[Problem/Bug]: WebView2 Nuget packages don't support NativeAOT w/ WinAppSDK 1.6+

[zhuman]

What happened?

WinAppSDK 1.6+ and CsWinRT 2.1.1 have released in August and added major support for NativeAOT with .NET 8. This means that you can build WinAppSDK apps or apps using WinRT APIs and use the <PublishAot>true</PublishAot> property in your project to make the build process trim and compile your entire project down into one native DLL/EXE.

How to fix it?

The Microsoft.Web.WebView2 Nuget package needs to be updated to build with CsWinRT 2.1.1 in order to get this benefit as well. I think literally just update your CsWinRT dependency and rebuild to get updated projections.

What is broken?

Until this is fixed, you can build a WinAppSDK NativeAOT app that works fine until the WebView2 classes are called. They will fail with the message:

Cannot create an RCW factory for implementation type 'Windows.Foundation.IAsyncOperation`1[Microsoft.Web.WebView2.Core.CoreWebView2Environment]'.

Importance

Blocking. My app's basic functions are not working due to this issue.

Runtime Channel

Stable release (WebView2 Runtime)

Runtime Version

No response

SDK Version

1.0.2783-prerelease

Framework

WinUI3/WinAppSDK

Operating System

Windows 11

OS Version

22635.4145

Repro steps

1. Create a WinAppSDK 1.6 app with .NET 8 and include a WebView2 component.
2. Add <PublishAot>true</PublishAot> to your project file.
3. Publish the app (triggering the full compilation to native code) and try to run it.

Repros in Edge Browser

No, issue does not reproduce in the corresponding Edge version

Regression

No, this never worked

Last working version (if regression)

No response

[zhuman]

Note internally this is tracked by bug 53191953.

This will work once a Nuget version >= 1.0.2798 drops.

[Gaoyifei1011]

What happened?

WinAppSDK 1.6+ and CsWinRT 2.1.1 have released in August and added major support for NativeAOT with .NET 8. This means that you can build WinAppSDK apps or apps using WinRT APIs and use the <PublishAot>true</PublishAot> property in your project to make the build process trim and compile your entire project down into one native DLL/EXE.

How to fix it?

The Microsoft.Web.WebView2 Nuget package needs to be updated to build with CsWinRT 2.1.1 in order to get this benefit as well. I think literally just update your CsWinRT dependency and rebuild to get updated projections.

What is broken?

Until this is fixed, you can build a WinAppSDK NativeAOT app that works fine until the WebView2 classes are called. They will fail with the message:

Cannot create an RCW factory for implementation type 'Windows.Foundation.IAsyncOperation`1[Microsoft.Web.WebView2.Core.CoreWebView2Environment]'.

Importance

Blocking. My app's basic functions are not working due to this issue.

Runtime Channel

Stable release (WebView2 Runtime)

Runtime Version

No response

SDK Version

1.0.2783-prerelease

Framework

WinUI3/WinAppSDK

Operating System

Windows 11

OS Version

22635.4145

Repro steps

1. Create a WinAppSDK 1.6 app with .NET 8 and include a WebView2 component.
2. Add <PublishAot>true</PublishAot> to your project file.
3. Publish the app (triggering the full compilation to native code) and try to run it.

Repros in Edge Browser

No, issue does not reproduce in the corresponding Edge version

Regression

No, this never worked

Last working version (if regression)

No response

#4783

[oggy22]

This seems to be a duplicate of #4783 which has been fixed.