Translate ninject ISecureDataFormat binding to Autofac

Question

I am migrating a large codebase from Ninject to Autofac and am struggling on one of the bindings that I believe is causing an activation error based on some of my debugging.

Ninject:

Bind<ISecureDataFormat<AuthenticationTicket>>()
     .ToMethod(context =>
         {
             var owinContext = context.Kernel.Get<IOwinContext>();
             return owinContext
                    .Get<ISecureDataFormat<AuthenticationTicket>>("SecureDataFormat");
         });

Autofac (what I have):

builder.Register(
    context => context.Resolve<IOwinContext>()
        .Get<ISecureDataFormat<AuthenticationTicket>>("SecureDataFormat"))
        .As<ISecureDataFormat<AuthenticationTicket>>();

Startup.cs:

var container = RegisterIoC(app, config);

public IContainer RegisterIoC(IAppBuilder app, HttpConfiguration config)
    {
        var builder = new ContainerBuilder();
        builder = RegisterDependencies(builder);
        builder = RegisterFilters(builder, config);

        /*builder.RegisterModule<DebuggingRequestModule>();*/

        var container = builder.Build();

        DependencyResolver.SetResolver(new AutofacDependencyResolver(container));
        config.DependencyResolver = new AutofacWebApiDependencyResolver(container);

        app.UseAutofacMiddleware(container);
        app.UseAutofacMvc();
        app.UseAutofacWebApi(config);
        app.UseWebApi(config);

        return container;
    }

More:

builder.RegisterModule<ApiDependencyModule>().RegisterModule<AutofacWebTypesModule>();
builder.RegisterApiControllers(Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly());
builder.RegisterApiControllers(typeof(AccountController).Assembly);

(seemingly) associated constructors:

AccountController.cs:

public AccountController(ILoginService loginService,
                             IBearerTokenStore tokenStore,
                             IRememberMeCookieService rememberMeCookieService,
                             IInternalSsoChallenge ssoChallenge)
{
}

LoginService.cs:

public LoginService(IBearerTokenStore tokenStore, 
        IGrantTypeProvider grantProvider, 
        IRememberMeCookieService rememberMeCookieService)
{
}

BearerTokenCookieStore.cs:

public BearerTokenCookieStore(IOwinContext owinContext, ISecureDataFormat<AuthenticationTicket> secureDataFormat, IAppSettingsReader appSettingsReader, ICookieService cookieService)
{
}

I have a logging module that is helping me debug, and this is the message list I have:

Resolving  _______.Login.Controllers.AccountController
--Resolving  _______.ApiGateway.Services.Auth.LoginService
----Resolving  _______.ApiGateway.Security.OAuth.BearerTokenCookieStore
------Resolving  Microsoft.Owin.Security.DataHandler.SecureDataFormat`1[Microsoft.Owin.Security.AuthenticationTicket]
Exception thrown: 'Autofac.Core.DependencyResolutionException' in Autofac.dll
Exception thrown: 'Autofac.Core.DependencyResolutionException' in Autofac.dll
Exception thrown: 'Autofac.Core.DependencyResolutionException' in Autofac.dll
The thread 0x1014 has exited with code 0 (0x0).

Edit:

The exception I am seeing:

