switch over to .net 8

[crimsonhawk47]

Proposed Changes

Support .NET 8

Types of changes

What types of changes does your code introduce to EFCore.FSharp?
Put an x in the boxes that apply

• Bugfix (non-breaking change which fixes an issue)
• New feature (non-breaking change which adds functionality)
• Breaking change (fix or feature that would cause existing functionality to not work as expected)

Checklist

Put an x in the boxes that apply. You can also fill these out after creating the PR. If you're unsure about any of them, don't hesitate to ask. We're here to help! This is simply a reminder of what we are going to look for before merging your code.

• Build and tests pass locally
• I have added tests that prove my fix is effective or that my feature works (if appropriate)
• I have added necessary documentation (if appropriate)

Fixes #155

[ErikEJ]

Assume you mean: Fixes #155 ?

[ErikEJ]

Looks like the actions need an update...

[simon-reynolds]

@crimsonhawk47
Can you please update https://github.com/crimsonhawk47/EFCore.FSharp/blob/net8-support/.github/workflows/build.yml on your branch from
dotnet-version: '6.x'
to
dotnet-version: '8.x'

[ErikEJ]

I think maybe a lot of changes are needed for scaffolding??

[ErikEJ]

Looks like the action needs a major overhaul.

[simon-reynolds]

Tbh, I'm looking at this for the first time in a long while and wondering how it can keep up with base EF Core
The switch to T4 templates for scaffolding has kind of messed with this, T4 isn't supported in F# so options are either keep a totally separate implementation or rewrite in C#

I won't be going with a complete rewrite because I'm working on a Mac and the template engine in VS for Mac is outdated and the product is being retired anyway. Keeping the current implementation and trying to port functionality sounds like the only option I have but it's a major time investment for me so updates will be sporadic

[ErikEJ]

@simon-reynolds So you suggest releasing a .NET 8 build where scaffolding might not fully work.

[crimsonhawk47]

I'm interested in helping with this, but would like a few details.

• What do you mean you don't want to do a rewrite because "The product is being retired?" What is being retired?
• If we were able to work with C# instead for T4, would that be easier then porting functionality?

[simon-reynolds]

Visual Studio for Mac is being retired

Working with C# would make T4 functionality a bit more straightforward but we'd need to split it into two projects then as we still need F# code for mapping things like option types in queries.
That would still also not solve the problem of trying to get T4 templates running on a non-Windows system as the dotnet t4 tool uses a different version of the text templating engine which causes differences in the generated code.

I've been doing some work on trying to update the existing implementation to account for API changes for .net 8 but it's not something I have a lot of time to devote to. If you're interested in helping out with the porting, I would absolutely love to have the help

I'll push my local changes to a branch later and update you here

[simon-reynolds]

Changes so far are on https://github.com/efcore/EFCore.FSharp/tree/net8-support
It's very much work in progress at the moment and does not currently build as I'm working through the changes to EF Core's internal API's but any help would be very welcome