How to get current controller instance in another class?

Question

In my project I manage exception in a class like this

 public class PortalBusinessExceptionManager
    :IBusinessExceptionManager
{
    public void HandleBusinessException(BusinessExceptionDto exceptionDto)
    {
        //TODO
    }
}

And I have a BaseController in my project that all controllers inherit from it

public class BaseController : Controller
{
    public void SetNotification(string message, ExceptionType type)
    {
       //TO DO
    }
}

So I want that in HandleBusinessException method how can I get an instance from current controller and invoke SetNotification for it

 public void HandleBusinessException(BusinessExceptionDto exceptionDto)
{
    var controller=....???
     controller.SetNotification(); 
}

Answer 1

From the answer from this question you can create your own ControllerFactory and put the controller instance in the session for later retrieval.

public class MyControllerFactory : DefaultControllerFactory
{
    public override IController CreateController(RequestContext requestContext, string controllerName)
    {
        var controller = base.CreateController(requestContext, controllerName);
        HttpContext.Current.Session["controllerInstance"] = controller;
        return controller;
    }
}

Then you register it in your Apllication_Start:

ControllerBuilder.Current.SetControllerFactory(new MyControllerFactory());

And you can than call the instance in your exception handling method.

public void HandleBusinessException(BusinessExceptionDto exceptionDto)
{
     var controller= HttpContext.Current.Session["controllerInstance"] as BaseController;
     if(controller != null) 
     {
         controller.SetNotification(); 
     }
}

Note that this is a pretty hacky solution (session may expire for example and your method wont be called), you should probably be better off overriding OnException method in your BaseController and call SetNotification there

public class BaseController : Controller
{
    public void SetNotification(string message, ExceptionType type)
    {
       //TO DO
    }

    protected override void OnException(ExceptionContext filterContext)
    {
        SetNotification(filterContext.Exception.Message, yourExceptionType);
        base.OnException(filterContext);
    }
}

Answer 2

Not sure if it solves your issue yet it can be helpful:

// get current controller instance
var controller = DependencyResolver.Current.GetService<MyController>();
// pass current request context
controller.ControllerContext = new ControllerContext(Request.RequestContext, controller); 
// call method
controller.MethodName();