Azure Map TypeScript definitions not available via NuGet like they were for Bing Maps v8?

Question

I'm a long-time Bing Maps developer who is starting to experiment with Azure Maps. As a first step, I set up a new ASP.NET Core web app in VS 2019 and went looking for a NuGet package with the Azure Maps TypeScript definitions, figuring that there would be one just like there is for Bing Maps v8. Searching for azure maps typescript in the NuGet package manager returns zero results, while azure maps returns about half a dozen results relevant to Azure Maps in general, including some kind of third-party Razor control, but no official MS TypeScript definitions.

The only reference I found for TypeScript in the Azure Maps documentation at MS Docs was in Use the Azure Maps map control, and it makes no mention of a NuGet TS package, just something called NPM and instructions about how to reference the TypeScript definitions (presumably) after you've retrieved them via NPM. I've never even heard of NPM. I went to the NPM website linked in the MS Docs article and it looks like something for node.js, not ASP.NET Core. I really don't want to install node.js just to get TypeScript definitions, which seems convoluted, especially compared to the Bing Maps v8 experience.

I'm confused. Is there something I'm missing here?

Answer 1

NPM is one of the most popular ways JavaScript/Typescript package are shared. It's the web package equivalent of NuGet (NuGet is a .NET package manager).

Here is an older article that has a lot of good insights on NPM in Visual Studio: https://angularfirst.com/getting-started-with-npm-in-visual-studio/

Here is the official Visual Studio docs for NPM: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/visualstudio/javascript/npm-package-management?view=vs-2019