FileNotFoundException for Microsoft.SqlServer.Types 10.0.0.0 when trying to use SQL Server geography data

[nyctef]

Hopefully this is the right place to post this-

We've been hitting an issue using System.Data.SqlClient through a netstandard2.0 project where Microsoft.SqlServer.Types 10.0.0.0 will fail to load when trying to fetch geography data from SQL Server. I think we can work around this problem by getting the dll from nuget, but since the nuget package only has a net40 version, this means the project we're installing the nuget package into can't be netstandard2.0 any more.

I've created an example repo here: https://github.com/nyctef/geography-repro to try and demonstrate the problem - it should crash on machines were Microsoft.SqlServer.Types 10.0.0.0 isn't in the GAC already.

[stakx]

IMHO, Microsoft.SqlServer.Types has always been a bit problematic. Even the .NET Framework BCL contains a hidden reference to this external assembly (in System.Data.Entity), which may or may not actually be available at runtime.

That has always felt like a hack to me. It appears to me that Microsoft couldn't quite figure out how to have an OGC-compliant DbSpatialServices for SqlClient in the FCL without actually making the Microsoft.SqlServer.Types assemblies part of the FCL. (This would bring an additional product-specific native DLL into the framework since the OGC methods have been implemented in C++, probably for performance reasons.) I guess the only way to really solve this would be to add SqlGeometry and SqlGeography to System.Data.SqlTypes, including the OGC method implementations tied to them.

Since that probably won't happen anytime soon (just my guess), I could imagine that you'll have to resort in your .NET Standard project to a strategy similar to what System.Data.Entity does; that is, try to load the Microsoft.SqlServer.Types at runtime using reflection. I have no idea how you would cleanly model (using the type system) that run-time dependency.

[terrajobst]

Transferring to dotnet/runtime as this seems to be an issue with the System.Data.SqlClient NuGet package, not .NET Standard.

[ghost]

Tagging subscribers to this area: @cheenamalhotra, @David-Engel
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Issue Details

---

Hopefully this is the right place to post this-

We've been hitting an issue using System.Data.SqlClient through a netstandard2.0 project where Microsoft.SqlServer.Types 10.0.0.0 will fail to load when trying to fetch geography data from SQL Server. I think we can work around this problem by getting the dll from nuget, but since the nuget package only has a net40 version, this means the project we're installing the nuget package into can't be netstandard2.0 any more.

I've created an example repo here: https://github.com/nyctef/geography-repro to try and demonstrate the problem - it should crash on machines were Microsoft.SqlServer.Types 10.0.0.0 isn't in the GAC already.

Author:	nyctef
Assignees:	-
Labels:	area-System.Data.SqlClient
Milestone:	Future

[David-Engel]

System.Data.SqlClient is unlikely to ever see support for that Microsoft.SqlServer.Types package. System.Data.SqlClient is in strict maintenance mode and not receiving anything other than critical security and bug fixes. Migrate to Microsoft.Data.SqlClient for the latest features and support.

We have an issue in the SqlClient repo to track the status of spatial support: dotnet/SqlClient#30

Regards,
David