How to debug AutoMapper "Missing type map configuration or unsupported mapping" error

Question

I have seen plenty of examples of this error occuring, for a wide variety of causes and I have gone through all the causes I can see, but still i get the error, so I am wondering if some one can give some information about what this error actually means, so i can try finding the cause. Here is some code:

Controller:

    [HttpPost]
    public ActionResult Edit(ProfileViewModel model)
    {
        if (ModelState.IsValid)
        {
            var person = new UserAttribute();

            person = Mapper.Map<ProfileViewModel, UserAttribute>(model);

            db.UserAttribute.Add(person);
            db.SaveChanges();

        }

View Model

public class ProfileViewModel
{

    [Display(Name = "First Name")]
    [StringLength(20)]
    [Required]
    public string FirstName { get; set; }

    [Display(Name = "Last Name")]
    [StringLength(30)]
    [Required]
    public string LastName { get; set; }

    [Display(Name = "Gender")]
    [Required]
    public string Gender { get; set; }

    [Display(Name = "Date of Birth")]
    [DisplayFormat(DataFormatString = "{0:MM/dd/yyyy}", ApplyFormatInEditMode = true)]
    public DateTime DOB { get; set; }

    [Display(Name = "Hair Color")]
    public string HairColor { get; set; }

    [Display(Name = "Eye Color")]
    public string EyeColor { get; set; }

    [Display(Name = "Body Type")]
    public string Weight { get; set; }

    [Display(Name = "Height")]
    public string HeightFeet { get; set; }

    public string HeightInches { get; set; }

    public int UserId { get; set; }

    public IEnumerable<SelectListItem> WeightList { get; set; }
    public IEnumerable<SelectListItem> EyeColorList { get; set; }
    public IEnumerable<SelectListItem> HairColorList { get; set; }
    public IEnumerable<SelectListItem> HeightFeetList { get; set; }
    public IEnumerable<SelectListItem> HeightInchesList { get; set; }
    public IEnumerable<SelectListItem> GenderList { get; set; }

}

UserAttribute model:

    public int ProfileId { get; set; }
    public string FirstName { get; set; }
    public string LastName { get; set; }
    public string Gender { get; set; }
    public System.DateTime DOB { get; set; }
    public string HairColor { get; set; }
    public string EyeColor { get; set; }
    public string HeightFeet { get; set; }
    public string Weight { get; set; }
    public int UserId { get; set; }
    public string HeightInches { get; set; }

Mapping config:

public class AutoMapperConfiguration
{
    public static void Configure()
    {
        Mapper.Initialize(x => x.AddProfile<ViewToDomainMapProfile>());
        Mapper.Initialize(x => x.AddProfile<DomainToViewMapProfile>());
    }
}

public class ViewToDomainMapProfile : Profile
{
    public override string ProfileName
    {
        get { return "ViewToDomainMapProfile"; }
    }

    protected override void Configure()
    {
        Mapper.CreateMap<ProfileViewModel, UserAttribute>()
            .ForSourceMember(x => x.GenderList, y => y.Ignore())
            .ForSourceMember(x => x.HairColorList, y => y.Ignore())
            .ForSourceMember(x => x.EyeColorList, y => y.Ignore())
            .ForSourceMember(x => x.WeightList, y => y.Ignore())
            .ForSourceMember(x => x.HeightFeetList, y => y.Ignore())
            .ForSourceMember(x => x.HeightInchesList, y => y.Ignore());
    }
}

and the config is called in the global asax:

        AutoMapperConfiguration.Configure();

Answer 1

Using Mapper.AssertConfigurationIsValid(); produces the following exception:

AutoMapper.AutoMapperConfigurationException : 
Unmapped members were found. Review the types and members below.
Add a custom mapping expression, ignore, add a custom resolver, or modify the source/destination type
==============================================================================================
ProfileViewModel -> UserAttribute (Destination member list)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ProfileId

So, you need to add mapping for ProfileId.

Overall, it's a good practice to use Mapper.AssertConfigurationIsValid(); either in your unit tests (you have them, right?), or after your mapper configuration. It'll display detailed information for such a misconfigurations.

Answer 2

For the viewmodel => userattribute

I noticed that ProfileId is a destination property, but not a source property.

public int ProfileId { get; set; }

Do you need to add code to ingore this destination member?

Other: I might also suggest using or customizing the automapper to map properties that present that match by name exclusively.

Also, when possible, please avoid model names ending in the word Attritribute as by convention this is used almost exclusively for actual attributes. (my apologies for nitpicking)