0

Since a couple of weeks I suddenly have issues with the SpecFlow extension in Visual Studio 2019 (professional edition). Out of the blue it stopped working. First I thought because of an update of VS, but other colleagues of mine are using the same (latest) version of VS and for them SpecFlow works.

The problems I'm experiencing are:

  • No settings menu for SpecFlow (Tools - Options - SpecFlow)
  • A NullReferenceException when opening a feature file (see end of post for entry of activity log)
  • When feature file is opened no syntax highlighting
  • No context menu

The test explorer is still discovering the tests and I can still run them, but not from the feature file (neither debugging the steps).

The extension is installed and enabled correctly (as far as I can tell). Already tried the following without success:

  • Uninstall and install the SpecFlow for Visual Studio 2019 extension
  • Uninstall SpecFlow and install Deveroom
  • Uninstall Visual Studio 2019 and install again

Any of you have any idea on what might be causing this?

Activity log entry

<entry> <record>806</record> <time>2021/02/09 09:25:56.786</time> <type>Error</type> <source>Editor or Editor Extension</source> <description>System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.&#x000D;&#x000A; at TechTalk.SpecFlow.VsIntegration.LanguageService.ProjectScopeFactory.&lt;.ctor&gt;b__9_0() in D:\a\1\s\TechTalk.SpecFlow.VSIXShared\LanguageService\ProjectScopeFactory.cs:line 52&#x000D;&#x000A; at TechTalk.SpecFlow.VsIntegration.Implementation.Utils.SynchInitializedInstance`1.EnsureInitialized()&#x000D;&#x000A; at TechTalk.SpecFlow.VsIntegration.LanguageService.ProjectScopeFactory.&lt;.ctor&gt;b__9_2(Project project) in D:\a\1\s\TechTalk.SpecFlow.VSIXShared\LanguageService\ProjectScopeFactory.cs:line 64&#x000D;&#x000A; at TechTalk.SpecFlow.VsIntegration.Implementation.Utils.SynchronizedResultCache`3.GetOrCreate(TSource source)&#x000D;&#x000A; at TechTalk.SpecFlow.VsIntegration.LanguageService.ProjectScopeFactory.GetProjectScope(Project project) in D:\a\1\s\TechTalk.SpecFlow.VSIXShared\LanguageService\ProjectScopeFactory.cs:line 76&#x000D;&#x000A; at TechTalk.SpecFlow.VsIntegration.LanguageService.GherkinLanguageServiceFactory.CreateLanguageService(ITextBuffer textBuffer) in D:\a\1\s\TechTalk.SpecFlow.VSIXShared\LanguageService\GherkinLanguageServiceFactory.cs:line 51&#x000D;&#x000A; at TechTalk.SpecFlow.VsIntegration.LanguageService.GherkinLanguageServiceFactory.&lt;&gt;c__DisplayClass7_0.&lt;GetLanguageService&gt;b__0() in D:\a\1\s\TechTalk.SpecFlow.VSIXShared\LanguageService\GherkinLanguageServiceFactory.cs:line 43&#x000D;&#x000A; at TechTalk.SpecFlow.VsIntegration.LanguageService.GherkinBufferServiceManager.&lt;&gt;c__DisplayClass3_0`1.&lt;GetOrCreate&gt;b__0() in D:\a\1\s\TechTalk.SpecFlow.VSIXShared\LanguageService\GherkinBufferServiceManager.cs:line 32&#x000D;&#x000A; at Microsoft.VisualStudio.Utilities.PropertyCollection.GetOrCreateSingletonProperty[T](Object key, Func`1 creator)&#x000D;&#x000A; at TechTalk.SpecFlow.VsIntegration.LanguageService.GherkinBufferServiceManager.GetOrCreate[TService](ITextBuffer textBuffer, Func`1 creator) in D:\a\1\s\TechTalk.SpecFlow.VSIXShared\LanguageService\GherkinBufferServiceManager.cs:line 29&#x000D;&#x000A; at TechTalk.SpecFlow.VsIntegration.LanguageService.GherkinLanguageServiceFactory.GetLanguageService(ITextBuffer textBuffer) in D:\a\1\s\TechTalk.SpecFlow.VSIXShared\LanguageService\GherkinLanguageServiceFactory.cs:line 43&#x000D;&#x000A; at TechTalk.SpecFlow.VsIntegration.GherkinFileEditor.GherkinFileClassifierProvider.&lt;&gt;c__DisplayClass3_0.&lt;GetClassifier&gt;b__0() in D:\a\1\s\TechTalk.SpecFlow.VSIXShared\GherkinFileEditor\GherkinFileClassifierProvider.cs:line 31&#x000D;&#x000A; at TechTalk.SpecFlow.VsIntegration.LanguageService.GherkinBufferServiceManager.&lt;&gt;c__DisplayClass3_0`1.&lt;GetOrCreate&gt;b__0() in D:\a\1\s\TechTalk.SpecFlow.VSIXShared\LanguageService\GherkinBufferServiceManager.cs:line 32&#x000D;&#x000A; at Microsoft.VisualStudio.Utilities.PropertyCollection.GetOrCreateSingletonProperty[T](Object key, Func`1 creator)&#x000D;&#x000A; at TechTalk.SpecFlow.VsIntegration.LanguageService.GherkinBufferServiceManager.GetOrCreate[TService](ITextBuffer textBuffer, Func`1 creator) in D:\a\1\s\TechTalk.SpecFlow.VSIXShared\LanguageService\GherkinBufferServiceManager.cs:line 29&#x000D;&#x000A; at TechTalk.SpecFlow.VsIntegration.GherkinFileEditor.GherkinFileClassifierProvider.GetClassifier(ITextBuffer buffer) in D:\a\1\s\TechTalk.SpecFlow.VSIXShared\GherkinFileEditor\GherkinFileClassifierProvider.cs:line 30&#x000D;&#x000A; at Microsoft.VisualStudio.Text.Classification.Implementation.ClassifierTaggerProvider.&lt;&gt;c__DisplayClass12_0`1.&lt;CreateTagger&gt;b__0(IClassifierProvider provider)&#x000D;&#x000A; at Microsoft.VisualStudio.Text.Utilities.GuardedOperations.InvokeEligibleFactories[TExtensionInstance,TExtensionFactory,TMetadataView](IEnumerable`1 lazyFactories, Func`2 getter, IContentType dataContentType, IContentTypeRegistryService contentTypeRegistryService, Object errorSource)&#x000D;&#x000A;--- End of stack trace from previous location where exception was thrown ---&#x000D;&#x000A; at Microsoft.VisualStudio.Telemetry.WindowsErrorReporting.WatsonReport.GetClrWatsonExceptionInfo(Exception exceptionObject) </description> </entry>

