From 5f5dab4915f09fdb35901a5f825ab5da6b85061e Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: "copilot-swe-agent[bot]" <198982749+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Fri, 16 Jan 2026 00:11:24 +0000
Subject: [PATCH 1/3] Initial plan


From 540cbc7fd42209928a7497c213f1e452871ccc19 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: "copilot-swe-agent[bot]" <198982749+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Fri, 16 Jan 2026 00:29:36 +0000
Subject: [PATCH 2/3] WIP: Add field auto-generation for @ref attributes -
 implementation needs debugging

Co-authored-by: dbreshears <3432571+dbreshears@users.noreply.github.com>
---
 .../ComponentCodeGenerationTestBase.cs        | 116 ++++++++++++++++++
 .../ComponentReferenceCaptureLoweringPass.cs  |  58 ++++++++-
 2 files changed, 172 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/src/Compiler/Microsoft.AspNetCore.Razor.Language/test/IntegrationTests/ComponentCodeGenerationTestBase.cs b/src/Compiler/Microsoft.AspNetCore.Razor.Language/test/IntegrationTests/ComponentCodeGenerationTestBase.cs
index cb969d332a5..dee594f9851 100644
--- a/src/Compiler/Microsoft.AspNetCore.Razor.Language/test/IntegrationTests/ComponentCodeGenerationTestBase.cs
+++ b/src/Compiler/Microsoft.AspNetCore.Razor.Language/test/IntegrationTests/ComponentCodeGenerationTestBase.cs
@@ -10097,6 +10097,122 @@ @namespace X
         CompileToAssembly(generated, expectedDiagnostics);
     }
 
+    [IntegrationTestFact]
+    public void Component_WithRef_AutoGeneratedField()
+    {
+        // Arrange
+        AdditionalSyntaxTrees.Add(Parse(@"
+using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Components;
+
+namespace Test
+{
+    public class MyComponent : ComponentBase
+    {
+    }
+}
+"));
+
+        // Arrange/Act - No manual field declaration required
+        var generated = CompileToCSharp(@"
+<MyComponent @ref=""myInstance"" />
+
+@code {
+    public void Foo() { System.GC.KeepAlive(myInstance); }
+}
+");
+
+        // Assert
+        AssertDocumentNodeMatchesBaseline(generated.CodeDocument);
+        AssertCSharpDocumentMatchesBaseline(generated.CodeDocument);
+        CompileToAssembly(generated);
+    }
+
+    [IntegrationTestFact]
+    public void Element_WithRef_AutoGeneratedField()
+    {
+        // Arrange/Act - No manual field declaration required
+        var generated = CompileToCSharp(@"
+<elem @ref=""myElem"">Hello</elem>
+
+@code {
+    public void Foo() { System.GC.KeepAlive(myElem); }
+}
+");
+
+        // Assert
+        AssertDocumentNodeMatchesBaseline(generated.CodeDocument);
+        AssertCSharpDocumentMatchesBaseline(generated.CodeDocument);
+        CompileToAssembly(generated);
+    }
+
+    [IntegrationTestFact]
+    public void Component_WithRef_AutoGeneratedField_MultipleRefs()
+    {
+        // Arrange
+        AdditionalSyntaxTrees.Add(Parse(@"
+using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Components;
+
+namespace Test
+{
+    public class MyComponent : ComponentBase
+    {
+    }
+}
+"));
+
+        // Arrange/Act - Multiple refs should all be auto-generated
+        var generated = CompileToCSharp(@"
+<MyComponent @ref=""comp1"" />
+<MyComponent @ref=""comp2"" />
+<elem @ref=""elem1"" />
+
+@code {
+    public void Foo()
+    {
+        System.GC.KeepAlive(comp1);
+        System.GC.KeepAlive(comp2);
+        System.GC.KeepAlive(elem1);
+    }
+}
+");
+
+        // Assert
+        AssertDocumentNodeMatchesBaseline(generated.CodeDocument);
+        AssertCSharpDocumentMatchesBaseline(generated.CodeDocument);
+        CompileToAssembly(generated);
+    }
+
+    [IntegrationTestFact]
+    public void Component_WithRef_AutoGeneratedField_SkipsExistingField()
+    {
+        // Arrange
+        AdditionalSyntaxTrees.Add(Parse(@"
+using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Components;
+
+namespace Test
+{
+    public class MyComponent : ComponentBase
+    {
+    }
+}
+"));
+
+        // Arrange/Act - If field already exists, don't generate it
+        var generated = CompileToCSharp(@"
+<MyComponent @ref=""myInstance"" />
+
+@code {
+    private Test.MyComponent myInstance = null!;
+    public void Foo() { System.GC.KeepAlive(myInstance); }
+}
+");
+
+        // Assert - should not duplicate the field
+        AssertDocumentNodeMatchesBaseline(generated.CodeDocument);
+        AssertCSharpDocumentMatchesBaseline(generated.CodeDocument);
+        CompileToAssembly(generated);
+    }
+
     #endregion
 
     #region Templates
diff --git a/src/Compiler/Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.Razor.Compiler/src/Language/Components/ComponentReferenceCaptureLoweringPass.cs b/src/Compiler/Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.Razor.Compiler/src/Language/Components/ComponentReferenceCaptureLoweringPass.cs
index 694a0170602..051202c05fc 100644
--- a/src/Compiler/Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.Razor.Compiler/src/Language/Components/ComponentReferenceCaptureLoweringPass.cs
+++ b/src/Compiler/Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.Razor.Compiler/src/Language/Components/ComponentReferenceCaptureLoweringPass.cs
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 // The .NET Foundation licenses this file to you under the MIT license.
 
