.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?