Latest Visual Studio 2022 update v17.5.1 breaks docfx

[ghost]

Describe the bug
The latest Visual Studio update to v17.5.1 bumps the .NET SDK to version 7.0.201 and this appears to have caused dependency issues when running the docfx docfx_project/docfx.json --serve command.

I recieve the following failures against multiple .csproj files

[Failure] Msbuild failed when processing the file 'C:\SourceCode\Manatee\Version2\Caboodal.Manatee.Logic.Widget\Caboodal.Manatee.Logic.Widget.csproj' with message: C:\Program Files\dotnet\sdk\7.0.201\Sdks\Microsoft.NET.Sdk\targets\Microsoft.NET.Sdk.FrameworkReferenceResolution.targets: (90, 5): The "ProcessFrameworkReferences" task failed unexpectedly.
System.IO.FileLoadException: Could not load file or assembly 'NuGet.Frameworks, Version=6.5.0.136, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35'. Could not find or load a specific file. (0x80131621)

I subsequently receive lots of build errors for example

C:\SourceCode\Manatee\Version2\Caboodal.Manatee.DataTransferObjects\Authentication\DtoLoginResult.cs(1,7): error CS0246: The type or namespace name 'Newtonsoft' could not be found (are you missing a using directive or an assembly reference?)
C:\SourceCode\Manatee\Version2\Caboodal.Manatee.DataTransferObjects\Authentication\DtoPasswordReset.cs(1,7): error CS0246: The type or namespace name 'System' could not be found (are you missing a using directive or an assembly reference?)
C:\SourceCode\Manatee\Version2\Caboodal.Manatee.DataTransferObjects\Authentication\DtoPasswordReset.cs(2,7): error CS0246: The type or namespace name 'Newtonsoft' could not be found (are you missing a using directive or an assembly reference?)
C:\SourceCode\Manatee\Version2\Caboodal.Manatee.DataTransferObjects\Checklists\DtoActivityHistory.cs(1,7): error CS0246: The type or namespace name 'System' could not be found (are you missing a using directive or an assembly reference?)
C:\SourceCode\Manatee\Version2\Caboodal.Manatee.DataTransferObjects\Checklists\DtoActivityHistory.cs(2,7): error CS0246: The type or namespace name 'Newtonsoft' could not be found (are you missing a using directive or an assembly reference?)

To Reproduce
Update Visual Studio 2022 to v17.5.1 and run a docfx project that targets .NET6.0 class library project.

Context (please complete the following information):

• OS: Windows 11 Professional
• Docfx version: v.2.62.1

[ghost]

After spending a couple of days looking at this with the a copy of the repo I have also noticed that the static class DotnetApiCatalog has a constructor that calls...

MSBuildLocator.RegisterDefaults()

This throws the following error:

System.TypeInitializationException: The type initializer for 'Microsoft.DocAsCode.Dotnet.DotnetApiCatalog' threw an exception.
 ---> System.InvalidOperationException: No instances of MSBuild could be detected.
Try calling RegisterInstance or RegisterMSBuildPath to manually register one.
   at Microsoft.Build.Locator.MSBuildLocator.RegisterDefaults()

I thought this odd so I created a .NET Framework 4.8 console app that calls this method and it works however, I created .NET 6.0 console app and I get the same error message as above.

I have subsequently found this issue #197 on the Microsoft.Build.Locator repo.

Whether there is any link I don't know, and why the error message is different I'm also unsure but I thought I would mention it.

[yufeih]

What did you get from dotnet --list-sdks command? Microsoft.Build.Locator in a .NET Core app requires .NET Core SDK installed on the system.

[ghost]

λ dotnet --list-sdks
7.0.201 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\sdk]

[ghost]

My colleague had his development environment still configured to SDK 7.0.103 and his worked we then upgraded his dev environment to SDK 7.0.201 and his also failed with the same error.

[mawosoft]

The problem most likely is that the docfx package already comes with NuGet.*/6.4.0 assemblies included. That version matches the NuGet.* assemblies included in the dotnet SDK prior to 7.0.200. From there on, the SDK uses NuGet.*/6.5.0, which the msbuild tasks then cannot load into the docfx process.

At least that would be my guess.

[ghost]

Thank you @yufeih everything is now working!