Why is my static class not being initialized in ASP.NET MVC?

Question

I have a ASP.NET MVC project that has a static class in it to initialize some AutoMapper mappings:

static class AutoMappingConfiguration
{
    static AutoMappingConfiguration()
    {
        SetupMappings();
    }

    static void SetupMappings()
    {
        AutoMap.CreateMap<Product, ProductDTO>();
        // more mappings
    }
}

Setting a breakpoint in the static constructor shows me that it's never hit when I run the project. I have to explicitly call the method in MvcApplication.Application_Start():

AutoMappingConfiguration.SetupMappings();

Does anyone know why this static class is not being constructed by ASP.NET MVC? Does this have to do with the 'on-the-fly compilation' nature of IIS? If so, do I have to explicitly call the static method, or is there some way of configuring the project to initialize static classes?

Answer 1

The static constructor isn't called unless either an instance of the class is created or any static method is called, that's the documented/expected behavior. So you'll have to call that static method (or any other method in the class) to get it called.