XML comments file could not be found - Swagger

Question

This is certainly one of those that drives you nuts. As the title indicates all I'm simply trying to do is display comments pulled from an xml file using swagger.

I appear to have taken all steps according to the swagger documentation but to no avail. Hopefully you kind folk can point me in the right direction.

Steps Taken:

Ensured file exists:

Configured SwaggerConfig.cs

I've tried changing the path too: @"bin/....xml"

Nothing seems to work.

**The Error "Could not find file": **

Can anyone point me in the right direction please?

Regards,

Is it working without the file ? try changing name – Amanullah Tariq Jun 23 '16 at 13:35 — Amanullah Tariq, Jun 23 '16 at 13:35

score 84 · Answer 1 · answered Oct 16 '19 at 07:13

84

in .net core 3.0

<GenerateDocumentationFile>true</GenerateDocumentationFile>

in PropertyGroup tag of .csproj file

answered Oct 16 '19 at 07:13

mosess

1,043
8
8

how to remove the file again - if it is only for test purpose? – nelion Jun 25 '20 at 20:21
1

Still valid in .NET 7.0. – Gerard Jaryczewski Nov 25 '22 at 12:31

score 49 · Answer 2 · edited Jan 13 '21 at 17:35

These are the steps I needed in .Net Core 2.2:

Put this in Startup.cs:

    public void ConfigureServices(IServiceCollection services)
    {

        ...

        // Register the Swagger generator, defining 1 or more Swagger documents
        services.AddSwaggerGen(c =>
            {
                ...

                var xmlFile = $"{Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().GetName().Name}.xml";
                var xmlPath = Path.Combine(AppContext.BaseDirectory, xmlFile);
                c.IncludeXmlComments(xmlPath);
            });
    }

Edit your .csproj file and add / change these nodes:

  <PropertyGroup>
    ...
    <!-- 
    Make sure documentation XML is also included when publishing (not only when testing)
    see https://github.com/Azure/service-fabric-issues/issues/190
    -->
    <GenerateDocumentationFile>true</GenerateDocumentationFile>
  </PropertyGroup>

  <PropertyGroup Condition="'$(Configuration)|$(Platform)'=='Debug|AnyCPU'">
    ...
    <DocumentationFile>bin\$(Configuration)\$(AssemblyName).xml</DocumentationFile>
  </PropertyGroup>

Using .Net 3.1 and Swashbuckle 5.6.2...all I needed were the property group changes — Chris Catignani, Feb 11 '21 at 03:33

score 26 · Answer 3 · answered Jun 12 '20 at 15:28

As indicated by the exception, the application looks for the XML in the base directory of the project, not in the "bin" folder.

Why does the app search in the base directory? Look at these lines:

var baseDirectory = AppDomain.CurrentDomain.BaseDirectory;
var commentsFileName = Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().GetName().Name + ".XML";//"G2F.Collective.Api.XML"
var commentsFile = Path.Combine(baseDirectory, commentsFileName);

The name of the comment file is configured with the combination of the base directory and the xml with the name of the project

c.IncludeXmlComments(commentsFile);

Finally, this instruction tells Swagger which file to use to take the comments, it is the real reason why it looks for that file in that directory.

So what is indicated in this last instruction must be according to what is configured in the Build tab of the project configuration.

This is the perfect answer. I often want to avoid editing the .csproj manually and this explains how it works. — Shinigamae, Jun 30 '21 at 05:17

score 8 · Answer 4 · answered Sep 20 '17 at 00:45

8

Make sure that the project properties in the XML Generate configuration match the XML name of your swagger configuration file. Follow print's to facilitate understanding

Project Properties

swagger configuration

answered Sep 20 '17 at 00:45

Bruno Jesus Santos

79
2
5

Wow, thank you for this, the project properties change making sure my builds output an XML documentation file was the fix for me. – IsolatedThinker Jan 04 '23 at 19:36

Tez Wingfield · Accepted Answer · 2016-06-24T11:08:47.797

Ok, So I managed to get it to work by pointing to the root directory.