An error occurred during the activation of a particular registration.
See the inner exception for details. Registration: 
Activator = AccountController (DelegateActivator), 
Services = [____.Login.Controllers.AccountController], 
Lifetime = Autofac.Core.Lifetime.CurrentScopeLifetime, 
Sharing = None, 
Ownership = ExternallyOwned ---> 
An error occurred during the activation of a particular registration. 
See the inner exception for details. 
Registration: 
Activator = AccountController (ReflectionActivator), 
Services = [____.Login.Controllers.AccountController], 
Lifetime = Autofac.Core.Lifetime.CurrentScopeLifetime, 
Sharing = None, Ownership = OwnedByLifetimeScope ---> An error occurred during the activation of a particular registration. 
See the inner exception for details. 
Registration: 
Activator = LoginService (DelegateActivator), 
    Services = [____.ApiGateway.Services.Auth.ILoginService],
Lifetime = Autofac.Core.Lifetime.CurrentScopeLifetime,
Sharing = None,
Ownership = ExternallyOwned ---> An error occurred during the activation of a particular registration. See the inner exception for details. Registration: Activator = LoginService (ReflectionActivator),
Services = [____.ApiGateway.Services.Auth.ILoginService],
Lifetime = Autofac.Core.Lifetime.CurrentScopeLifetime,
Sharing = None,
Ownership = OwnedByLifetimeScope ---> An error occurred during the activation of a particular registration. See the inner exception for details. Registration: Activator = BearerTokenCookieStore (DelegateActivator),
Services = [____.ApiGateway.Security.OAuth.IBearerTokenStore],
Lifetime = Autofac.Core.Lifetime.CurrentScopeLifetime,
Sharing = None,
Ownership = ExternallyOwned ---> An error occurred during the activation of a particular registration. See the inner exception for details. Registration: Activator = BearerTokenCookieStore (ReflectionActivator),
Services = [____.ApiGateway.Security.OAuth.IBearerTokenStore],
Lifetime = Autofac.Core.Lifetime.CurrentScopeLifetime,
Sharing = Shared,
Ownership = OwnedByLifetimeScope ---> An error occurred during the activation of a particular registration. See the inner exception for details. Registration: Activator = ISecureDataFormat`1 (DelegateActivator),
Services = [Microsoft.Owin.Security.ISecureDataFormat`1[[Microsoft.Owin.Security.AuthenticationTicket,
Microsoft.Owin.Security,
Version=3.0.1.0,
Culture=neutral,
PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35]]],
Lifetime = Autofac.Core.Lifetime.CurrentScopeLifetime,
Sharing = None,
Ownership = ExternallyOwned ---> An error occurred during the activation of a particular registration. See the inner exception for details. Registration: Activator = ISecureDataFormat`1 (DelegateActivator),
Services = [Microsoft.Owin.Security.ISecureDataFormat`1[[Microsoft.Owin.Security.AuthenticationTicket,
Microsoft.Owin.Security,
Version=3.0.1.0,
Culture=neutral,
PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35]]],
Lifetime = Autofac.Core.Lifetime.CurrentScopeLifetime,
Sharing = None,
Ownership = OwnedByLifetimeScope ---> A delegate registered to create instances of 'Microsoft.Owin.Security.ISecureDataFormat`1[Microsoft.Owin.Security.AuthenticationTicket]' returned null. (See inner exception for details.) (See inner exception for details.) (See inner exception for details.) (See inner exception for details.) (See inner exception for details.) (See inner exception for details.) (See inner exception for details.) (See inner exception for details.)

Inner most:

A delegate registered to create instances of 'Microsoft.Owin.Security.ISecureDataFormat`1[Microsoft.Owin.Security.AuthenticationTicket]' returned null.

Answer 1

The migration from Ninject to Autofac seems to be correct, but the binding for the ISecureDataFormat<AuthenticationTicket> interface may not be working as expected, leading to an activation error in some dependencies. Based on the debugging messages, the BearerTokenCookieStore class is failing to resolve this dependency.

In the Ninject version, ISecureDataFormat<AuthenticationTicket> is bound to a method that retrieves the IOwinContext instance and uses it to resolve the ISecureDataFormat<AuthenticationTicket> named "SecureDataFormat." However, in the Autofac version, the ISecureDataFormat<AuthenticationTicket> instance is directly resolved using the IOwinContext instance, but no name is provided.

It's possible that the ISecureDataFormat<AuthenticationTicket> named "SecureDataFormat" is not being registered correctly in the Autofac container. To fix this, you can try registering the named instance explicitly using the Named extension method:

builder.Register(context =>
context.Resolve<IOwinContext>()
    .Get<ISecureDataFormat<AuthenticationTicket>>("SecureDataFormat"))
    .Named<ISecureDataFormat<AuthenticationTicket>>("SecureDataFormat");

builder.Register(context =>
    context.ResolveNamed<ISecureDataFormat<AuthenticationTicket>>("SecureDataFormat"))
    .As<ISecureDataFormat<AuthenticationTicket>>();

Then, in the BearerTokenCookieStore constructor, you can resolve the named instance like this:

public BearerTokenCookieStore(
    IOwinContext owinContext,
    [Named("SecureDataFormat")] ISecureDataFormat<AuthenticationTicket> secureDataFormat,
    IAppSettingsReader appSettingsReader,
    ICookieService cookieService)
{ }

This should ensure that the BearerTokenCookieStore class correctly resolves the ISecureDataFormat<AuthenticationTicket> named "SecureDataFormat" and that it is used by other dependencies that require it.

