Generating reference documentation fails for PCL Profile259 and System.IO

[adamchester]

Originally raised here: fsprojects/ProjectScaffold#211

I created a new blank ProjectScaffold, added an F# PCL (Profile259) Library (VS 2015), added member x.TestMe = new System.IO.StringWriter(), then executed build. It fails to build.

I don't fully understand why, but it seems that F# Formatting doesn't know what to do with the PCL types... Do I need to add some references somewhere?

The relevant build error follows:

Generating 'C:\My\repo\TestPclScaffold\docs\tools\..\content/release-notes.html'
Help generated
Finished Target: GenerateHelp
Starting Target: GenerateReferenceDocs (==> RunTests, GenerateHelp)
FSharp.Formatting Information: 0 : FSharp.Formatting Logging setup!
Yaaf.FSharp.Scriping Information: 0 : Yaaf.FSharp.Scripting Logging setup!
Copying file: C:\My\repo\TestPclScaffold\docs\output\img\logo-template.pdn
Copying file: C:\My\repo\TestPclScaffold\docs\output\img\logo.png
Copying styles and scripts: C:\My\repo\TestPclScaffold\docs\output\content\style.css
Copying styles and scripts: C:\My\repo\TestPclScaffold\docs\output\content\style.css.bak
Copying styles and scripts: C:\My\repo\TestPclScaffold\docs\output\content\style_light.css
Copying styles and scripts: C:\My\repo\TestPclScaffold\docs\output\content\tips.js
Copying styles and scripts: C:\My\repo\TestPclScaffold\docs\output\content\img\github-blue.png
Copying styles and scripts: C:\My\repo\TestPclScaffold\docs\output\content\img\github.png
Creating C:\My\repo\TestPclScaffold\docs\output\reference
System.InvalidOperationException: The entity or value 'System.IO.StringWriter' does not exist or is in an unresolved assembly. You may need to add a reference to assembly 'System.IO'
   at Microsoft.FSharp.Compiler.SourceCodeServices.Impl.dflt@76[a](String asmName, String path) in C:\GitHub\fsharp\FSharp.Compiler.Service\src\fsharp\vs\Symbols.fs:line 37
   at Microsoft.FSharp.Compiler.SourceCodeServices.Impl.protect[a](FSharpFunc`2 f) in C:\GitHub\fsharp\FSharp.Compiler.Service\src\fsharp\vs\Symbols.fs:line 36
   at Microsoft.FSharp.Compiler.SourceCodeServices.FSharpEntity.get_MembersFunctionsAndValues() in C:\GitHub\fsharp\FSharp.Compiler.Service\src\fsharp\vs\Symbols.fs:line 416
   at FSharp.MetadataFormat.Reader.getMembers@889-1.GenerateNext(IEnumerable`1& next) in C:\Tomas\Public\tpetricek\FSharp.Formatting\src\FSharp.MetadataFormat\Main.fs:line 0
   at Microsoft.FSharp.Core.CompilerServices.GeneratedSequenceBase`1.MoveNextImpl()
   at Microsoft.FSharp.Core.CompilerServices.GeneratedSequenceBase`1.System-Collections-IEnumerator-MoveNext()
   at Microsoft.FSharp.Collections.SeqModule.ToList[T](IEnumerable`1 source)
   at FSharp.MetadataFormat.Reader.readType@885.Invoke(String cat, IDictionary`2 cmds, Comment comment) in C:\Tomas\Public\tpetricek\FSharp.Formatting\src\FSharp.MetadataFormat\Main.fs:line 900
   at FSharp.MetadataFormat.Reader.readCommentsInto[a](ReadingContext ctx, String xmlDoc, FSharpFunc`2 f) in C:\Tomas\Public\tpetricek\FSharp.Formatting\src\FSharp.MetadataFormat\Main.fs:line 790
   at FSharp.MetadataFormat.Reader.readType(ReadingContext ctx, FSharpEntity typ) in C:\Tomas\Public\tpetricek\FSharp.Formatting\src\FSharp.MetadataFormat\Main.fs:line 885
   at FSharp.MetadataFormat.Reader.readModulesAndTypes@878-2.Invoke(ReadingContext ctx, FSharpEntity typ) in C:\Tomas\Public\tpetricek\FSharp.Formatting\src\FSharp.MetadataFormat\Main.fs:line 878
   at Microsoft.FSharp.Collections.IEnumerator.choose@202.System-Collections-IEnumerator-MoveNext()
   at Microsoft.FSharp.Collections.SeqModule.ToList[T](IEnumerable`1 source)
   at FSharp.MetadataFormat.Reader.readModulesAndTypes(ReadingContext ctx, IEnumerable`1 entities) in C:\Tomas\Public\tpetricek\FSharp.Formatting\src\FSharp.MetadataFormat\Main.fs:line 879
   at FSharp.MetadataFormat.Reader.readNamespace(ReadingContext ctx, String ns, IEnumerable`1 entities) in C:\Tomas\Public\tpetricek\FSharp.Formatting\src\FSharp.MetadataFormat\Main.fs:line 957
   at FSharp.MetadataFormat.Reader.readAssembly@997-1.Invoke(Tuple`2 tupledArg) in C:\Tomas\Public\tpetricek\FSharp.Formatting\src\FSharp.MetadataFormat\Main.fs:line 997
   at Microsoft.FSharp.Collections.IEnumerator.map@111.DoMoveNext(b& )
   at Microsoft.FSharp.Collections.IEnumerator.MapEnumerator`1.System-Collections-IEnumerator-MoveNext()
   at Microsoft.FSharp.Collections.SeqModule.ToList[T](IEnumerable`1 source)
   at FSharp.MetadataFormat.Reader.readAssembly(FSharpAssembly assembly, Boolean publicOnly, String xmlFile, FSharpOption`1 sourceFolderRepo, FSharpFunc`2 urlRangeHighlight, Boolean markDownComments, IUrlHolder urlMap, String codeFormatCompilerArgs) in C:\Tomas\Public\tpetricek\FSharp.Formatting\src\FSharp.MetadataFormat\Main.fs:line 1000
   at <StartupCode$FSharp-MetadataFormat>.$Main.assemblies@1118-2.Invoke(Tuple`2 _arg2) in C:\Tomas\Public\tpetricek\FSharp.Formatting\src\FSharp.MetadataFormat\Main.fs:line 1123
   at Microsoft.FSharp.Collections.ListModule.chooseAllAcc[a,b](FSharpFunc`2 f, FSharpList`1 xs, FSharpList`1 acc)
   at FSharp.MetadataFormat.MetadataFormat.Generate(FSharpList`1 dllFiles, String outDir, FSharpList`1 layoutRoots, FSharpOption`1 parameters, FSharpOption`1 namespaceTemplate, FSharpOption`1 moduleTemplate, FSharpOption`1 typeTemplate, FSharpOption`1 xmlFile, FSharpOption`1 sourceRepo, FSharpOption`1 sourceFolder, FSharpOption`1 publicOnly, FSharpOption`1 libDirs, FSharpOption`1 otherFlags, FSharpOption`1 markDownComments, FSharpOption`1 urlRangeHighlight, FSharpOption`1 assemblyReferences) in C:\Tomas\Public\tpetricek\FSharp.Formatting\src\FSharp.MetadataFormat\Main.fs:line 1118
   at <StartupCode$FSI_0003>.$FSI_0003.main@() in C:\My\repo\TestPclScaffold\docs\tools\generate.fsx:line 140
Stopped due to error
Running build failed.
Error:
System.Exception: generating reference documentation failed
   at FSI_0001.Build.clo@185-19.Invoke(Unit _arg11)
   at Fake.TargetHelper.runSingleTarget(TargetTemplate`1 target) in C:\code\fake\src\app\FakeLib\TargetHelper.fs:line 483

