Automapper exception: "Missing type map configuration or unsupported mapping."

Question

I am trying to use Ninject in an ASP.NET MVC 5 application that uses AutoMapper for mapping the Model to the View Model and vice versa. Unfortunately I get an error message that states that the type map configuration is missing.

I created a Ninject dependency resolver:

namespace MyNamespace.Infrastructure
{
    public class NinjectDependencyResolver: IDependencyResolver
    {
        private IKernel kernel;

        public NinjectDependencyResolver(IKernel kernelParam)
        {
            kernel = kernelParam;
            AddBindings();
        }

        public object GetService(Type serviceType)
        {
            return kernel.TryGet(serviceType);
        }

        public IEnumerable<object> GetServices(Type serviceType)
        {
            return kernel.GetAll(serviceType);
        }

        private void AddBindings()
        {
            kernel.Bind<IMyBLL>().To<MyBLL>();
        }
    }
}

I use this to create a controller:

namespace MyNamespace.Controllers
{
    [Authorize]
    public class HomeController : Controller
    {
        private IMyBLL _myBLL;

        public HomeController(IMyBLL myBLLParam)
        {
            _myBLL = myBLLParam;
        }

        public PartialViewResult AddRecord()
        {
            return PartialView(new AddRecordViewModel());
        }

        [HttpPost]
        public void AddRecord(AddRecordViewModel recordViewModel)
        {
            var record = Mapper.Map<Record>(recordViewModel);

            _myBLL.AddRecord(record, User.Identity.Name);
        }
    }
}

Global.asax:

namespace MyNamespace.WebApplication
{
    public class MvcApplication : System.Web.HttpApplication
    {
        protected void Application_Start()
        {
            ApplicationUserManager.StartupAsync();
            AreaRegistration.RegisterAllAreas();
            FilterConfig.RegisterGlobalFilters(GlobalFilters.Filters);
            RouteConfig.RegisterRoutes(RouteTable.Routes);
            BundleConfig.RegisterBundles(BundleTable.Bundles);
            AutoMapperWebConfiguration.Configure();
        }
    }
}

This calls the AutoMapper configuration:

namespace MyNamespace.WebApplication.Infrastructure
{
    public static class AutoMapperWebConfiguration
    {
        public static void Configure()
        {
            Mapper.Initialize(cfg => cfg.AddProfile(new RecordProfile()));
        }
    }

    public class RecordProfile : Profile
    {
        protected override void Configure()
        {
            Mapper.CreateMap<AddRecordViewModel, Record>().ReverseMap();
        }
    }
}

When I run this I get the following error message:

Missing type map configuration or unsupported mapping.

Mapping types:
AddRecordViewModel -> Record
 MyNamespace.WebApplication.ViewModels.Home.AddRecordViewModel -> MyNamespace.Model.Record

 Destination path:
 Record

 Source value:
 MyNamespace.WebApplication.ViewModels.Home.AddRecordViewModel

Do I miss something. It worked fine before I used the Ninject dependency resolver. Now it does not seem to find the mappings.

---

Edit:

If I add the Mapping Creation directly to the controller method it works:

[HttpPost]
public void AddRecord(AddRecordViewModel recordViewModel)
{
    Mapper.CreateMap<AddRecordViewModel, Record>().ReverseMap();
    var record = Mapper.Map<Record>(recordViewModel);

    _myBLL.AddRecord(record, User.Identity.Name);
}

The mapping itself and the models and view models do not seem to be the problem. I guess that the programm somehow does not find the mappings.

Even if I call the Auto Mapper Web Configuration in the controller method it works:

public void AddRecord(AddRecordViewModel recordViewModel)
{
    Infrastructure.AutoMapperWebConfiguration.Configure();

    var record = Mapper.Map<Record>(recordViewModel);

    _myBLL.AddRecord(record, User.Identity.Name);
}

Answer 1

You need to add the reverse mapping also. You can do it one of two ways:

Mapper.CreateMap<AddRecordViewModel, Record>();
Mapper.CreateMap<Record, AddRecordViewModel>();

or in one go like so:

Mapper.CreateMap<AddRecordViewModel, Record>().ReverseMap();

The latter is preferable if you ask me.

Answer 2

Mapper.Initialize() should be used strictly once per solution.

If you call Initialize() somewhere later it will override all your previous mappings. Inspect your code attentively, guess, you'll find a call of this method in another place.

P.S.: That wasn't initial behavior of Automapper early, as I could see in pieces of code created 3 and more years ago on GitHub.