Request is not available in this context

Question

Please see IIS7 Integrated mode: Request is not available in this context exception in Application_Start:

The “Request is not available in this context” exception is one of the more common errors you may receive on when moving ASP.NET applications to Integrated mode on IIS 7.0. This exception happens in your implementation of the Application_Start method in the global.asax file if you attempt to access the HttpContext of the request that started the application.

When you have custom logging logic, it is rather annoying to be forced either not to log application_start or to have to let an exception occurs in the logger (even if handled).

It appears that rather than testing for Request availability, you can test for Handler availability: when there is no Request, it would be strange to still have a request handler. And testing for Handler does not raise that dreaded Request is not available in this context exception.

So you may change your code to:

var currContext = HttpContext.Current;
if (currContext != null && currContext.Handler != null)

Beware, in the context of a http module, Handler may not be defined though Request and Response are defined (I have seen that in BeginRequest event). So if you need request/response logging in a custom http module, my answer may not be suitable.

This is very classic case: If you end up having to check for any data provided by the http instance then consider moving that code under the BeginRequest event.

void Application_BeginRequest(Object source, EventArgs e)

This is the right place to check for http headers, query string and etc... Application_Start is for the settings that apply for the application entire run time, such as routing, filters, logging and so on.

Please, don't apply any workarounds such as static .ctor or switching to the Classic mode unless there's no way to move the code from the Start to BeginRequest. that should be doable for the vast majority of your cases.

Since there's no Request context in the pipeline during app start anymore, I can't imagine there's any way to guess what server/port the next actual request might come in on. You have to so it on Begin_Session.

Here's what I'm using when not in Classic Mode. The overhead is negligible.

/// <summary>
/// Class is called only on the first request
/// </summary>
private class AppStart
{
    static bool _init = false;
    private static Object _lock = new Object();

    /// <summary>
    /// Does nothing after first request
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="context"></param>
    public static void Start(HttpContext context)
    {
        if (_init)
        {
            return;
        }
        //create class level lock in case multiple sessions start simultaneously
        lock (_lock)
        {
            if (!_init)
            {
                string server = context.Request.ServerVariables["SERVER_NAME"];
                string port = context.Request.ServerVariables["SERVER_PORT"];
                HttpRuntime.Cache.Insert("basePath", "http://" + server + ":" + port + "/");
                _init = true;
            }
        }
    }
}

protected void Session_Start(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    //initializes Cache on first request
    AppStart.Start(HttpContext.Current);
}

Based on OP detailed needs explained in comments, a more appropriate solution exists. The OP states he wishes to add custom data in its logs with log4net, data related to requests.

Rather than wrapping each log4net call into a custom centralized log call which handles retrieving request related data (on each log call), log4net features context dictionaries for setting up custom additional data to log. Using those dictionnaries allows to position your request log data for current request at BeginRequest event, then to dismiss it at EndRequest event. Any log in between will benefit from these custom data.

And things that do not happen in a request context will not try to log request related data, eliminating the need to test for request availability. This solution matches the principle Arman McHitaryan was suggesting in his answer.

For this solution to work, you will also need some additional configuration on your log4net appenders in order for them to log your custom data.

This solution can be easily implemented as a custom log enhancement module. Here is some sample code for it:

using System;
using System.Web;
using log4net;
using log4net.Core;

namespace YourNameSpace
{
    public class LogHttpModule : IHttpModule
    {
        public void Dispose()
        {
            // nothing to free
        }

        private const string _ipKey = "IP";
        private const string _urlKey = "URL";
        private const string _refererKey = "Referer";
        private const string _userAgentKey = "UserAgent";
        private const string _userNameKey = "userName";

        public void Init(HttpApplication context)
        {
            context.BeginRequest += WebAppli_BeginRequest;
            context.PostAuthenticateRequest += WebAppli_PostAuthenticateRequest;
            // All custom properties must be initialized, otherwise log4net will not get
            // them from HttpContext.
            InitValueProviders(_ipKey, _urlKey, _refererKey, _userAgentKey,
                _userNameKey);
        }

        private void InitValueProviders(params string[] valueKeys)
        {
            if (valueKeys == null)
                return;
            foreach(var key in valueKeys)
            {
                GlobalContext.Properties[key] = new HttpContextValueProvider(key);
            }
        }

        private void WebAppli_BeginRequest(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            var currContext = HttpContext.Current;
            currContext.Items[_ipKey] = currContext.Request.UserHostAddress;
            currContext.Items[_urlKey] = currContext.Request.Url.AbsoluteUri;
            currContext.Items[_refererKey] = currContext.Request.UrlReferrer != null ? 
                currContext.Request.UrlReferrer.AbsoluteUri : null;
            currContext.Items[_userAgentKey] = currContext.Request.UserAgent;
        }

