Error NETSDK1005: Assets file doesn't have a target for 'net8.0-android' when building .NET Maui project with XUnit test in Azure DevOps pipelines

Title: Error NETSDK1005: Assets file doesn't have a target for 'net8.0-android' when building .NET Maui project with XUnit test in Azure DevOps pipelines

Question:

I'm encountering an error during the build process of my .NET Maui project in Azure DevOps pipelines. Here's the error message:

C:\hostedtoolcache\windows\dotnet\sdk\8.0.201\Sdks\Microsoft.NET.Sdk\targets\Microsoft.PackageDependencyResolution.targets(266,5): Error NETSDK1005: Assets file 'D:\a\1\s\SampleMauiApp.Test\obj\project.assets.json' doesn't have a target for 'net8.0-android'. Ensure that restore has run and that you have included 'net8.0-android' in the TargetFrameworks for your project.

Details:

• Project Configuration: The .NET Maui project (SampleMauiApp.csproj) specifies the 'net8.0-android' target framework. Here's a snippet from the project file:

<TargetFramework>net8.0-android</TargetFramework>

• Error Context: This error occurs during the build process in Azure DevOps pipelines, specifically while attempting to restore dependencies for the XUnit test project (SampleMauiApp.Test). It seems related to the absence of the 'net8.0-android' target in the project.assets.json file.

• Pipeline Configuration: The Azure DevOps pipeline is configured to build the .NET Maui project and publish artifacts. Here's the pipeline configuration:

trigger:
- main

stages:
  - stage: BuildAndroid
    displayName: 'Build Android'
    jobs:
      - job: Build_MAUI_App
        displayName: 'Build MAUI App Android'
        pool:
          vmImage: windows-latest
        steps:
          - task: JavaToolInstaller@0
            inputs:
              versionSpec: '11'
              jdkArchitectureOption: 'x64'
              jdkSourceOption: 'PreInstalled'
          - task: UseDotNet@2
            displayName: 'Use .NET Core SDK'
            inputs:
              packageType: 'sdk'
              version: '8.0.x'
              includePreviewVersions: true
          - task: DotNetCoreCLI@2
            displayName: 'Install MAUI Workloads'
            inputs:
              command: 'custom'
              custom: 'workload'
              arguments: 'install maui'
          - task: DotNetCoreCLI@2
            displayName: 'Restore NuGet Packages'
            inputs:
              command: 'restore'
              projects: '**/*.sln'
              feedsToUse: 'select'
          - task: DotNetCoreCLI@2
            displayName: 'Build Android Project'
            inputs:
              command: 'build'
              projects: '**/*.sln'
              arguments: '-f net8.0-android -c Release /p:AndroidSdkDirectory=$androidSdkPath'
          - task: CopyFiles@2
            displayName: 'Copy APK Files to Artifact Staging Directory'
            inputs:
              SourceFolder: '$(Agent.BuildDirectory)'
              Contents: '**/*.apk'
              TargetFolder: '$(Build.ArtifactStagingDirectory)'
              flattenFolders: true
          - task: PublishBuildArtifacts@1
            displayName: 'Publish Build Artifacts'
            inputs:
              PathtoPublish: $(Build.ArtifactStagingDirectory)
              ArtifactName: 'drop'
              publishLocation: 'Container'

Full project code: https://github.com/Vinay206/SampleMauiApp

• Additional Context: The XUnit test project (SampleMauiApp.Test) is referenced in the solution but not directly involved in the build process of the .NET Maui project. However, it seems to affect the dependency restoration process.

How can I resolve this error and successfully build my .NET 8.0 Maui project with XUnit test references in Azure DevOps pipelines? Any insights or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

I attempted to build the solution using the Azure DevOps YAML provided above. How can I resolve this error?