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EF Core 11 reads an empty captured collection as a bare NULL that PostgreSQL types as text: operator does not exist: text && int4range #290
Description
Problem
EmptyCollectionRewriter (#137) gave an empty captured collection of ranges or value sets, sent one parameter per element, a one-row VALUES of typed NULLs under WHERE FALSE, because EF Core 10.0.0's SQL generator refused an empty VALUES. EF Core 11's SqlNullabilityProcessor replaces the empty VALUES parameter itself (dotnet/efcore#37216; behind a switch in a 10.0.x patch), before the plugin's pass runs, with
FROM (SELECT NULL AS "Value" WHERE FALSE) AS w WHERE w."Value" && b."Seats"The NULL is bare: Npgsql writes a null constant without its type, PostgreSQL types it as text, and the query fails on the server:
Npgsql.PostgresException: 42883: operator does not exist: text && int4range
On net11.0 this fails RangeCollectionContainsTests.AnEmptyCollection*, SetCollectionContainsTests.AnEmptyCollection_*, Ranges_AnswerAsInMemory (416 rows) and ValueSets_AnswerAsInMemory (1088 rows): every Any/Count over an empty captured list of ranges or sets throws, where 10.x answers false/0. The old rewriter never sees the empty VALUES on EF Core 11 and is a no-op there. Loud, not silent.
Change
The rewriter matches EF Core 11's shape — a table-less SELECT of null constants under WHERE FALSE — and casts each constant whose type is a registered range or set type to its store type (NULL::int4range), the mapping EF Core already attached from the parameter's element mapping. Other types keep EF Core's SQL (EmptyCollectionGuardTests). Translation tests pin the new SQL; the integration tests of the answers are unchanged.
Found by the #103 retarget's first test run.
Activity
[-]EF Core 11 reads an empty captured collection itself: remove `EmptyCollectionRewriter`[/-][+]EF Core 11 reads an empty captured collection as a bare NULL that PostgreSQL types as `text`: `operator does not exist: text && int4range`[/+]CaffeinatedCoder commentedon Oct 19, 2026
"Behind a switch in a 10.0.x patch" is EF Core 10.0.2 and later: dotnet/efcore#37248 (milestone 10.0.2) backported #37216, and
Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Issue37216first appears in the 10.0.2 Relational assembly. Npgsql EF 10.0.1–10.0.3 require EF Core ≥ 10.0.4, so the 10.x line fails today for every consumer on a current provider, not when some future patch ships. Measured 2026-10-19 on the 10.0.0 code with EF Core 10.0.13 / Npgsql EF 10.0.3: the same 4 translation and 5 integration failures as here, every42883shape, and the off switch restores the 10.0.0 behaviour completely. Filed as #302 under the 10.0.1 epic (#296); the 10.x port has to keep the empty-VALUESpath for the floor, which this fix dropped because EF Core 11 never produces it.