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Calling the MySqlDataReader.GetString() method now throws an InvalidCastExceptionexception if the associated column is not a string type.The OldGetStringBehaviorconnection option was added to allow (by setting it totrue) restoring previous behavior by logging a deprecation warning instead of throwing the exception. This option defaults tofalse.This option was removed in version 9.0.0. (WL #15972) 
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Previously, each Entity Framework Core (EF Core) NuGet package supported a single .NET target. For instance, the connector’s EF Core 8 package was able to target .NET 8.0 only. Now, the package-target support relationships are: - EF Core 6 targets .NET 6 
- EF Core 7 targets .NET 6, .NET 7 
- EF Core 8 targets .NET 6, .NET 7, .NET 8 
 (Bug #35968775) 
- Upgraded the - Google.Protobufdependency to version 3.25.1. (WL #16075)
- Previously, Connector/NET 8.2.0 supported .NET 8 and Entity Framework Core 8.0 (EF8) preview releases only. Connector/NET now supports all .NET 8 and EF8 releases. (WL #16035) 
- Added - Microsoft.Build.Traversalsupport; executing- MSBUILD dirs.projin the Connector/NET root folder now builds all projects in the repository (MySQL.Data, MySQL.Data.OpenTelemetry, MySQL.Web, EntityFramework, and EFCore) as defined in- dirs.proj. (WL #15798)
- Added an - AssemblyInfofile for- MySQL.Data.OpenTelemtry. (Bug #35957212)
- After an application called - Dispose()on a connection object, it was possible to reopen the connection. Now, the connector returns an exception if an attempt is made to reopen a disposed connection. (Bug #35827809)
- The timeout period of a transaction could elapsed prior to obtaining a connection from the connection pool. This might occur because all pooled connections were neither discarded from nor returned to the pool, but remained marked as - InUse. The fix resolves an issue that prevented the removal of a connection from the connection pool after an exception was thrown. (Bug #112123, Bug #35731216)