Configure AutoMapper to map to concrete types but allow Interfaces in the definition of my class

Question

I have some code that is similar to what is below. Basically it represents getting data from a web service and converting it into client side objects.

void Main() {     Mapper.CreateMap<SomethingFromWebService, Something>();         Mapper.CreateMap<HasSomethingFromWebService, HasSomething>();      // Service side     var hasSomethingFromWeb = new HasSomethingFromWebService();     hasSomethingFromWeb.Something = new SomethingFromWebService             { Name = "Whilly B. Goode" };     // Client Side                     HasSomething hasSomething=Mapper.Map<HasSomething>(hasSomethingFromWeb);   }     // Client side objects public interface ISomething {     string Name {get; set;} }     public class Something : ISomething {     public string Name {get; set;} }     public class HasSomething {     public ISomething Something {get; set;} }     // Server side objects public class SomethingFromWebService {     public string Name {get; set;} }     public class HasSomethingFromWebService {     public SomethingFromWebService Something {get; set;} } 

The problem I have is that I want to use Interfaces in my classes (HasSomething.ISomething in this case), but I need to have AutoMapper map to concrete types. (If I don't map to concrete types then AutoMapper will create proxies for me. That causes other problems in my app.)

The above code gives me this error:

Missing type map configuration or unsupported mapping.

Mapping types: SomethingFromWebService -> ISomething
UserQuery+SomethingFromWebService -> UserQuery+ISomething

So my question is, how can I map to a concrete type and still use interfaces in my class?

NOTE: I tried adding this mapping:

Mapper.CreateMap<SomethingFromWebService, ISomething>(); 

But then the object returned is not of type Something it returns a generated Proxy using ISomething as the template.

Answer 1

So I figured something that seems to work.

If I add these two mappings:

Mapper.CreateMap<SomethingFromWebService, Something>(); Mapper.CreateMap<SomethingFromWebService, ISomething>().As<Something>();  

then it works as I want.

I have not been able to find any documentation on the 'As' method (try googling for that! :), but it seems to be a mapping redirection.

For example: For this Mapping (ISomething) resolve it As a Something.