Hi,

NCrunch can't load a class library project that is csproj based but also has project.json and PROJECTNAME.project.json (see repo with solution here: https://github.com/pbering/ncrunch-issue)

This setup works fine when building solution from command line with MSBUILD and from visual studio, but NCrunch fails loading with:

System.Exception: An exception was thrown in the remote environment: System.Reflection.TargetInvocationException: Exception has been thrown by the target of an invocation. ---> nCrunch.Common.UserException: Errors occurred while trying to load the project file:
Your project.json doesn't have a runtimes section. You should add '"runtimes": { "win": { } }' to your project.json and then re-run NuGet restore.
at nCrunch.Compiler.RemoteBuildRunner.(FilePath ,   , String , String , DirectoryPath , String )
at nCrunch.Compiler.RemoteBuildRunner.AnalyseComponentBuild(FilePath projectFilePath, BuildXml buildXml, String useBuildConfiguration, String useBuildPlatform, DirectoryPath solutionDir, String solutionName, List`1 importExpressionsToEvaluate, ProcessorArchitecture buildProcessProcessorArchitecture, DirectoryPath workspaceBasePath)
--- End of inner exception stack trace ---
at System.RuntimeMethodHandle.InvokeMethod(Object target, Object[] arguments, Signature sig, Boolean constructor)
at System.Reflection.RuntimeMethodInfo.UnsafeInvokeInternal(Object obj, Object[] parameters, Object[] arguments)
at System.Reflection.RuntimeMethodInfo.Invoke(Object obj, BindingFlags invokeAttr, Binder binder, Object[] parameters, CultureInfo culture)
at nCrunch.TaskRunner.Ipc.IpcMessageProcessor.(CallMethodMessage )
at nCrunch.TaskRunner.Ipc.IpcMessageProcessor.ProcessMessageReturningResult(Byte[] data)
at nCrunch.TaskRunner.Ipc.RemoteInstance.[T](Byte[] )
at nCrunch.TaskRunner.Ipc.RemoteInstance.Invoke(IMessage msg)
at System.Runtime.Remoting.Proxies.RealProxy.PrivateInvoke(MessageData& msgData, Int32 type)
at nCrunch.Compiler.IRemoteBuildRunner.AnalyseComponentBuild(FilePath projectFilePath, BuildXml buildXml, String useBuildConfiguration, String useBuildPlatform, DirectoryPath solutionDir, String solutionName, List`1 importExpressionsToEvaluate, ProcessorArchitecture buildProcessProcessorArchitecture, DirectoryPath workspaceBasePath)
at nCrunch.Core.BuildManagement.BuildProcessLauncher..(IRemoteBuildRunner )
at nCrunch.Core.BuildManagement.BuildProcessLauncher.(Action`1 , IBuildableProject , ExternalProcess )
at nCrunch.Core.BuildManagement.BuildProcessLauncher.(Action`1 , ProcessorArchitecture , GridClientId , IBuildableProject , IList`1 )
at nCrunch.Core.BuildManagement.BuildProcessLauncher.AnalyseComponentBuildInExternalProcess(FilePath projectFilePath, BuildXml buildXml, String useBuildConfiguration, String useBuildPlatform, DirectoryPath solutionDir, String solutionName, List`1 importExpressionsToEvaluate, ProcessorArchitecture processorArchitecture, VisualStudioVersion vsVersion, IList`1 customEnvironmentVariables)
at nCrunch.Client.ComponentLoader.SnapshotComponentFactory.(ProcessorArchitecture )
at nCrunch.Client.ComponentLoader.SnapshotComponentFactory.CreateSnapshotComponentFromXml(FilePath projectFilePath, BuildXml projectXml, FilePath solutionFilePath, String[] additionalFilesToIncludeAtSolutionLevel, Boolean isLoadedFromFile, ISnapshotConfig snapshotConfig, VisualStudioVersion vsVersion)

What can I do to fix this besides setting projects to be ignored completely by NCrunch?

I'm running 2.24.0.2, should be latest...

hmm if it remove the json files and reloads the solution it works - but as soon as a do a "dotnet restore" and "dotnet build" in the ClassLibrary4 project and reloads solution then it stops working again. Very strange... From commandline everything seems to work both with MSBUILD building solution or projects and dotnet build,

Try using an MSBuild expression to exclude the json files from the project for NCrunch builds, for example:

<ItemGroup Condition="'$(NCrunch)' != '1'">
<None Include="ClassLibrary4.project.json" />
<None Include="project.json" />
</ItemGroup>

With this in place, the files won't be included in the project when NCrunch runs MSBuild to load the project. The files will still be included when the project is built outside of NCrunch.

Interesting. Whatever is causing this must be a step inside your build system that is specifically looking for the .lock file.

Unfortunately, making NCrunch blind to these files won't solve the problem, as the exception is being thrown by the build system, not NCrunch itself. All NCrunch knows about is the invocation of MSBuild. The explosion happens further down the tool-chain. Technically this should probably be put past Microsoft, but as they are working to replace the whole infrastructure involved in this process I don't think we'll see a timely solution from them. The best we can hope for here is to find a workaround.

Would you be able to obtain for me a detailed MSBuild log from when you build this project using the command line? Try the following command:

msbuild /v:d ClassLibrary4.csproj > build.log

It may be quite a large file, so you can zip it up and send it via the contact form if you like.

Try adding this to the top of your project file (as the first propertygroup):

<PropertyGroup>
<ResolveNuGetPackages Condition="'$(NCrunch)' == '1'">false</ResolveNuGetPackages>
</PropertyGroup>

It's related to a Nuget build task responsible for doing some tricky things around resolving packages. By turning off the resolution property, the target invoking the task won't execute and the error isn't kicked up.

I've yet to determine the true reason why the task is kicking up the error. Depending on the future of this area of tooling, it may not be worth investigating.