.NET Core how to test with net461 and xunit - asp.net-core

Question

dotnet new xunit ->
dotnet restore ->
dotnet test
Total tests: 1. Passed: 1. Failed: 0. Skipped: 0.
Test Run Successful.
Test execution time: 1,7148 Seconds.
.csproj; change target framework to net461:
<PropertyGroup>
<TargetFramework>net461</TargetFramework>
</PropertyGroup>
<ItemGroup>
<PackageReference Include="Microsoft.NET.Test.Sdk" Version="15.0.0" />
<PackageReference Include="xunit" Version="2.2.0" />
<PackageReference Include="xunit.runner.visualstudio" Version="2.2.0" />
</ItemGroup>
</Project>
then
dotnet restore ->
dotnet test
Starting test execution, please wait...
No test is available in C:\Projects\testing\bin\Debug\net461\testing.dll. Make sure that installed test discoverers & executors, platform & framework version sett
ings are appropriate and try again.
How am I supposed to test net461-projects with xunit?
I already have a big project I've upgraded from .NET Core 1.0, and testing worked fine before the upgrade, so changing test framework would require some work.
Update
As it turns out, this is probably not related to xunit and testing - ASP.NET Core projects targeting net461 won't run at all on my machine anymore, neither through VS or from cmd.
The project I am trying to run is an new empty web project from the VS template. The csproj looks like this:
<Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk.Web">
<PropertyGroup>
<TargetFramework>net461</TargetFramework>
<RuntimeIdentifier>win7-x86</RuntimeIdentifier>
</PropertyGroup>
<ItemGroup>
<Folder Include="wwwroot\" />
</ItemGroup>
<ItemGroup>
<PackageReference Include="Microsoft.ApplicationInsights.AspNetCore" Version="2.0.0" />
<PackageReference Include="Microsoft.AspNetCore" Version="1.1.1" />
</ItemGroup>
</Project>
The error I get is this:
dotnet run
Unhandled Exception: System.IO.FileNotFoundException: Could not load file or assembly 'Microsoft.AspNetCore.Hosting, Version=1.1.1.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyTo
ken=adb9793829ddae60' or one of its dependencies. The system cannot find the file specified.
at WebApplication2.Program.Main(String[] args)
I have tried removing all traces of Visual Studio and .NET Core from my machine and reinstalling them, but the error is the same.

Answer 1

There is an issue with runtime identifier inference and how the test sdk works.
Try adding this to your <PropertyGroup> (assuming you're on a 64 bit windows):
<RuntimeIdentifier>win7-x64</RuntimeIdentifier>
you could also add
<OutputType>Exe</OutputType>
which would turn your class library project into an exe but this should work around the issue.

Answer 2

Yeah, I've experienced the same issue. Not sure if Microsoft already has a fix available, but it seems that some packages of ASP.NET Core 1.1.x are targeting NetStandard Library 1.6.1, which is not compatible with .NET Framework... See the matrix on MS website here: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/articles/standard/library#net-platforms-support
We've decided to stick to ASP.NET Core 1.0.x for now.