.Net: SemanticKernel package was not working in Winforms .NetFramework.

[ChidanandMurugaiah]

Describe the bug

We are utilizing the Microsoft.SemanticKernel package in a .NET Framework 4.8 Winforms sample to retrieve responses from ChatGPT. However, when invoking kernel.GetRequiredService(), it consistently returns null. As a result, we are unable to use the ChatCompletionService to fetch AI responses. Notably, the same code functions correctly in a .NET80 environment.

To Reproduce
Steps to reproduce the behavior:

1. Run the sample
2. Click Initialize button

Expected behavior
Sample needs to be run properly without exception.

Screenshots

Sample Link - SemanticKernel (2).zip

Platform

• OS:Windows 11
• IDE: VS2022 version 17.12.0
• Language: C#
• Source:Microsoft.SemanticKernel package version 1.21.1

Additional context
We saw that this package was compatible for WPF .NetFramework.

[RogerBarreto]

@ChidanandMurugaiah, can you check if this works with our latest version? 1.29

Please provide more details about the stack trace you getting.

We had a bug 1 month ago related to Null reference exception when using function calling and can be related to your example

• .Net: Bug: 1.23.0 throws an exception when streaming a chat completion with auto-invoked tool call #9313

[ChidanandMurugaiah]

@RogerBarreto,

1) can you check if this works with our latest version? 1.29

• When we try to install the latest version of the KS package we are facing the below issue.
  

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2) Please provide more details about the stack trace you getting.

Below is the Stack trace

at Microsoft.SemanticKernel.ChatCompletion.ChatCompletionServiceExtensions.GetChatMessageContentsAsync(IChatCompletionService chatCompletionService, String prompt, PromptExecutionSettings executionSettings, Kernel kernel, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
at Microsoft.SemanticKernel.ChatCompletion.ChatCompletionServiceExtensions.d__1.MoveNext()
at System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter.ThrowForNonSuccess(Task task)
at System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter.HandleNonSuccessAndDebuggerNotification(Task task)
at System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter`1.GetResult()
at SemanticKernel.AIService.d__10.MoveNext() in D:\Samples\Winforms\SemanticKernel\Form1.cs:line 57

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3) We had a bug 1 month ago related to Null reference exception when using function calling and can be related to your example

#9313

• We referred the query you mentioned but it was not similar to our problem. The same code works in .Net80 sample but not works in .NetFramework sample.

[RogerBarreto]

@ChidanandMurugaiah Thanks for the added context.

For the first item to successfully install in .Net Framework you need to download those dependencies manually because they are still in pre-release state.

Go to nuget package and download the Microsoft.Extensions.VectorData.Abstractions before installing SemanticKernel package and you will succeed.

If the error persists for our latest version let me know and feel free to close this issue if the problem is solved.

Thanks.

[ChidanandMurugaiah]

@RogerBarreto, Now, I am able to install the latest version of Microsoft.SemanticKernal package but for that I need to install the below packages manually.

• Microsoft.Extensions.VectorData.Abstractions
• Azure.AI.OpenAI
• Microsoft.Extensions.AI.Abstractions

Because these packages are in pre-release. So, when installing the SK package, these package not installed automatically in .NetFramework

Let me come to the point, even after installing the latest version of the SK, the issue still occurs.

[RogerBarreto]

@ChidanandMurugaiah I download your application demo and Identified that the problem on the Null actually is happening because you are calling an async method as it was synchronous.

Since there's no asynchronous task executing within your Initialize method, remove the async from it, and gpt won't be null anymore.

I updated the project also to the latest version 1.30, installing the packages individually and was able to get the result with no problem.