InvalidOperationException: Sequence contains no elements about format HOT 12 CLOSED

This means that the environment in which dotnet format is running in is configured such that it can't find where MSBuild is located. How did you install dotnet format on the machine?

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@nnpcYvIVl Has you issue been resolved or can you share any more details about your installation and how you are running dotnet-format? Thanks!

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@jmarolf @JoeRobich Sorry for the delay.

MSBuild was installed with Build Tools for Visual Studio 2017 and works without issue.

I installed dotnet-format with this command

dotnet tool install -g dotnet-format

Then I copied the "%userprofile%.dotnet\tools" folder to "%ProgramFiles(x86)%\dotnet-format".

From the command line I ran a batch file containing this command

"C:\Program Files (x86)\dotnet-format\dotnet-format.exe" --dry-run --workspace "C:\Users\User\ClassLibrary1\ClassLibrary1.sln" 1> "C:\Users\User\output.txt" 2>&1

It worked as expected and this was the output

Formatting code files in workspace 'C:\Users\User\ClassLibrary1\ClassLibrary1.sln'.
Formatting code files in project 'ClassLibrary1'.
Formatted code file 'Class1.cs'.
Format complete.

When I create a scheduled task using the same credentials and pointing to the same batch file I get the failure with the stacktrace posted above.

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@nnpcYvIVl dotnet-format uses the MSBuild from the .NET Core SDK. Does the user that the scheduled task runs as have .NET Core installed?

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@JoeRobich Thanks for the clarification on the MSBuild version.

.NET Core is installed for that user, here is the output of a couple of commands:

dotnet --info

.NET Core SDK (reflecting any global.json):
 Version:   2.2.203
 Commit:    e5bab63eca

Runtime Environment:
 OS Name:     Windows
 OS Version:  6.3.9600
 OS Platform: Windows
 RID:         win81-x64
 Base Path:   C:\Program Files\dotnet\sdk\2.2.203\

Host (useful for support):
  Version: 2.2.4
  Commit:  f95848e524

.NET Core SDKs installed:
  2.2.203 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\sdk]

.NET Core runtimes installed:
  Microsoft.AspNetCore.All 2.2.4 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.AspNetCore.All]
  Microsoft.AspNetCore.App 2.2.4 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.AspNetCore.App]
  Microsoft.NETCore.App 2.2.4 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.NETCore.App]

To install additional .NET Core runtimes or SDKs:
  https://aka.ms/dotnet-download

dotnet tool list -g

Package Id         Version      Commands     
---------------------------------------------
dotnet-format      3.0.4        dotnet-format

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@nnpcYvIVl Instead of moving dotnet-format out of the .dotnet/tools folder. Can you instead install dotnet-format as the user that the scheduled task runs as. I am not sure manually relocating dotnet global tools is supported.

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Not directly related, but I received the same error when trying to run from a make file under msys2 (or cygwin). Here was my solution that I still want to try to improve. Basically I needed two additional paths in my search path: the install path %USERPROFILE%\.dotnet\tools (see) and C:\Program Files\dotnet

DOTNET_TOOLS = $(shell cygpath $(USERPROFILE)/.dotnet/tools)

format-check:
       PATH=$(PATH):/c/Program\ Files/dotnet:$(DOTNET_TOOLS) dotnet-format --check -v diagnostic -w $(SOLUTION)

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If we want running from a non-sdk environment to work, I would recommend allowing users to specify an explicit path to msbuild.

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dotnet-format is a dotnet tool designed to be installed and run by the dotnet CLI. We won't support other installation method at this time. dotnet CLI local tools are a newer concept that may work well for this scenario.

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I ran into this issue as well, probably due to another installation method. The dotnet core SDK was missing, and the error message InvalidOperationException: Sequence contains no elements does not really give any clue of the real error.

Can this error message be improved to say something along the lines:
Could not find MSBuild, make sure .NET Core SDK is installed

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@Loffe Thanks for the suggestion. It'll be in the next release.

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