Autofac, ASP.NET MVC 3 httpRequest scope and AutoMapper: No scope with a Tag matching 'httpRequest' is visible

Question

When I use a web type registered with autofac from an automapper mapping, I get this error:

No scope with a Tag matching 'httpRequest' is visible from the scope in which the instance was requested. This generally indicates that a component registered as per-HTTP request is being reqested by a SingleInstance() component (or a similar scenario.) Under the web integration always request dependencies from the DependencyResolver.Current or ILifetimeScopeProvider.RequestLifetime, never from the container itself.

When another type is resolved in the mapping it works. When a web type is resolved from the controller it works.

Why doesnt web (or any other httprequest scoped?) types get successfully resolved in my mapping?

    protected void Application_Start()
    {
        var builder = new ContainerBuilder();
        builder.RegisterModule<AutofacWebTypesModule>();
        builder.RegisterControllers(Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly());
        builder.RegisterModelBinders(Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly());
        builder.RegisterAssemblyTypes(Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly())
            .AssignableTo<Profile>()
            .As<Profile>()
            ;
        builder.Register(c => Mapper.Engine)
            .As<IMappingEngine>();
        builder.RegisterType<AnotherType>()
            .As<IAnotherType>();
        var container = builder.Build();

        DependencyResolver.SetResolver(new AutofacDependencyResolver(container));

        var profiles = container.Resolve<IEnumerable<Profile>>();
        Mapper.Initialize(c => profiles.ToList().ForEach(c.AddProfile));

        AreaRegistration.RegisterAllAreas();

        RegisterGlobalFilters(GlobalFilters.Filters);
        RegisterRoutes(RouteTable.Routes);
    }

public class HomeController : Controller
{
    private readonly IMappingEngine _mapper;
    private readonly Func<HttpContextBase> _httpContext;

    public HomeController(IMappingEngine mapper, Func<HttpContextBase> httpContext)
    {
        _mapper = mapper;
        _httpContext = httpContext;
    }

    public ActionResult Index()
    {
        var test = _httpContext.Invoke();
        return View(_mapper.Map<Model, ViewModel>(new Model()));
    }

}

public class MyProfile : Profile
{
    private readonly Func<HttpContextBase> _httpContext;
    private readonly Func<IAnotherType> _anotherType;

    public MyProfile(Func<HttpContextBase> httpContext, Func<IAnotherType> anotherType)
    {
        _httpContext = httpContext;
        _anotherType = anotherType;
    }

    protected override void Configure()
    {
        CreateMap<Model, ViewModel>()
            .ForMember(d => d.Url, o => o.ResolveUsing(s =>
                                                    {
                                                        var test = _anotherType.Invoke().GetAValue();
                                                        return _httpContext.Invoke().Request.Url;
                                                    }))
            ;
    }
}

public interface IAnotherType
{
    string GetAValue();
}

public class AnotherType : IAnotherType
{
    public string GetAValue() { return "a value"; }
}

public class ViewModel
{
    public string Url { get; set; }
}

public class Model
{
}

EDIT: Its easy to create an empty MVC project, paste the code and try it out and see for yourself.

EDIT: Removed the ConstructServicesUsing call because its not required by the example. No services are resolved through AutoMapper in the example.

Answer 1

I recently had a similar problem and it turned out to be a bad setup in my bootstrapper function. The following autofac setup did it for me.

builder.Register(c => new ConfigurationStore(new TypeMapFactory(), AutoMapper.Mappers.MapperRegistry.Mappers))
    .AsImplementedInterfaces()
    .SingleInstance();

builder.Register(c => Mapper.Engine)
    .As<IMappingEngine>()
    .SingleInstance();

builder.RegisterType<TypeMapFactory>()
    .As<ITypeMapFactory>()
    .SingleInstance();

I did not have to specify resolver in the Mapper.Initialize() function. Just called

Mapper.Initialize(x => 
            {
                x.AddProfile<DomainToDTOMappingProfile>(); 
            });

after the bootstrapped and it works fine for me.

Answer 2

@rene_r above is on the right track; adapting his answer:

c.ConstructServicesUsing(t => DependencyResolver.Current.GetService(t))

Still might not compile but should get you close.

The requirement is that the call to DependencyResolver.Current is deferred until the service is requested (not kept as the value returned by Current when the mapper was initialised.)

Answer 3

I think you should use DependencyResolver.Current.Resolve instead of container.Resolve in

Mapper.Initialize(c =>
                {                               
                   c.ConstructServicesUsing(DependencyResolver.Current);
                   profiles.ToList().ForEach(c.AddProfile);
                 });