Answer 2

We can use autofac with those c# owin inversion-of-control (ninject to autofac) like below, genericly

Startup.cs

public partial class Startup
    {
        public void Configuration(IAppBuilder app)
        {

            var config = new HttpConfiguration();
            WebApiConfig.Register(config);    

            ConfigureIoC(app, config);
            Components.Config();

            Auth.ConfigureForApi(app);

            app.UseAutofacWebApi(config);
            app.UseCors(CorsOptions.AllowAll);
            app.UseWebApi(config);
            config.EnsureInitialized();
        }

        private void ConfigureIoC(IAppBuilder app, HttpConfiguration config)
        {
            IoC.RegisterModules(
                builder =>
                {
                    builder.Register<IAuthenticationManager>(c => c.Resolve<IOwinContext>().Authentication).InstancePerRequest();
                    builder.Register<IDataProtectionProvider>(c => app.GetDataProtectionProvider()).InstancePerRequest();
                    builder.RegisterApiControllers(typeof(Startup).Assembly).PropertiesAutowired();
                },
                container =>
                {
                    config.DependencyResolver = new AutofacWebApiDependencyResolver(container);
                    app.UseAutofacMiddleware(container);

                },
                true
                );
        }

    }

WebApiConfig.cs

public static class WebApiConfig
{
    public static void Register(HttpConfiguration config)
    {
        config.MapHttpAttributeRoutes();

        config.Routes.MapHttpRoute(
            name: "DefaultApi",
            routeTemplate: "api/{controller}/{id}",
            defaults: new { id = RouteParameter.Optional }
        );

    }
}

Component config:

public static class Components
{
    public static void Config() {
        TypeAdapterConfig.GlobalSettings.AllowImplicitDestinationInheritance = true;
        var registers = new List<IRegister>();
        registers.Add(new DtoMapping());
        registers.Add(new MappingRegistration());
        TypeAdapterConfig.GlobalSettings.Apply(registers);

        ObjectMapper.Current = new MapsterAdapter();
        DbConfiguration.Loaded += DbConfiguration_Loaded;

        var r = new Registrations();
        r.Run();
    }


    private static void DbConfiguration_Loaded(object sender, System.Data.Entity.Infrastructure.DependencyResolution.DbConfigurationLoadedEventArgs e)
    {
        e.ReplaceService<DbProviderServices>((s, k) => System.Data.Entity.SqlServer.SqlProviderServices.Instance);
    }

}

Authentication:

public class Auth
    {
        public static void ConfigureForMvc(IAppBuilder app)
        {
            app.UseCookieAuthentication(new CookieAuthenticationOptions
            {
                AuthenticationType = DefaultAuthenticationTypes.ApplicationCookie,
                LoginPath = new PathString("/Login"),

                Provider = new CookieAuthenticationProvider
                {
                    OnValidateIdentity = SecurityStampValidator.OnValidateIdentity<ApplicationUserManager, UserEntity, int>(
                        validateInterval: TimeSpan.FromMinutes(30),
                        regenerateIdentityCallback: (manager, user) =>
                        user.GenerateUserIdentityAsync(manager, DefaultAuthenticationTypes.ApplicationCookie),
                        getUserIdCallback: (Identity) => Identity.GetUserId<int>())
                }
            });
        }

        public static void ConfigureForApi(IAppBuilder app)
        {
            var OAuthServerOptions = new OAuthAuthorizationServerOptions()
            {
                AllowInsecureHttp = true,
                TokenEndpointPath = new PathString("/oauth2/token"),
                AccessTokenExpireTimeSpan = TimeSpan.FromMinutes(120),
                Provider = new CustomOAuthProvider(),
                AccessTokenFormat = new CustomJwtFormat(ConfigConstants.Issuer)
            };

            app.UseOAuthAuthorizationServer(OAuthServerOptions);

            app.UseJwtBearerAuthentication(
                new JwtBearerAuthenticationOptions
                {
                    AuthenticationMode = AuthenticationMode.Active,
                    AllowedAudiences = new[] { ConfigConstants.AudienceId },
                    IssuerSecurityTokenProviders = new IIssuerSecurityTokenProvider[]
                    {
                        new SymmetricKeyIssuerSecurityTokenProvider(ConfigConstants.Issuer, ConfigConstants.AudienceSecurityKey)
                    }
                });

        }
    }

Answer 3

Program.cs

builder.Host.ConfigureContainer<ContainerBuilder>(builder => builder.RegisterModule(new AutofacBusinessModule()));

AutoMapperProfil.cs

namespace BusinessKatman.AutoMappers
{
    public class AutoMapperProfil : Profile
    {
        public AutoMapperProfil()
        {
            CreateMap<PageVM, Page>().ReverseMap();
 }
    }
}

Controllers

private readonly IMapper _mapper;
 public AutoIllerManager(IMapper mapper)
        {            
            _mapper = mapper;
        }
 public IActionResult GetPageDetail
{
var p = _mapper.Map<PageVM>(result);

//and

var p = _mapper.Map<Page>(result);

// list

var p = _mapper.Map<List<Page>>(result);
}