MissingMethodException when accessing global media type formatters from an AuthorizationFilterAttribute

Question

I am trying to access the first configured media type formatter from within the OnAuthorization() method of a custom AuthorizationFilterAttribute that I am writing. However, when I access the "Formatters" property of the configuration, I am getting a MissingMethodException.

Doesn't work:

public override void OnAuthorization(HttpActionContext actionContext)
{
    // Perform authentication.
    if (authenticationFailed)
        actionContext.Response = new HttpResponseMessage(HttpStatusCode.Unauthorized)
        {
            Content = new ObjectContent<MyReturnType>(new MyReturnType(), actionContext.ControllerContext.Configuration.Formatters.First())
        };
}

throws System.MissingMethodException - Method not found: 'System.Net.Http.Formatting.MediaTypeFormatterCollection System.Web.Http.HttpConfiguration.get_Formatters()'.

Works:

public override void OnAuthorization(HttpActionContext actionContext)
{
    // Perform authentication.
    if (authenticationFailed)
        actionContext.Response = new HttpResponseMessage(HttpStatusCode.Unauthorized)
        {
            Content = new ObjectContent<MyReturnType>(new MyReturnType(), new JsonMediaTypeFormatter())
        };
}

However, because this attribute is defined in a library that is being used across several projects, and some of the projects use XML instead of JSON for their "default" media type converter, I can't use the second approach that works since I don't know what format to return the data in.

Replacing actionContext.ControllerContext.Configuration.Formatters.First() with GlobalConfiguration.Configuration.Formatters.First() also results in the exception.

I am using this same method of accessing the "default" media type formatter in a custom ActionFilterAttribute without any problems, why would this not also work in an AuthorizationFilterAttribute?

Does anyone know how to access the configured media type formatters from an AuthorizationFilterAttribute?

Note: I realize that I could have a way of specifying the media type formatter to use as part of the attribute initialization, but I was hoping that I would not have to do that and that I could just simply access the configured media type formatters. That and I am very curious as to why this isn't working.

Note 2: The version of the System.Web.Http DLL in use is 4.0.

Answer 1

Figured it out, turned out there was an assembly binding missing in the config file:

<runtime>
    <assemblyBinding xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1">
        <dependentAssembly>
            <assemblyIdentity name="System.Net.Http.Formatting" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" culture="neutral" />
            <bindingRedirect oldVersion="0.0.0.0-5.2.3.0" newVersion="5.2.3.0" />
        </dependentAssembly>
        <dependentAssembly>
            <assemblyIdentity name="Newtonsoft.Json" publicKeyToken="30ad4fe6b2a6aeed" culture="neutral" />
            <bindingRedirect oldVersion="0.0.0.0-6.0.0.0" newVersion="6.0.0.0" />
        </dependentAssembly>
    </assemblyBinding>
</runtime>