System.MissingMethodException: No parameterless constructor defined for this object. MVC4

Question

I am creating a MVC4 application and I have got some troubles when I try to get back a form from my view to my controller.

I read several SO post on the topic but unfortunately, I did not managed to find which object does not have a parameterless constructor. All my model classes have a no parameter constructor. And in debug the error stack is just in Internet Explorer but nothing happen in visual studio.

This is the error stack :

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) +117
   System.RuntimeType.CreateInstanceDefaultCtor(Boolean publicOnly, Boolean skipVisibilityChecks, Boolean skipCheckThis, Boolean fillCache) +247
   System.Activator.CreateInstance(Type type, Boolean nonPublic) +106
   System.Web.Mvc.DefaultModelBinder.CreateModel(ControllerContext controllerContext, ModelBindingContext bindingContext, Type modelType) +243
   System.Web.Mvc.DefaultModelBinder.BindComplexModel(ControllerContext controllerContext, ModelBindingContext bindingContext) +151
   System.Web.Mvc.DefaultModelBinder.UpdateCollection(ControllerContext controllerContext, ModelBindingContext bindingContext, Type elementType) +545
   System.Web.Mvc.DefaultModelBinder.BindComplexModel(ControllerContext controllerContext, ModelBindingContext bindingContext) +609
   System.Web.Mvc.DefaultModelBinder.GetPropertyValue(ControllerContext controllerContext, ModelBindingContext bindingContext, PropertyDescriptor propertyDescriptor, IModelBinder propertyBinder) +33
   System.Web.Mvc.DefaultModelBinder.BindProperty(ControllerContext controllerContext, ModelBindingContext bindingContext, PropertyDescriptor propertyDescriptor) +497
   System.Web.Mvc.DefaultModelBinder.BindProperties(ControllerContext controllerContext, ModelBindingContext bindingContext) +283
   System.Web.Mvc.DefaultModelBinder.BindComplexModel(ControllerContext controllerContext, ModelBindingContext bindingContext) +677
   System.Web.Mvc.ControllerActionInvoker.GetParameterValue(ControllerContext controllerContext, ParameterDescriptor parameterDescriptor) +489
   System.Web.Mvc.ControllerActionInvoker.GetParameterValues(ControllerContext controllerContext, ActionDescriptor actionDescriptor) +153
   System.Web.Mvc.Async.<>c__DisplayClass25.<BeginInvokeAction>b__1e(AsyncCallback asyncCallback, Object asyncState) +883059
   System.Web.Mvc.Async.WrappedAsyncResult`1.Begin(AsyncCallback callback, Object state, Int32 timeout) +137
   System.Web.Mvc.Async.AsyncResultWrapper.Begin(AsyncCallback callback, Object state, BeginInvokeDelegate beginDelegate, EndInvokeDelegate`1 endDelegate, Object tag, Int32 timeout) +167
   System.Web.Mvc.Async.AsyncResultWrapper.Begin(AsyncCallback callback, Object state, BeginInvokeDelegate beginDelegate, EndInvokeDelegate`1 endDelegate, Object tag) +27
   System.Web.Mvc.<>c__DisplayClass1d.<BeginExecuteCore>b__17(AsyncCallback asyncCallback, Object asyncState) +50
   System.Web.Mvc.Async.WrappedAsyncResult`1.Begin(AsyncCallback callback, Object state, Int32 timeout) +137
   System.Web.Mvc.Async.AsyncResultWrapper.Begin(AsyncCallback callback, Object state, BeginInvokeDelegate beginDelegate, EndInvokeDelegate`1 endDelegate, Object tag, Int32 timeout) +167
   System.Web.Mvc.Controller.BeginExecuteCore(AsyncCallback callback, Object state) +869289
   System.Web.Mvc.Async.WrappedAsyncResult`1.Begin(AsyncCallback callback, Object state, Int32 timeout) +137
   System.Web.Mvc.Async.AsyncResultWrapper.Begin(AsyncCallback callback, Object state, BeginInvokeDelegate beginDelegate, EndInvokeDelegate`1 endDelegate, Object tag, Int32 timeout) +167
   System.Web.Mvc.Async.AsyncResultWrapper.Begin(AsyncCallback callback, Object state, BeginInvokeDelegate beginDelegate, EndInvokeDelegate endDelegate, Object tag) +27
   System.Web.Mvc.Controller.BeginExecute(RequestContext requestContext, AsyncCallback callback, Object state) +391
   System.Web.Mvc.<>c__DisplayClassb.<BeginProcessRequest>b__3(AsyncCallback asyncCallback, Object asyncState) +827094
   System.Web.Mvc.Async.WrappedAsyncResult`1.Begin(AsyncCallback callback, Object state, Int32 timeout) +137
   System.Web.Mvc.Async.AsyncResultWrapper.Begin(AsyncCallback callback, Object state, BeginInvokeDelegate beginDelegate, EndInvokeDelegate`1 endDelegate, Object tag, Int32 timeout) +167
   System.Web.Mvc.Async.AsyncResultWrapper.Begin(AsyncCallback callback, Object state, BeginInvokeDelegate beginDelegate, EndInvokeDelegate endDelegate, Object tag) +27
   System.Web.Mvc.<>c__DisplayClass6.<BeginProcessRequest>b__2() +283
   System.Web.Mvc.<>c__DisplayClassb`1.<ProcessInApplicationTrust>b__a() +19
   System.Web.Mvc.SecurityUtil.ProcessInApplicationTrust(Func`1 func) +161
   System.Web.CallHandlerExecutionStep.System.Web.HttpApplication.IExecutionStep.Execute() +405
   System.Web.HttpApplication.ExecuteStep(IExecutionStep step, Boolean& completedSynchronously) +375

My Model classes :

 public class Form
    {
        public Form()
        {
            this.Rows = new List<Row>();
        }

        public List<Row> Rows { get; set; }
    }

    public class Row
    {
        protected Row()
        {
            this.Label = string.Empty;
            this.Type = string.Empty;
        }

        public string Label { get; set; }

        public string Type { get; set; }
    }

    public class SimpleRow : Row
    {
        public SimpleRow()
        {
            this.Value = string.Empty;
        }

        public string Value { get; set; }
    }


    public class DropDownRow : Row
    {
        public DropDownRow()
        {
            this.Content = new List<ContentDropDown>();
        }

        public List<ContentDropDown> Content { get; set; }
    }


    public class ContentDropDown
    {
        public ContentDropDown()
        {
            this.Title = string.Empty;
            this.Selected = false;
        }

        public string Title { get; set; }

        public bool Selected { get; set; }
    }

Answer 1

This can also happen if your underlying class is defined to accept parameter. Since MVC is unable to pass the right value it fails. Try declare a parameter-less class as well. This solved my problem during button click postback.

Eg:

public class Employee
{

   public int EmployeeID {get;set;}
   public string EmployeeName {get;set;}
   public int CostCenter {get;set;}
   public DateTime StartDate {get;set;}

   public Employee(int employeeID)
   {
       //Initialize values
   }

   //Also include a parameter-less construct like below
   public Employee()
   {
   }


}