.NET client fails to load on Windows WPF apps, assumes it is on MAUI

[rbakhshi]

Describe the bug
Client sdk 5.0.0 fails to load in a WPF app in .NET8 net8.0-windows.

To reproduce

• Create a simple WPF all using .NET8 (TargetFramework net8.0-windows).
• Add launchdarkly client sdk 5.0.0
• Init the sdk: LdClient.Init(context)

Expected behavior
It should not fail

Logs

System.IO.FileNotFoundException: Could not load file or assembly 'Microsoft.Maui.Essentials, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=null'. The system cannot find the file specified. System.IO.FileNotFoundException: Could not load file or assembly 'Microsoft.Maui.Essentials, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=null'. The system cannot find the file specified.
File name: 'Microsoft.Maui.Essentials, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=null'
   at LaunchDarkly.Sdk.Client.PlatformSpecific.PlatformConnectivity.get_LdNetworkAccess()
   at LaunchDarkly.Sdk.Client.Internal.DataSources.DefaultConnectivityStateManager.UpdateConnectedStatus()
   at LaunchDarkly.Sdk.Client.Internal.DataSources.DefaultConnectivityStateManager..ctor()
   at LaunchDarkly.Sdk.Client.Internal.Factory.CreateConnectivityStateManager(Configuration configuration)
   at LaunchDarkly.Sdk.Client.LdClient..ctor(Configuration configuration, Context initialContext, TimeSpan startWaitTime)
   at LaunchDarkly.Sdk.Client.LdClient.CreateInstance(Configuration configuration, Context initialContext, TimeSpan maxWaitTime)
   at LaunchDarkly.Sdk.Client.LdClient.Init(Configuration config, Context initialContext, TimeSpan maxWaitTime)

SDK version
LD 5.0.0

Language version, developer tools

> dotnet --version
8.0.401

OS/platform
Windows 10

Additional context
Add any other context about the problem here.

[tanderson-ld]

hi @rbakhshi, thank you for reporting this. We will investigate and get back to you in the next few days. Filed internally as 254757.

[rbakhshi]

For anyone interested, I found this as a workaround while a fix is being made for this.

The issue is that from all the target frameworks we only need netstandard2.0 version in our application and we don't want to use net7.0-windows because it has a hard tie to MAUI.

The way to do it is by changing the PackageReference as follows and explicitly reference the dlls:

    <PackageReference Include="LaunchDarkly.ClientSdk" Version="5.0.0" ExcludeAssets="Compile" GeneratePathProperty="true"/>
    <Reference Include="LaunchDarkly.ClientSdk, Version=5.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=90b24964a3dfb906">
      <HintPath>$(PkgLaunchDarkly_ClientSdk)\lib\netstandard2.0\LaunchDarkly.ClientSdk.dll</HintPath>
    </Reference>
    <PackageReference Include="LaunchDarkly.CommonSdk" Version="7.0.0" ExcludeAssets="Compile" GeneratePathProperty="true"/>
    <Reference Include="LaunchDarkly.CommonSdk, Version=7.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=45ef1738a929a7df">
      <HintPath>$(PkgLaunchDarkly_CommonSdk)\lib\netstandard2.0\LaunchDarkly.CommonSdk.dll</HintPath>
    </Reference>

Note that now you need to explicitly reference CommonSdk.

[sohail-p]

@tanderson-ld This is still reproducing for me, any timelines for a fix?

[tanderson-ld]

Hi @sohail-p . We don't have a timeline for fixing it at the moment. Does the workaround shared work for your situation?

[sohail-p]

@tanderson-ld we do not want to add Maui Package to our solution. Is there any other way?

[tanderson-ld]

The netstandard2.0 DLL doesn't include any MAUI components. Do you see the issue with the hint path workaround rbakhshi posted?

[megamechanic]

The same exception for Windows App SDK

[tanderson-ld]

We were finally able to reproduce the issue, sorry for the delay. We're working to update our package compilation to resolve this without the need for the HintPaths. For the time being, the following may be necessary.

<ItemGroup>
    <PackageReference Include="LaunchDarkly.ClientSdk" Version="5.3.0" GeneratePathProperty="true" ExcludeAssets="Compile;Runtime;Build"/>
    <PackageReference Include="LaunchDarkly.CommonSdk" Version="7.0.0" GeneratePathProperty="true" ExcludeAssets="Compile;Runtime;Build"/>
    <PackageReference Include="LaunchDarkly.InternalSdk" Version="3.4.0" GeneratePathProperty="true" ExcludeAssets="Compile;Runtime;Build"/>
    <PackageReference Include="LaunchDarkly.Logging" Version="2.0.0" GeneratePathProperty="true" ExcludeAssets="Compile;Runtime;Build"/>
    <PackageReference Include="LaunchDarkly.EventSource" Version="5.0.1" GeneratePathProperty="true" ExcludeAssets="Compile;Runtime;Build"/>
    <Reference Include ="LaunchDarkly.ClientSdk">
          <HintPath>$(PkgLaunchDarkly_ClientSdk)\lib\netstandard2.0\LaunchDarkly.ClientSdk.dll</HintPath>
      </Reference>
      <Reference Include ="LaunchDarkly.CommonSdk">
        <HintPath>$(PkgLaunchDarkly_CommonSdk)\lib\netstandard2.0\LaunchDarkly.CommonSdk.dll</HintPath>
      </Reference>
      <Reference Include ="LaunchDarkly.InternalSdk">
          <HintPath>$(PkgLaunchDarkly_InternalSdk)\lib\netstandard2.0\LaunchDarkly.InternalSdk.dll</HintPath>
      </Reference>
      <Reference Include ="LaunchDarkly.Logging">
          <HintPath>$(PkgLaunchDarkly_Logging)\lib\netstandard2.0\LaunchDarkly.Logging.dll</HintPath>
      </Reference>
      <Reference Include ="LaunchDarkly.EventSource">
          <HintPath>$(PkgLaunchDarkly_EventSource)\lib\netstandard2.0\LaunchDarkly.EventSource.dll</HintPath>
      </Reference>
  </ItemGroup>