How to optionally include/edit/debug package source

[burtonrodman]

I build a number of packages both public and private to my organization.

Most of the time, I want to include these packages via standard PackageReferences. But if I'm fixing a bug or developing a new feature, I often want to include the package's source directly as a reference in a consuming project.

I've got a functional -- if not slightly messy -- solution of conditions on ItemGroups based on whether the source exists...

  <PropertyGroup>
    <PackageCsprojPath>../../../Internal/MyCompany/Package/Package.csproj</PackageCsprojPath>
  </PropertyGroup>
  <ItemGroup Condition="!Exists($(PackageCsprojPath))">
    <PackageReference Include="Package" Version="1.0.*" />
  </ItemGroup>
  <ItemGroup Condition="Exists($(PackageCsprojPath))">
    <ProjectReference Include="$(PackageCsprojPath)" />
  </ItemGroup>

This requires 9 lines per reference, a custom property, and a lot of copy/paste.
If I could turn this into some sort of single-line MSBuild "function" that would be cleaner.

Not to mention that the simple existance of the source code may not always be the condition I'd want to use for whether to use the Package or Project sources.

But before I go off solving that -- does anyone have a cleaner or more "offical" solution?

Back in the early, early days of .Net Core there was discussion of being able to include even .Net Core sources within one's project -- what ever happened to that idea??