 using System;
+using System.Collections.Generic;
 using System.Threading;
 using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Razor.Language.Intermediate;
 
@@ -31,17 +32,23 @@ protected override void ExecuteCore(
         }
 
         var references = documentNode.FindDescendantReferences<TagHelperDirectiveAttributeIntermediateNode>();
+        
+        // Track field names to avoid generating duplicates
+        var generatedFields = new HashSet<string>(StringComparer.Ordinal);
 
         foreach (var reference in references)
         {
             if (reference.Node.TagHelper.Kind == TagHelperKind.Ref)
             {
-                RewriteUsage(reference);
+                RewriteUsage(classNode, reference, generatedFields);
             }
         }
     }
 
-    private static void RewriteUsage(IntermediateNodeReference<TagHelperDirectiveAttributeIntermediateNode> reference)
+    private static void RewriteUsage(
+        ClassDeclarationIntermediateNode classNode,
+        IntermediateNodeReference<TagHelperDirectiveAttributeIntermediateNode> reference,
+        HashSet<string> generatedFields)
     {
         var (node, parent) = reference;
 
@@ -59,9 +66,56 @@ private static void RewriteUsage(IntermediateNodeReference<TagHelperDirectiveAtt
             ? new ReferenceCaptureIntermediateNode(identifierToken, componentTagHelper.TypeName)
             : new ReferenceCaptureIntermediateNode(identifierToken);
 
+        // Generate field declaration if it doesn't already exist
+        var fieldName = identifierToken.Content;
+        if (!string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(fieldName) && generatedFields.Add(fieldName))
+        {
+            // Check if a field/property with this name already exists in the class
+            if (!FieldOrPropertyExists(classNode, fieldName))
+            {
+                AddFieldDeclaration(classNode, fieldName, referenceCapture.FieldTypeName);
+            }
+        }
+
         reference.Replace(referenceCapture);
     }
 
+    private static bool FieldOrPropertyExists(ClassDeclarationIntermediateNode classNode, string name)
+    {
+        foreach (var child in classNode.Children)
+        {
+            if (child is FieldDeclarationIntermediateNode field && field.Name == name)
+            {
+                return true;
+            }
+            if (child is PropertyDeclarationIntermediateNode property && property.Name == name)
+            {
+                return true;
+            }
+        }
+        return false;
+    }
+
+    private static void AddFieldDeclaration(ClassDeclarationIntermediateNode classNode, string fieldName, string fieldType)
+    {
+        // Find the insertion point: after any existing fields
+        var children = classNode.Children;
+        var index = 0;
+
+        // Skip past any existing field declarations to maintain ordering
+        while (index < children.Count && children[index] is FieldDeclarationIntermediateNode)
+        {
+            index++;
+        }
+
+        children.Insert(index, new FieldDeclarationIntermediateNode()
+        {
+            Modifiers = CommonModifiers.Private,
+            Name = fieldName,
+            Type = fieldType,
+        });
+    }
+
     private static IntermediateToken? DetermineIdentifierToken(TagHelperDirectiveAttributeIntermediateNode attributeNode)
     {
         var foundToken = attributeNode.Children switch

From 338d70b37353637c7f37ba2dfa3b4389289707ab Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: "copilot-swe-agent[bot]" <198982749+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Fri, 16 Jan 2026 00:33:26 +0000
Subject: [PATCH 3/3] Update field auto-generation implementation - still
 debugging field insertion issue

Co-authored-by: dbreshears <3432571+dbreshears@users.noreply.github.com>
---
 .../ComponentReferenceCaptureLoweringPass.cs        | 13 ++++++++++++-
 1 file changed, 12 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/src/Compiler/Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.Razor.Compiler/src/Language/Components/ComponentReferenceCaptureLoweringPass.cs b/src/Compiler/Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.Razor.Compiler/src/Language/Components/ComponentReferenceCaptureLoweringPass.cs
index 051202c05fc..b758e279d2c 100644
--- a/src/Compiler/Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.Razor.Compiler/src/Language/Components/ComponentReferenceCaptureLoweringPass.cs
+++ b/src/Compiler/Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.Razor.Compiler/src/Language/Components/ComponentReferenceCaptureLoweringPass.cs
@@ -3,7 +3,9 @@
 
 using System;
 using System.Collections.Generic;
+using System.Linq;
 using System.Threading;
+using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Razor.Language.Extensions;
 using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Razor.Language.Intermediate;
 
 namespace Microsoft.AspNetCore.Razor.Language.Components;
@@ -98,10 +100,19 @@ private static bool FieldOrPropertyExists(ClassDeclarationIntermediateNode class
 
     private static void AddFieldDeclaration(ClassDeclarationIntermediateNode classNode, string fieldName, string fieldType)
     {
-        // Find the insertion point: after any existing fields
+        // Find the insertion point: after any existing fields and design-time setup code
         var children = classNode.Children;
         var index = 0;
 
+        // Skip past design-time directives and initial CSharpCode blocks (like #pragma warning)
+        while (index < children.Count && 
+               (children[index] is DesignTimeDirectiveIntermediateNode ||
+                (children[index] is CSharpCodeIntermediateNode code && 
+                 code.Children.OfType<IntermediateToken>().Any(t => t.Content.Contains("#pragma") || t.Content.Contains("__o")))))
+        {
+            index++;
+        }
+
         // Skip past any existing field declarations to maintain ordering
         while (index < children.Count && children[index] is FieldDeclarationIntermediateNode)
         {