Edited: After running a repair of VS I could see the menu option for the 'Clear MEF Component Cache' extension. Unfortunately using this got me no further with the SpecFlow extension (still the same issues).

Improve this question
2
  • I half wonder if deleting stuff in C:/Users/%USERNAME%/AppData/*/Microsoft/Visual Studio/{Version}/ComponentModelCache/ would do the trick as well. Commented Feb 16, 2021 at 13:43
  • Neither deleting the stuff in this folder nor installing the MEF cache cleaner worked. Commented Feb 17, 2021 at 13:17

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
0

This looks like the MEF cache of Visual Studio has a problem.
An easy way to clean it is the Clear MEF Component Cache extension from Mads Kristensen. It can be found on the marketplace here: https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=MadsKristensen.ClearMEFComponentCache

Install it and after a restart of VS, execute the command in the menu:

enter image description here

After that, restart VS again and the SpecFlow VS Extension should work again.

Improve this answer
Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

4 Comments

Thanks for the response, but after installing this extension I do not get this additional menu entry. Also deleting all files in the ComponentModelCache folder (as suggested by Greg) doesn't work.
@EddieTerlouw: Silly question, but after installing the extension, did you close all visual studio windows and reopen visual studio? Did you have the solution loaded?
@Greg: Yes I closed all VS instances, as that's when an extension gets installed. After starting VS again no menu entry was added to clear the MEF component cache.
After running the repair from VS installer I could see the menu for the MEF cleaner, but after using that I still do not have anything from SpecFlow even though the extension is installed and enabled.
0

Due to different issues I received a complete new image on my laptop from the IT department. Due to this the issues with SpecFlow are also resolved. I still don't know exactly what has caused this, but my guess would go to a slightly corrupted registry or something similar.

Anyway no need to answer this anymore.

Improve this answer

Comments

Start asking to get answers

Find the answer to your question by asking.

Ask question

Explore related questions

See similar questions with these tags.