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Build Time Report
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Target         Duration
------         --------
Clean          00:00:00.0067298
AssemblyInfo   00:00:00.0190892
Build          00:00:01.5366830
CopyBinaries   00:00:00.0193597
RunTests       00:00:01.2451498
CleanDocs      00:00:00.0105662
GenerateHelp   00:00:05.8688994
Total:         00:00:13.2202441
Status:        Failure
---------------------------------------------------------------------
  1) System.Exception: generating reference documentation failed
   at FSI_0001.Build.clo@185-19.Invoke(Unit _arg11)
   at Fake.TargetHelper.runSingleTarget(TargetTemplate`1 target) in C:\code\fake\src\app\FakeLib\TargetHelper.fs:line 483
---------------------------------------------------------------------

C:\My\repo\TestPclScaffold>

[ReedCopsey]

I'm hitting this same issue in my libraries - types completely "self contained" work fine, but if a type uses or exposes anything out of the framework, you get these errors.

[matthid]

Current workaround is to build the library again against net45 and use the result for FSharp.Formatting as we currently have not found a good way to detect the required Framework.

[ReedCopsey]

@matthid Is there a way to have the engine add a reference? I think if you were to add the reference to the PCL proxy libs, it'd probably fix it (that's frequently required for testing and other projects), as the types would then exist there.

[matthid]

Yes but we need to detect the framework of the given dlls to add the correct framework references. We obviously cannot just Assembly.Load the dll as it might be imcompatible with what we are running. And I want to avoid an additional reference like Mono.Ceceil for various reasons. Besides that FCS should be able to provide the information, as it already contains an IL-Reader (however I couldn't find a way jet).

We cannot just add the PCL proxy libs additionally to the regular framework assemblies as that doesn't work (Edit: I think I actually tried that already :( ).

[dsyme]

Closing this old issue (spring cleaning)