Unit Test project insists on need to reference EntityFramework

I just figured out the problem. I recently added an extension method ReturnsSet

(below) to make it easier to mock IDbSet

off DbContext

in the shared unit test "helpers" project. Although I don't know why, apparently the compiler still felt like it needed a reference to the EntityFramework in order to compile the specific project that was having the problem. When I comment out a new extension method ReturnsSet

, the specific unit test project is compiled using a form of extension method syntax.

using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Collections.ObjectModel;
using System.Data.Entity;
using System.Linq;

using Moq;
using Moq.Language.Flow;

public static class DbMockHelpers
{
    public static Mock<IDbSet<TEntity>> MockSingle<TEntity>(TEntity data) 
        where TEntity : class, new()
    {
        return MockDbSet(new[] { data });
    }

    public static Mock<IDbSet<TEntity>> MockDbSet<TEntity>(params TEntity[] data)
        where TEntity : class, new()
    {
        return MockDbSet(data.AsEnumerable());
    }

    public static Mock<IDbSet<TEntity>> MockDbSet<TEntity>(IEnumerable<TEntity> data) 
        where TEntity : class, new()
    {
        var list = data == null ? new List<TEntity>() : data.ToList();
        var observable = new ObservableCollection<TEntity>(list);
        var dbSet = new Mock<IDbSet<TEntity>>();
        dbSet.Setup(d => d.Add(It.IsAny<TEntity>())).Callback((TEntity entity) => list.Add(entity));
        dbSet.Setup(d => d.Remove(It.IsAny<TEntity>())).Callback((TEntity entity) => list.Remove(entity));
        dbSet.Setup(d => d.Attach(It.IsAny<TEntity>())).Callback((TEntity entity) => list.Add(entity));
        dbSet.Setup(d => d.Create()).Returns(new TEntity());
        dbSet.Setup(d => d.GetEnumerator()).Returns(() => list.GetEnumerator());
        dbSet.Setup(d => d.Local).Returns(observable);
        dbSet.Setup(d => d.ElementType).Returns(typeof(TEntity));
        dbSet.Setup(d => d.Provider).Returns(list.AsQueryable().Provider);
        dbSet.Setup(d => d.Expression).Returns(list.AsQueryable().Expression);
        return dbSet;
    } 

    public static IDbSet<TEntity> DbSet<TEntity>(IEnumerable<TEntity> data) 
        where TEntity : class, new()
    {
        return MockDbSet(data).Object;
    }

    public static IDbSet<TEntity> DbSet<TEntity>(params TEntity[] data)
        where TEntity : class, new()
    {
        return MockDbSet(data).Object;
    }

    // commenting out this method allowed the project to compile without the reference to EF
    public static IReturnsResult<T> ReturnsSet<T, TProperty, TEntity>(this ISetupGetter<T, TProperty> setupGetter, params TEntity[] data)
        where T : class
        where TProperty : IDbSet<TEntity>
        where TEntity : class, new()
    {
        return setupGetter.Returns((TProperty)DbSet(data));
    }
}