Do I need to use Syncfusion Essential Studio or can I just use NuGet packages?

Question

I'm very confused about Syncfusion Essential Studio. I want to use the XlsIo package in my app to extract some data from an Excel file and I don't understand how I should reference it.

The preferred way would be to use NuGet packages, for I which I suppose I could use the WPF nuget URL ? Apparently no license key must be provided anymore to use it, which makes me wonder when I have to provide it – and why I installed a whopping 3GB tool if I could have just used this public NuGet package URL instead?

I did not install assemblies to the GAC as I plan to work on multiple devices with multiple projects and don't want to rely on assemblies being in the GAC, if possible.

I guess I can also just reference the assemblies in the essential studio install directory, but I'm not sure whether that's intended and how I'll deal with updates (cross-device issue aside).

So what I'm asking is basically: can I just use the NuGet packages, as that would be the easiest and most maintainable option in my opinion, and do I have to provide any license information at some point (eg deployment)?

Bonus question: what purpose exactly serves the essential studio, if I end up using NuGet packages? A mere sample viewer + number of optional tools?

Answer 1

Please find the response for your queries.

Query 1: Can I just use the NuGet packages, as that would be the easiest and most maintainable option in my opinion, and do I have to provide any license information at some point (eg deployment)?

Answer: Syncfusion is providing license on customer basis only. You no need to worry, if you have license for each developer. You can use any installation option such as Essential Studio installer, Platform installer, Link Installer or NuGet packages.

Query 2: What purpose exactly serves the essential studio, if I end up using NuGet packages? A mere sample viewer + number of optional tools?

Answer: Essential Studio build comprises of all platforms, samples & additional tools/utilities for configuration purpose. This will be helpful for evaluation purpose for the customer who doesn't know about Syncfusion products.

Online samples are there to showcase our Syncfusion products. But sometimes user want to refer the code snippets and for window client platforms. So, Essential Studio build is necessary for these cases. Syncfusion have separate platform builds also if the customer needs to evaluate the products with specific platforms. To know more about Essential Studio setup features, click the below link.

https://help.syncfusion.com/common/essential-studio/overview

Thanks,

Mathi.