How do I resolve Web API controllers using Autofac in a mixed Web API and MVC application?

Question

Hi I have an MVC application where I have defined some dependencies to my Web API.

public class AutofacWebApiDependenceResolver : IDependencyResolver
{
    private readonly IComponentContext container;
    public AutofacWebApiDependenceResolver(IContainer container)
    {

     if (container == null)
     {
         throw new ArgumentNullException("container");
     }
     this.container = container;
    }

    public object GetService(Type serviceType)
    {
        if (serviceType == null)
        {
            throw new ArgumentNullException("serviceType");
        }
        var ret = this.container.ResolveOptional(serviceType) ;
        return ret;
    }
    public IEnumerable<object> GetServices(Type serviceType)
    {            
        if (serviceType == null)
        {
            throw new ArgumentNullException("serviceType");
        }            
        Type enumerableType = typeof(IEnumerable<>).MakeGenericType(serviceType);
        var ret = (IEnumerable<object>)this.container.ResolveOptional(enumerableType);
        return ret;
    }
}

Then in my bootstrapper class I am calling it in Application_Start as follows:

GlobalConfiguration.Configuration.DependencyResolver = new AutofacWebApiDependenceResolver((IContainer)container);

When I debug the code, I can see there are registrations of all services with my DependencyResolver, but I am still getting the following error:

An error has occurred.Type 'WebApp.Controllers.AuthenticateController' does not have a default constructor

Here is the code to my controller:

public class AuthenticateController : ApiController
{
    private readonly IFormsAuthenticationService formsAuthenticationService;
    private readonly IMemberShipProvider memberShip;
    private readonly IDataService dataService;

    public AuthenticateController(
        IMemberShipProvider memberShip,
        IFormsAuthenticationService formsAuthenticationService, IDataService dataService)
    {
        this.memberShip = memberShip;
        this.formsAuthenticationService = formsAuthenticationService;
        this.dataService= dataService;
     }

}

How can I bring parameters to the api controllers. The Simple controllers are working fine.

have you registered your controllers with calling builder.RegisterApiControllers(Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly());? — nemesv
– nemesv, Commented Oct 14, 2014 at 10:20
@nemesv I am unable to call builder.RegisterApiControllers(), can you please tell me which namespace do I have to import for that? — progrAmmar
– progrAmmar, Commented Oct 14, 2014 at 10:28
you need to call builder.RegisterApiControllers before calling builder.Build()... — nemesv
– nemesv, Commented Oct 14, 2014 at 10:44

tstojecki · Accepted Answer · 2016-10-04 16:35:40Z

71

I would suggest the following to make this work in your application with both MVC and WebApi.

First your project will need to have references to the following

Autofac
Autofac.WebApi
Autofac.Mvc5 (change the number at the end to match your aspnet mvc version)

Then in your Autofac registration you would need the following which will Register both MVC and WebApi Controllers and any other registrations you require. Then attach the Container to both the MVC DI and the WebApi DI.

var builder= new ContainerBuilder();
builder.RegisterControllers(Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly()); //Register MVC Controllers
builder.RegisterApiControllers(Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly()); //Register WebApi Controllers
//Register any other components required by your code....

var container = builder.Build();

DependencyResolver.SetResolver(new AutofacDependencyResolver(container)); //Set the MVC DependencyResolver
GlobalConfiguration.Configuration.DependencyResolver = new AutofacWebApiDependencyResolver((IContainer)container); //Set the WebApi DependencyResolver

I hope this helps.

edited Oct 4, 2016 at 16:35

tstojecki

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answered Dec 5, 2014 at 13:47

jonhoare

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6 Comments

droidbot Over a year ago

GlobalConfiguration.Configuration.DependencyResolver = new AutofacWebApiDependencyResolver((IContainer)container); That is the killer bit in my case.

zanther Over a year ago

This sorted it out for me thanks! I also realised I had installed the wrong nuget package as I was using WebApi2. So once I had remove Autofac.WebApi and installed Autofac.WebApi2 it all worked like a charm, thanks @jonhoare

Ayo Adesina Over a year ago

I soooo needed that!

1_bug Over a year ago

For newbies: code from @jonhoare answer you should put in App_Start/WebApiConfig.cs in Register method.

Kakoritz Over a year ago

@Jennet. TY! this was my final problem, not having the Autofac.WebAPI2 installed. soon as that was installed, everything fell into place. thx!

|

huysentruitw · Accepted Answer · 2015-08-11 15:16:40Z

9

nemesv's guidance did the trick

builder.RegisterApiControllers(Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly())

Calling builder.RegisterApiControllers before calling builder.Build()

edited Aug 11, 2015 at 15:16

huysentruitw

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answered Oct 15, 2014 at 9:32

progrAmmar

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