Improve dotnet-ef diagnostics

[Copilot]

Project.FromFile invoked dotnet build --no-restore but only captured stdout, throwing a single generic Unable to retrieve project metadata. Ensure it's an SDK-style project. on any non-zero exit. The actual MSBuild/SDK error went to the console and was dropped from the exception, and the message was stale now that file-based apps are supported. In addition, several other user-facing messages still referred only to "project" even when the user specified a file-based app.

Changes

• Capture and surface stderr: stderr from dotnet build is now captured and reported via Reporter.WriteError, so the underlying MSBuild/SDK error is shown to the user instead of being silently dropped (stdout continues to flow through Reporter.WriteVerbose).
• More specific exceptions:
  • ProjectFileNotFound thrown up-front when the path doesn't exist (replaces the cryptic MSB1009: Project file does not exist).
  • RestoreRequired thrown when captured output contains NETSDK1004 (assets file missing) — the most likely cause when restore was skipped or failed silently before --no-restore build.
• Updated messages for file-based app awareness:
  • GetMetadataFailed now reads Unable to retrieve project metadata. Ensure it's an SDK-style project or a file-based app.
  • Added UsingFileBasedApp / UsingStartupFileBasedApp resources; RootCommand selects the appropriate variant based on the file extension (.cs → file-based app message, otherwise project message).
  • Updated MigrationsOutputDirDescription, DbContextOutputDirDescription, and ScaffoldOutputDirDescription (in both dotnet-ef and ef resx) from "project directory" to "project or file-based app directory".
• Tests capture and assert on output: tests that exercise Project.FromFile now route Reporter output through a captured writer and assert that no error: prefix appears on the success path.

Example

Before — when restore was incomplete on the machine:

CommandException : Unable to retrieve project metadata. Ensure it's an SDK-style project.

After — the actual dotnet build error is written to the console as an error, and a more actionable exception is thrown:

error:   ...NETSDK1004: Assets file '...project.assets.json' not found...
CommandException : Unable to retrieve project metadata. Restore the project (e.g. by running 'dotnet restore') and try again.

[Copilot]

Pull request overview

Improves dotnet-ef project metadata extraction diagnostics by surfacing underlying dotnet build failures (especially restore-related ones) and updating related user-facing messages/tests.

Changes:

• Capture dotnet build stderr during Project.FromFile and report it through Reporter.
• Add more specific failure modes (ProjectFileNotFound, RestoreRequired) and update the generic metadata failure message.
• Update dotnet-ef tests to capture Reporter output and assert that the success path doesn’t emit error-prefixed output.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 3 out of 4 changed files in this pull request and generated 1 comment.

File	Description
test/dotnet-ef.Tests/ProjectTest.cs	Captures Reporter output during tests and adds coverage for missing project file behavior.
src/dotnet-ef/Properties/Resources.resx	Adds/updates resource strings for improved Project.FromFile diagnostics.
src/dotnet-ef/Properties/Resources.Designer.cs	Regenerates strongly-typed resource accessors for new/updated strings.
src/dotnet-ef/Project.cs	Adds stderr capture + new failure detection/exception paths in Project.FromFile.

Files not reviewed (1)

• src/dotnet-ef/Properties/Resources.Designer.cs: Language not supported

[Copilot]

Pull request overview

This PR improves dotnet-ef/ef diagnostics and messaging around project metadata extraction, especially for file-based apps, by surfacing underlying dotnet build failures and updating user-facing strings.

Changes:

• Capture dotnet build stderr during Project.FromFile and surface it via Reporter so MSBuild/SDK errors aren’t dropped.
• Add more actionable failures for missing input files and (heuristically) missing assets file restore scenarios.
• Update resource strings and RootCommand verbose messaging to distinguish projects vs file-based apps; update tests to assert no error: output on success paths.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 5 out of 7 changed files in this pull request and generated 4 comments.

Show a summary per file

File	Description
test/dotnet-ef.Tests/ProjectTest.cs	Captures Reporter output and asserts no error: prefix on success; adds missing-file test.
src/ef/Properties/Resources.resx	Updates CLI option descriptions to reference “project or file-based app directory”.
src/ef/Properties/Resources.Designer.cs	Regenerated designer for updated resource strings.
src/dotnet-ef/RootCommand.cs	Chooses “Using project” vs “Using file-based app” verbose messages based on file extension.
src/dotnet-ef/Properties/Resources.resx	Updates metadata failure text; adds RestoreRequired/ProjectFileNotFound and file-based app “Using …” messages; updates output-dir descriptions.
src/dotnet-ef/Properties/Resources.Designer.cs	Regenerated designer for new/updated resources.
src/dotnet-ef/Project.cs	Adds upfront missing-file error, captures stderr from dotnet build, and throws RestoreRequired when NETSDK1004 is detected.

Files not reviewed (2)

• src/dotnet-ef/Properties/Resources.Designer.cs: Language not supported
• src/ef/Properties/Resources.Designer.cs: Language not supported

[Copilot]

Pull request overview

Improves dotnet-ef diagnostics around Project.FromFile by surfacing underlying dotnet build failures (including stderr), providing more actionable exceptions for common failure modes, and updating user-facing messages to explicitly support file-based apps.

Changes:

• Capture dotnet build stderr during metadata extraction and report it via Reporter instead of dropping it.
• Throw more specific CommandExceptions for missing files and missing restore assets (NETSDK1004).
• Update resources and verbose messages to refer to “project or file-based app”, and add file-based app variants for “Using …” messages.
• Update tests to capture Reporter output and assert that the success path doesn’t emit prefixed errors.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 5 out of 7 changed files in this pull request and generated 3 comments.

Show a summary per file

File	Description
test/dotnet-ef.Tests/ProjectTest.cs	Adds output-capture helper and new test for missing project file; asserts no error: prefix on success.
src/dotnet-ef/Project.cs	Adds missing-file guard, captures stderr, and throws more actionable exceptions (e.g., restore required).
src/dotnet-ef/RootCommand.cs	Chooses “Using project” vs “Using file-based app” messages based on .cs extension.
src/dotnet-ef/Properties/Resources.resx	Updates metadata failure message; adds new resources for restore-required, missing file, and file-based app usage messages; updates output-dir descriptions.
src/dotnet-ef/Properties/Resources.Designer.cs	Updates strongly-typed accessors for new/updated resources (but note: some XML doc comments are now out of sync with .resx).
src/ef/Properties/Resources.resx	Updates output-dir-related descriptions to mention “project or file-based app directory”.
src/ef/Properties/Resources.Designer.cs	Updates corresponding resource XML doc comments for the changed strings.

Files not reviewed (2)

• src/dotnet-ef/Properties/Resources.Designer.cs: Language not supported
• src/ef/Properties/Resources.Designer.cs: Language not supported

[roji]

LGTM, is there an issue that this should reference?

[AndriySvyryd]

LGTM, is there an issue that this should reference?

This is just something I found reviewing the code