OrchardCMS/OrchardCore · error · InvalidOperationException

A property " " exists but is not decorated with

Error message

A property "{0}" exists but is not decorated with "{1}"

What it means

A switch name matched a public property on the command handler, but that property lacks the required [OrchardSwitch] attribute, so it is not an eligible command switch. OrchardCore requires the attribute as an explicit opt-in; otherwise arbitrary public properties (like Context) could be set from the CLI. The throw happens right after the reflection lookup in SetSwitchValue.

Solutions

1. Decorate the intended property with [OrchardSwitch] so it becomes a valid switch.
2. Remove the offending switch from the command invocation if it was not meant to be settable.
3. Verify the attribute is the Orchard-specific OrchardSwitchAttribute and not a similarly named attribute that does not match the typeof check.

Example fix

// before
public class MyCommand {
  public bool Verbose { get; set; }
}
// after
public class MyCommand {
  [OrchardSwitch]
  public bool Verbose { get; set; }
}

var prop = handlerType.GetProperty(switchName, BindingFlags.Instance | BindingFlags.Public | BindingFlags.IgnoreCase);
if (prop?.GetCustomAttributes(typeof(OrchardSwitchAttribute), false).Length == 0)
    throw new InvalidOperationException($"Property '{switchName}' is not a valid switch (missing [OrchardSwitch])");

try { await handler.ExecuteAsync(context); }
catch (InvalidOperationException ex) when (ex.Message.Contains("not decorated")) { logger.LogError("Switch targets a non-switch property; add [OrchardSwitch] or remove the switch"); }

When it happens

Trigger: Calling SetSwitchValues with a switch whose key equals a plain public property name on the handler that was never decorated with [OrchardSwitchAttribute], e.g. `mycommand -Context foo`.

Common situations: Adding a new handler property but forgetting the attribute, or intentionally matching an infrastructure property by name from the command line.

Understand the failure class

Background: Schema validation failed / invalid input schema: payload rejected because its shape doesn't match the expected schema — this error's family across 28 libraries.

Related errors

• Switch " " was not found
• Error converting value
• Command arguments " " don't match command definition
• Method " " does not support switch " ".
• Invalid return type used in a migration method.

AI-assisted analysis of OrchardCMS/OrchardCore@4306c0717f (2026-09-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/207e57905a0b5c7e. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at src/OrchardCore/OrchardCore.Infrastructure.Abstractions/Commands/DefaultCommandHandler.cs:44

        if (context.Switches != null && context.Switches.Count > 0)
        {
            foreach (var commandSwitch in context.Switches)
            {
                SetSwitchValue(commandSwitch);
            }
        }
    }

    private void SetSwitchValue(KeyValuePair<string, string> commandSwitch)
    {
        // Find the property.
        var propertyInfo = GetType()
            .GetProperty(commandSwitch.Key, BindingFlags.Instance | BindingFlags.Public | BindingFlags.IgnoreCase)
            ?? throw new InvalidOperationException(S["Switch \"{0}\" was not found", commandSwitch.Key]);

        if (propertyInfo.GetCustomAttributes(typeof(OrchardSwitchAttribute), false).Length == 0)
        {
            throw new InvalidOperationException(S["A property \"{0}\" exists but is not decorated with \"{1}\"", commandSwitch.Key, nameof(OrchardSwitchAttribute)]);
        }

        // Set the value.
        try
        {
            var value = ConvertToType(propertyInfo.PropertyType, commandSwitch.Value);
            propertyInfo.SetValue(this, value, null /*index*/);
        }
        catch (Exception ex) when (!ex.IsFatal())
        {
            // TODO: (ngm) fix this message.
            var message = S["Error converting value \"{0}\" to \"{1}\" for switch \"{2}\"",
                commandSwitch.Value,
                propertyInfo.PropertyType.FullName,
                commandSwitch.Key];

            throw new InvalidOperationException(message, ex);
        }

View on GitHub (pinned to 4306c0717f)