediate detection of breaking
changes during Terminal.Gui development.

Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>
---
 Directory.Build.props   |  7 +++++++
 Directory.Build.targets |  7 +++++++
 README.md               | 13 ++++++++++++-
 3 files changed, 26 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)
 create mode 100644 Directory.Build.targets

diff --git a/Directory.Build.props b/Directory.Build.props
index af65e90..7bb33d5 100644
--- a/Directory.Build.props
+++ b/Directory.Build.props
@@ -7,4 +7,11 @@
     <TreatWarningsAsErrors>true</TreatWarningsAsErrors>
     <EnforceCodeStyleInBuild>true</EnforceCodeStyleInBuild>
   </PropertyGroup>
+
+  <!-- Optional: reference Terminal.Gui source instead of the NuGet package.
+       Set TerminalGuiRoot to the path of your local Terminal.Gui repo clone.
+       Example: dotnet build -p:TerminalGuiRoot=../Terminal.Gui -->
+  <PropertyGroup Condition="'$(TerminalGuiRoot)' != ''">
+    <UseLocalTerminalGui>true</UseLocalTerminalGui>
+  </PropertyGroup>
 </Project>
diff --git a/Directory.Build.targets b/Directory.Build.targets
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e515bd5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Directory.Build.targets
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+<Project>
+  <!-- When TerminalGuiRoot is set, replace the Terminal.Gui NuGet PackageReference with a ProjectReference -->
+  <ItemGroup Condition="'$(UseLocalTerminalGui)' == 'true'">
+    <PackageReference Remove="Terminal.Gui" />
+    <ProjectReference Include="$(TerminalGuiRoot)\Terminal.Gui\Terminal.Gui.csproj" />
+  </ItemGroup>
+</Project>
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 9e01efb..00fda8c 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -24,6 +24,17 @@ cd Example
 dotnet run
 ```
 
+### Building Against Local Terminal.Gui Source
+
+To build the examples against a local clone of Terminal.Gui (instead of the NuGet package), pass the `TerminalGuiRoot` property pointing to your Terminal.Gui repository root:
+
+```bash
+dotnet build -p:TerminalGuiRoot=../Terminal.Gui
+dotnet run --project Example -p:TerminalGuiRoot=../Terminal.Gui
+```
+
+This replaces the NuGet `PackageReference` with a `ProjectReference`, so any breaking changes in Terminal.Gui are caught immediately during development.
+
 ## Examples
 
 | Project | Description |
@@ -60,7 +71,7 @@ dotnet run
 ## Contributing
 
 1. Follow Terminal.Gui [coding conventions](https://github.com/gui-cs/Terminal.Gui/blob/develop/CONTRIBUTING.md)
-2. Examples should reference Terminal.Gui via NuGet package (not ProjectReference)
+2. Examples reference Terminal.Gui via NuGet by default; use `TerminalGuiRoot` for local development
 3. Each example should have its own project directory with a descriptive name
 4. Include a README.md in each example explaining what it demonstrates
 

From 0a957cc11ad81e0242dd32fd988289c743ae4841 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Tig <tig@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Mon, 25 May 2026 15:35:33 -0600
Subject: [PATCH 2/2] Fix: resolve TerminalGuiRoot relative to repo root, not
 each .csproj

ProjectReference paths in Directory.Build.targets are evaluated relative
to each importing .csproj. This normalizes TerminalGuiRoot to an absolute
path based on the repo root (where Directory.Build.props lives), so
relative paths like '../Terminal.Gui' work correctly regardless of which
project directory the build is invoked from.

Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>
---
 Directory.Build.props | 2 ++
 1 file changed, 2 insertions(+)

diff --git a/Directory.Build.props b/Directory.Build.props
index 7bb33d5..336cf50 100644
--- a/Directory.Build.props
+++ b/Directory.Build.props
@@ -13,5 +13,7 @@
        Example: dotnet build -p:TerminalGuiRoot=../Terminal.Gui -->
   <PropertyGroup Condition="'$(TerminalGuiRoot)' != ''">
     <UseLocalTerminalGui>true</UseLocalTerminalGui>
+    <!-- Resolve relative paths against the repo root (where this file lives), not each .csproj -->
+    <TerminalGuiRoot>$([MSBuild]::NormalizePath('$(MSBuildThisFileDirectory)', '$(TerminalGuiRoot)'))</TerminalGuiRoot>
   </PropertyGroup>
 </Project>