[✨ Triage] dotnet/aspire#10355 by davidfowl - Parameters are shown as isolated nodes in graph view; not recognized a ...

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Triage for dotnet/aspire#10355.
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dotnet/aspire#10355: Parameters are shown as isolated nodes in graph view; not recognized as related resources by davidfowl
[Tool] Searching for parameters isolated nodes graph view, parameters not connected graph, WithReferenceRelationship parameter, parameters related resources graph, connection strings isolated nodes graph (IncludeOpen=True, IncludeClosed=True, IncludeIssues=True, IncludePullRequests=True, Repository=dotnet/aspire)
[Tool] Found 105 issues, 141 comments, 105 returned results (9379 ms)

Here are the most relevant related issues, pull requests, and discussions for issue #10355 ("Parameters are shown as isolated nodes in graph view; not recognized as related resources"):

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1. PR #10336 (July 2025) - Make parameters and connection strings visible in dashboard

• Summary: This PR made parameters and connection strings visible in the Aspire dashboard by removing the IsHidden = true settings. The change was intended to improve visibility of configuration resources.
• Relevant Discussion:
  • [davidfowl, July 12, 2025]: "Interesting side effect of this change. Parameters are not 'related resources' anywhere it seems. The graph view shows them as islands 😄"
• Conclusion: The PR introduced the visibility of parameters, but did not address their relationships in the graph view, leading to the "island" effect described in #10355.

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2. Issue #10335 (July 2025) - Parameters and connection strings should be visible in the dashboard

• Summary: Requested making parameters and connection strings visible in the dashboard, which led to the changes in PR #10336.
• Conclusion: This issue was the precursor to the visibility change, but did not address relationship modeling.

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3. PR #10340 (July 2025) - Support uninstrumented peer visualization for parameters, and resources with connection strings

• Summary: Extends the dashboard's trace visualization to show outgoing calls from parameters, connection strings, and GitHub models resources to uninstrumented peers.
• Relevant Discussion:
  • [davidfowl, July 12, 2025]: Suggests using a robust ConnectionStringParser for parameter resources, and discusses how to extract host/port from various formats.
  • [davidfowl, July 11-12, 2025]: Multiple comments about improving the logic for resolving relationships and making the graph more accurate.
• Conclusion: This PR is focused on trace visualization, not the resource graph, but the underlying logic for resolving relationships is relevant. It shows active work on making relationships more robust, including for parameters.

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4. Issue #10338 (July 2025) - Support uninstrumented peer visualization for parameters, connection strings, and GitHub models resources

• Summary: Requests extending the trace visualization to parameters and connection strings, similar to PR #10340.
• Conclusion: Related to trace visualization, but highlights the need for consistent relationship modeling across resource types.

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5. PR #8432 (March 2025) - Rename resource relationship methods to reference relationship for consistency

• Summary: Renames WithResourceRelationship to WithReferenceRelationship for consistency.
• Conclusion: The method mentioned in #10355 (WithReferenceRelationship) is the current, recommended way to model explicit relationships between resources, including parameters.

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6. Issue #8345 (March 2025) - Resource graph doesn't show linked resources in some cases

• Summary: Reports that the resource graph only shows explicit WithReference relationships, and not those implied by environment variables or arguments.
• Relevant Discussion:
  • [JamesNK]: "It's a known issue that all the ways of resources interacting with each other don't have relationships. It's a matter of adding WithRelationship to the various methods."
• Conclusion: The graph only shows relationships added via explicit calls (like WithReferenceRelationship). This is the root cause of parameters appearing as isolated nodes.

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7. PR #8425 (March 2025) - Link resources in more cases

• Summary: Adds resource linking in more methods and exposes a new method WithResourceRelationship (now WithReferenceRelationship).
• Relevant Discussion:
  • [JamesNK]: Suggests naming consistency for relationship methods.
• Conclusion: This PR expanded the scenarios where relationships are modeled, but parameters may still require explicit linking.

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8. Issue #2595 (March 2024) - Graph view of resource relationships

• Summary: Early request for a graph view showing resource relationships, including dependencies and reverse dependencies.
• Relevant Discussion:
  • [davidfowl]: "The goal is to move to a richer way of modeling references in things like environment variables and connection strings."
• Conclusion: The graph view is designed to show modeled relationships, but only those explicitly added.

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9. PR #5311 (Aug-Nov 2024) - Add resource relationship to app model

• Summary: Adds relationship annotation and WithRelationship extension method to the app model, and updates the UI to display references and back-references.
• Conclusion: The infrastructure for modeling and displaying relationships exists, but requires explicit use.

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10. Issue #8426 (March 2025) - Handle resource relationships that get resolved in argument and environment variable callbacks

• Summary: Notes that relationships resolved via environment variables or arguments are not currently modeled and should be.
• Conclusion: There is ongoing work to improve automatic relationship detection, but explicit calls are still required for now.

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Summary and Guidance

• The "island" effect for parameters in the graph view is a known and recently observed side effect of making parameters visible (see PR #10336 and comments).
• The resource graph only shows relationships that are explicitly modeled using methods like WithReferenceRelationship (see PR #8432, PR #8425, and Issue #8345).
• There is ongoing work to improve automatic detection of relationships (see PR #10340, Issue #8426), but as of now, resources must explicitly call WithReferenceRelationship to connect parameters in the graph view.
• The recommended solution is to update relevant resource builders to call .WithReferenceRelationship(parameterResource) (or .WithReference(parameterResource) if using the simplified API) wherever a parameter is used, to ensure the graph view accurately reflects their relationships.

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In summary:
This is a known and recently discussed issue. The current infrastructure requires explicit modeling of relationships using WithReferenceRelationship for parameters to appear as connected in the graph view. There is ongoing work to improve this, but for now, explicit calls are necessary.

Let me know if you need a more detailed summary of any specific discussion or PR!