        private void WebAppli_PostAuthenticateRequest(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            var currContext = HttpContext.Current;
            // log4net doc states that %identity is "extremely slow":
            // http://logging.apache.org/log4net/release/sdk/log4net.Layout.PatternLayout.html
            // So here is some custom retrieval logic for it, so bad, especialy since I
            // tend to think this is a missed copy/paste in that documentation.
            // Indeed, we can find by inspection in default properties fetch by log4net a
            // log4net:Identity property with the data, but it looks undocumented...
            currContext.Items[_userNameKey] = currContext.User.Identity.Name;
        }
    }

    // General idea coming from 
    // http://piers7.blogspot.fr/2005/12/log4net-context-problems-with-aspnet.html
    // We can not use log4net ThreadContext or LogicalThreadContext with asp.net, since
    // asp.net may switch thread while serving a request, and reset the call context
    // in the process.
    public class HttpContextValueProvider : IFixingRequired
    {
        private string _contextKey;
        public HttpContextValueProvider(string contextKey)
        {
            _contextKey = contextKey;
        }

        public override string ToString()
        {
            var currContext = HttpContext.Current;
            if (currContext == null)
                return null;
            var value = currContext.Items[_contextKey];
            if (value == null)
                return null;
            return value.ToString();
        }

        object IFixingRequired.GetFixedObject()
        {
            return ToString();
        }
    }
}

Add it to your site, IIS 7+ configuration sample:

<system.webServer>
  <!-- other stuff removed ... -->
  <modules>
    <!-- other stuff removed ... -->
    <add name="LogEnhancer" type="YourNameSpace.LogHttpModule, YourAssemblyName" preCondition="managedHandler" />
    <!-- other stuff removed ... -->
  </modules>
  <!-- other stuff removed ... -->
</system.webServer>

And set up appenders to log those additional properties, sample config:

<log4net>
  <appender name="RollingLogFileAppender" type="log4net.Appender.RollingFileAppender">
    <!-- other stuff removed ... -->
    <layout type="log4net.Layout.PatternLayout">
      <conversionPattern value="%date [%thread] %-5level %logger - %message - %property%newline%exception" />
    </layout>
  </appender>
  <appender name="SqlAppender" type="log4net.Appender.AdoNetAppender">
    <!-- other stuff removed ... -->
    <commandText value="INSERT INTO YourLogTable ([Date],[Thread],[Level],[Logger],[UserName],[Message],[Exception],[Ip],[Url],[Referer],[UserAgent]) VALUES (@log_date, @thread, @log_level, @logger, @userName, @message, @exception, @Ip, @Url, @Referer, @UserAgent)" />
    <!-- other parameters removed ... -->
    <parameter>
      <parameterName value="@userName" />
      <dbType value="String" />
      <size value="255" />
      <layout type="log4net.Layout.PatternLayout">
        <conversionPattern value="%property{userName}" />
      </layout>
    </parameter>
    <parameter>
      <parameterName value="@Ip"/>
      <dbType value="String" />
      <size value="255" />
      <layout type="log4net.Layout.PatternLayout">
        <conversionPattern value="%property{Ip}" />
      </layout>
    </parameter>
    <parameter>
      <parameterName value="@Url"/>
      <dbType value="String" />
      <size value="255" />
      <layout type="log4net.Layout.PatternLayout">
        <conversionPattern value="%property{Url}" />
      </layout>
    </parameter>
    <parameter>
      <parameterName value="@Referer"/>
      <dbType value="String" />
      <size value="255" />
      <layout type="log4net.Layout.PatternLayout">
        <conversionPattern value="%property{Referer}" />
      </layout>
    </parameter>
    <parameter>
      <parameterName value="@UserAgent"/>
      <dbType value="String" />
      <size value="255" />
      <layout type="log4net.Layout.PatternLayout">
        <conversionPattern value="%property{UserAgent}" />
      </layout>
    </parameter>
  </appender>
  <!-- other stuff removed ... -->
</log4net>

You can get around the problem without switching to classic mode and still use Application_Start

public class Global : HttpApplication
{
   private static HttpRequest initialRequest;

   static Global()
   {
      initialRequest = HttpContext.Current.Request;       
   }

   void Application_Start(object sender, EventArgs e)
   {
      //access the initial request here
   }

For some reason, the static type is created with a request in its HTTPContext, allowing you to store it and reuse it immediately in the Application_Start event

I was able to workaround/hack this problem by moving in to "Classic" mode from "integrated" mode.