Bug: RepoDb.SqlServer v1.1.5 breaks System.Data.SqlClient support

Bug Description

After updating the RepoDb.SqlServer package reference from v1.1.4 (which worked fine) to v1.1.5, I get errors about “no database helper mapping found”, as if the bootstrapper has not been run. No code was changed, only the package reference.

Exception Message:

There is no database helper mapping found for 'System.Data.SqlClient.SqlConnection'. Make sure to install the correct extension library and call the bootstrapper method. You can also visit the library’s installation page (https://repodb.net/tutorial/installation).

Solution

I checked RepoDb.SqlServerBootstrap at the time of the exception, and IsInitialized is true, so this is not a case of the initializer not running. Just in case, I tried, and adding an explicit call to RepoDb.SqlServerBootstrap.Initialize(), but that did not change anything.

On a hunch, I changed package dependencies from System.Data.SqlClient to Microsoft.Data.SqlClient and return a Microsoft.Data.SqlClient.SqlConnection. With that the errors are gone.

A little digging in the recent changes to RepoDB brings up these:

• https://github.com/mikependon/RepoDb/issues/857
• https://github.com/mikependon/RepoDB/pull/931

The issue mentions:

We are afraid that we might affect some of the users if we are to remove this without the proper acceptance from the community.

Suggestion

I don’t mind support for System.Data.SqlClient being dropped. However it is strange that this is done without a clear mention in the release notes, and without a major version change. That leads me to believe this might be an unintended side-effect.

When this breaking change is on purpose, please bump the major package version, and put a clear message in the the changelog.

Library Version:

Example: RepoDb v1.12.10 and RepoDb.SqlServer v1.1.5

[mikependon]

Just to give you more insights, this has been Tweeted AFAIK and we even placed a special section into our main README page.

[mikependon]

FYI: We have updated our installation page as per this request.