I still have no idea why it cannot detect the xml file in the bin directory. Again this worked by adding an xml file within the root.

Code Changes:

var baseDirectory = AppDomain.CurrentDomain.BaseDirectory;
                        //var commentsFileName = Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().GetName().Name + ".XML";
                        var commentsFileName = "Comments" + ".XML";
                        var commentsFile = Path.Combine(baseDirectory, commentsFileName);

                        c.IncludeXmlComments(commentsFile);

Kasun Asela · Answer 6 · 2021-05-01T07:38:06.297

5

I found below solution from Microsoft Document site. Right-click the project in Solution Explorer and select Edit <project_name>.csproj. Manually add the highlighted lines to the .csproj file:

<PropertyGroup>
    <GenerateDocumentationFile>true</GenerateDocumentationFile>
    <NoWarn>$(NoWarn);1591</NoWarn>
</PropertyGroup>

edited May 01 '21 at 07:38

answered May 01 '21 at 07:28

Kasun Asela

53
1
4

score 3 · Answer 7 · answered Sep 11 '18 at 11:46

Using .Net Core 2, here's the lines I needed:

var pathIncludeXmlComments = $@"{env.ContentRootPath}\Events.xml";

services.AddSwaggerGen(c =>
{
    c.SwaggerDoc("v1", new Info { Title = "Events API", Version = "v0.1" });
    c.OperationFilter<AuthorizationHeaderParameterOperationFilter>();
    c.IncludeXmlComments(pathIncludeXmlComments);
});

If you're having problems, put a breakpoint after that first line, check the value of "pathIncludeXmlComments", and confirm that VS2017 has stored an .xml file there.

And remember that under Project Properties, in the "Build" tab, you need to tick the "XML documentation file" box, and set the name to the same as shown in the filename above (Events.xml, in this example).

score 2 · Answer 8 · answered Apr 13 '23 at 12:03

You will get this file by enabling option under project properties. Just right click on project->properties->Build->Output-> select 'Generate a file containing API documentation'. Refer the option on below given screenshot. This option is available for all .net core versions. Hope this would help someone.

var xmlFile = $"{Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().GetName().Name}.xml";
var xmlPath = Path.Combine(AppContext.BaseDirectory, xmlFile);
c.IncludeXmlComments(xmlPath);

score 1 · Answer 9 · answered May 29 '20 at 04:17

I just wanted to put an answer to this question to further explain why those codes didn't work for Tez (and didn't work for me either).

The code in question is:

var xmlFile = $"{Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().GetName().Name}.xml";
var xmlPath = Path.Combine(AppContext.BaseDirectory, xmlFile);

For this to work, your swagger documentation configuration must be written in the "startup.cs" or in a .cs file within the same project as the controller.

Also, you must ensure that your XML file is being generated. So, right-click on your project, go to properties, go to build, scroll down to the "output" section, and check the "XML documentation file" option. (These steps are for Visual Studio 2019).

XML files are usually named "your-project-name".xml by default.

$"{Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().GetName().Name}.xml"

Thus, this line of code ensures that the name of the xml file in your swagger configuration will be: "your-project-name".xml, where your controller documentation sits.

In my case, I had my swagger configuration in an extension method in class library, so that line of code produced the xml file name: "class-library-project-name".xml, when it should have been "controller-resident-project-name".xml.

The solution, like Tez suggested, is to manually set the XML file name, since you already know what it is.

Another solution would be to configure swagger in the startup.cs, which is usually in the same project as your controllers.

Hope this helps.

score 0 · Answer 10 · answered Nov 08 '20 at 09:48

May be I am little late but would like to share my fixes, I opened the .csproj file in Notepad++ and removed all the comments (), saved the file and opened the solution again, a (if your solution has more then one projects, do with all .csproj files)

XML comments file could not be found - Swagger

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