Mixing ASP.NET Core with older .Net Framework code

Question

I have some legacy .NET code that I would like to wrap with an API.

The code is a mixture of ASP.NET Webforms and .NET Framework 4.0

I'm hoping to use the new ASP.NET Core Web API and have created a new solution based on this framework and added the legacy code as existing projects.

Everything builds OK but when I try and call some of the legacy code I get the following error:

System.TypeInitializationException occurred HResult=0x80131534
Message=The type initializer for 'TreeManager' threw an exception.
Source=

Inner Exception 1: FileNotFoundException: Could not load file or assembly 'System.Web.Extensions, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35'. The system cannot find the file specified.

This is the code I call:

TreeManager.LoadEvent += LoadTree;

public class TreeManager
{
    ...
    public static event EventHandler<LoadEventArgs> LoadEvent;
    ...
}

I tried updating the legacy code to .NET 4.5.2 but get the same error.

I wrapped the legacy code with an API using ASP.NET MVC 4 API 2 and all worked well.

Is it possible to do this and, if so, what changes do I need to make?

Answer 1

First, you can choose to target either .NET Core or the full framework with a ASP.NET Core app. Just because it's "Core" doesn't mean you have to use .NET Core with it. If you're utilizing legacy APIs, you may be forced to run on the full framework.

If you need or simply want to use .NET Core, so that the app can be deployed outside of a Windows environment, then you'll need to migrate any APIs that aren't supported to alternative APIs or potentially rewrite functionality if no alternative API exists.

.NET Core 2.0 supports .NET Standard 2.0, which has a very large API footprint. Because of this, Microsoft opened up compatibility with legacy .NET Framework libraries and packages. However, no guarantees are made that you can fully utilize those libraries and packages. Just because you can add the dependency doesn't mean you can utilize all the APIs. That's likely what you're running into here. This particular set of APIs has a dependency on System.Web, which is not a part of .NET Core.

Recently, Microsoft has released some tools to make migration scenarios like this easier. First, there's the .NET API Analyzer, a NuGet package which will add Intellisense callouts to API calls that are not compatible with various targets. This will help you track down code that needs to be changed, and alert you when you're writing new code, that you need to do things in a different way than you might be used to.

Second, there's the Windows Compatibility Pack for .NET Core, another NuGet package that shims in support for a lot of older Windows-only APIs from the full framework. This can give you a bit of breathing room during your migration, reducing the amount if things you need to change, somewhat. Though, you are still encouraged to switch out this code eventually as well, eventually weaning your application off of the dependency altogether.

Finally, if none of this helps, you may simply have to find an alternative. That might require installing a third-party NuGet and rewriting some code to work with that instead of what you were using before.

No one ever claimed migrating was easy; it's always an uphill battle. If you don't have the bandwidth to do it now, simply target the full framework and call it a day. Otherwise, dig in and tackle it as best you can.