No parameterless constructor defined for this object exception while using Unity Container

Question

I am getting the above exception while trynig to load a view.

I am using Unity to intialize my controller instance. Still getting the above error.

Here is my controller.

public class SiteController : Controller
{

    private ISiteRepository _repository;

    public SiteController(ISiteRepository repository)
    {
        _repository = repository;
    }

    //
    // GET: /Site/

    public ActionResult Index()
    {
        return View();
    }

    //
    // GET: /Site/Details/5

    public ActionResult Details(int id)
    {
        return View();
    }}

And here is my Global.asax.cs to

protected void Application_Start()
    {
        ConfigApi(GlobalConfiguration.Configuration);
        AreaRegistration.RegisterAllAreas();

        FilterConfig.RegisterGlobalFilters(GlobalFilters.Filters);
        RouteConfig.RegisterRoutes(RouteTable.Routes);
        BundleConfig.RegisterBundles(BundleTable.Bundles);
    }

    static void ConfigApi(HttpConfiguration config)
    {
        var unity = new UnityContainer();
        unity.RegisterType<SiteController>();
        unity.RegisterType<ISiteRepository, SiteRepository>(new HierarchicalLifetimeManager());

        config.DependencyResolver = new IocContainer(unity);
    }

Here is my SiteRepository class.

public class SiteRepository:ISiteRepository
{
    private readonly SampleMVCEntities _dbContext;

    public SiteRepository()
    {
        _dbContext = new SampleMVCEntities();
    }

    private IQueryable<SiteConfig> MapSiteConfig()
    {
        return _dbContext.SiteConfigs.Select(a => new SiteConfig
        {
            Name = a.Name,
            LinkColour = a.LinkColour,
            SiteLogo = a.SiteLogo,
            SiteBrands = a.SiteBrands.Select(b => new Models.SiteBrand { SiteId = b.SiteId, BrandId = b.BrandId })
        });
    }

    public IEnumerable<SiteConfig> GetAll()
    {
        return MapSiteConfig().AsEnumerable();
    }}

This is my error stack.

No parameterless constructor defined for this object. Description: An unhandled exception occurred during the execution of the current web request. Please review the stack trace for more information about the error and where it originated in the code.

Exception Details: System.MissingMethodException: No parameterless constructor defined for this object.

Source Error:

An unhandled exception was generated during the execution of the current web request. Information regarding the origin and location of the exception can be identified using the exception stack trace below.

Stack Trace:

[MissingMethodException: No parameterless constructor defined for this object.] System.RuntimeTypeHandle.CreateInstance(RuntimeType type, Boolean publicOnly, Boolean noCheck, Boolean& canBeCached, RuntimeMethodHandleInternal& ctor, Boolean& bNeedSecurityCheck) +0
System.RuntimeType.CreateInstanceSlow(Boolean publicOnly, Boolean skipCheckThis, Boolean fillCache, StackCrawlMark& stackMark) +114
System.RuntimeType.CreateInstanceDefaultCtor(Boolean publicOnly, Boolean skipCheckThis, Boolean fillCache, StackCrawlMark& stackMark) +232 System.Activator.CreateInstance(Type type, Boolean nonPublic) +83 System.Activator.CreateInstance(Type type) +6 System.Web.Mvc.DefaultControllerActivator.Create(RequestContext requestContext, Type controllerType) +55

[InvalidOperationException: An error occurred when trying to create a controller of type 'Config.Controllers.SiteController'. Make sure that the controller has a parameterless public constructor.]
System.Web.Mvc.DefaultControllerActivator.Create(RequestContext requestContext, Type controllerType) +179
System.Web.Mvc.DefaultControllerFactory.GetControllerInstance(RequestContext requestContext, Type controllerType) +80
System.Web.Mvc.DefaultControllerFactory.CreateController(RequestContext requestContext, String controllerName) +74
System.Web.Mvc.MvcHandler.ProcessRequestInit(HttpContextBase httpContext, IController& controller, IControllerFactory& factory) +197 System.Web.Mvc.<>c_DisplayClass6.b_2() +49 System.Web.Mvc.<>c__DisplayClassb1.<ProcessInApplicationTrust>b__a() +13 System.Web.Mvc.SecurityUtil.<GetCallInAppTrustThunk>b__0(Action f) +7 System.Web.Mvc.SecurityUtil.ProcessInApplicationTrust(Action action) +22
System.Web.Mvc.SecurityUtil.ProcessInApplicationTrust(Func1 func) +88 System.Web.Mvc.MvcHandler.BeginProcessRequest(HttpContextBase httpContext, AsyncCallback callback, Object state) +98
System.Web.Mvc.MvcHandler.BeginProcessRequest(HttpContext httpContext, AsyncCallback callback, Object state) +50
System.Web.Mvc.MvcHandler.System.Web.IHttpAsyncHandler.BeginProcessRequest(HttpContext context, AsyncCallback cb, Object extraData) +16
System.Web.CallHandlerExecutionStep.System.Web.HttpApplication.IExecutionStep.Execute() +268 System.Web.HttpApplication.ExecuteStep(IExecutionStep step, Boolean& completedSynchronously) +155

---

Can somebody help me?

Thanks.

Answer 1

ASP.NET MVC and ASP.NET Web API uses two separate dependency resolvers.

For "regular" MVC controllers which are derives from Controller you need to use the DependencyResolver.SetResolver:

DependencyResolver.SetResolver(new UnityDependencyResolver(container));

For the Wep API controllers which are derives form ApiController you need to use the GlobalConfiguration.Configuration.DependencyResolver as in your code.

So if you plan to use both type of controllers you need to register your container twice.

There is a good article how to setup Unity for both dependency resolver:

Dependency Injection in ASP.NET MVC 4 and WebAPI using Unity