dotnet-ef: Consider showing output that the project is building

[nphmuller]

My project takes a while to build. When running dotnet ef commands like dotnet ef migrations add MyMigration the project often gets build first. At the stage when the project starts building dotnet ef has not written any output to the console yet, and it will not write anything to the console until the build has finished. I know that I can see the build output via -v or --verbose, but it would be more clear to me if the non-verbose version output a single line of text like Project is building.... It would make the dotnet ef tool feel more responsive, at least for me.

So please consider showing output indicating that the project is building.

Further technical details

dotnet ef --version output:

Entity Framework Core .NET Command-line Tools
2.2.4-servicing-10062

[bricelam]

I have an old branch with this change I've been meaning to get back to...

[nphmuller]

Looks perfect! :)

[bricelam]

#12049 is also about making sure we’re not doing anything that slows it down.

[ajcvickers]

For anyone choosing to implement this, please see @bricelam's branch above for a starting point.

[skalpin]

@bricelam, I am considering working on this issue. How can I test the output of dotnet ef?

[bricelam]

@skalpin Type dotnet ef

Just kidding. I do this:

cd C:\Path\To\EntityFrameworkCore
restore
.dotnet\dotnet run -p src\dotnet-ef -- dbcontext list -p C:\Path\To\DummyProject --verbose

[skalpin]

cd C:\Path\To\EntityFrameworkCore
restore
.dotnet\dotnet run -p src\dotnet-ef -- dbcontext list -p C:\Path\To\DummyProject --verbose

I am getting
The application to execute does not exist: 'C:\dev\EntityFrameworkCore\artifacts\bin\dotnet-ef\Debug\netcoreapp5.0\tools\netcoreapp2.0\any\ef.dll'

I checked and this directory C:\dev\EntityFrameworkCore\artifacts\bin\dotnet-ef\Debug\netcoreapp5.0\ doesn't have a tools folder.

Do I need to build a specific project?

[bricelam]

That's expected--you need to run from the global tool package to make it work end to end.

But, if you get that error, all the dotnet-ef logic has executed.

[skalpin]

I rebased your branch onto release/3.0-preview9 here.

What needs to change to complete it?
Why use args.Add("/verbosity:detailed"); instead of args.Add("/verbosity:quiet"); ?

[bricelam]

That change (detailed) was to debug the build perf. You can revert it

[skalpin]

I tried to capture the output in a unit test

[Fact]
        public void Build_started_note()
        {
            using (var sw = new StringWriter())
            {
                var eol = Environment.NewLine;
                Console.SetOut(sw);
                Reporter.IsVerbose = true;
                var project = new Project(@"DummyProject\DummyProject.csproj", null, null, null);
                project.Build();
                var output = sw.ToString();
                Assert.True(output.Contains("Build started"));
                Assert.True(output.Contains("Build succeeded."));
            }
        }

but I'll need a dummy project.
Is there another way to unit test the output of Project.Build()?
Should I make the PR without a unit test?

[bricelam]

No need for a unit test—they get too flakey. Just verify manually.