Ninject-ing a dependency in Global.asax

Question

I'm starting a web application with MVC3 and Ninject. There is one dependency that I also need in the Global.asax file that needs to be a singleton.

I thought it should be like this:

public class MvcApplication : NinjectHttpApplication
{
    IUserAuthentication _auth;

    public MvcApplication()
    {
        base.AuthenticateRequest += new EventHandler(MvcApplication_AuthenticateRequest);
    }

    protected override IKernel CreateKernel()
    {
        var _kernel = new StandardKernel(new SecurityModule());
        _auth = _kernel.Get<IUserAuthentication>();

        return _kernel;
    }

    void MvcApplication_AuthenticateRequest(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        _auth.ToString();
    }

But then I saw that _auth is null when MvcApplication_AuthenticateRequest is called.

Then I tried like this:

public class MvcApplication : NinjectHttpApplication
{
    ItUserAuthentication _auth;
    IKernel _kernel;

    public MvcApplication()
    {
        _kernel = new StandardKernel(new SecurityModule());
        _auth = _kernel.Get<IUserAuthentication>();
        base.AuthenticateRequest += new EventHandler(MvcApplication_AuthenticateRequest);
    }

    protected override IKernel CreateKernel()
    {
        return _kernel;
    }

    void MvcApplication_AuthenticateRequest(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        _auth.ToString();
    }

But now I can see that the constructor is being called several times, therefore I will have several IKernel, and I guess that singleton instances won't be so singleton in my app scope.

How should I do it? Using a static variable?

Answer 1

This is how we do it, I did some testing and my AuthService seems to go in his controller only once :

public class MvcApplication : NinjectHttpApplication
    {

        public static void RegisterRoutes(RouteCollection routes)
        {
            routes.IgnoreRoute("{resource}.axd/{*pathInfo}");

            routes.MapRoute(
                "Default", // Route name
                "{controller}/{action}/{id}", // URL with parameters
                new { controller = "Home", action = "Index", id = UrlParameter.Optional } // Parameter defaults
            );

        }

        protected override IKernel CreateKernel()
        {
            var kernel = new StandardKernel();
            kernel.Load(Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly());

            kernel.Bind<ISession>().To<MongoSession>().InRequestScope();
            kernel.Bind<IAuthenticationService>().To<AuthenticationService>().InSingletonScope();
            kernel.Bind<IMailer>().To<Mailer>().InRequestScope();
            kernel.Bind<IFileProvider>().To<MongoFileProvider>().InRequestScope();

            return kernel;
        }

        protected override void OnApplicationStarted()
        {
            base.OnApplicationStarted();

            AreaRegistration.RegisterAllAreas();
            RegisterRoutes(RouteTable.Routes);
        }

        protected void Application_AuthenticateRequest(Object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            if (HttpContext.Current.User != null)
            {
                if (HttpContext.Current.User.Identity.IsAuthenticated)
                {
                    if (HttpContext.Current.User.Identity is FormsIdentity)
                    {
                        var id = (FormsIdentity) HttpContext.Current.User.Identity;
                        var ticket = id.Ticket;
                        var authToken = ticket.UserData;
                        var authService = (IAuthenticationService)DependencyResolver.Current.GetService(typeof(IAuthenticationService));
                        var user = authService.GetUserForAuthToken(authToken);
                        if (user != null)
                        {
                            user.SetIdentity(HttpContext.Current.User.Identity);
                            HttpContext.Current.User = (IPrincipal) user;
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        }
}

Hope it helps!

Answer 2

The MVC extension injects the HttpApplication by default. But only property injection can be used! So just add a property decorated with the Inject attribute.

Answer 3

When you initialise IOC, in ASP.NET MVC if you set the dependency resolver, for example with Simple Injector:

DependencyResolver.SetResolver(new SimpleInjectorDependencyResolver(container));

Then in global.asax you can just use the DependencyResolver to get the service, e.g.

var penTestService = DependencyResolver.Current.GetService<IPenTestService>();

Answer 4

Move the code from the constructor to Application_Start method. I believe even if multiple HttpApplication instances are created, Application_Start is called only once, and that too on the 1st instance only. Let me know if it has solved your problem.

These are the various event handlers you can potentially have in your Global.asax.cs :

public class Global : System.Web.HttpApplication
{
    public Global()
    {
        InitializeComponent();
    }   

    protected void Application_Start(Object sender, EventArgs e)
    {

    }

    protected void Session_Start(Object sender, EventArgs e)
    {

    }

    protected void Application_BeginRequest(Object sender, EventArgs e)
    {

    }

    protected void Application_EndRequest(Object sender, EventArgs e)
    {

    }

    protected void Application_AuthenticateRequest(Object sender, EventArgs e)
    {

    }

    protected void Application_Error(Object sender, EventArgs e)
    {

    }

    protected void Session_End(Object sender, EventArgs e)
    {

    }

    protected void Application_End(Object sender, EventArgs e)
    {

    }

    #region Web Form Designer generated code
    /// <summary>
    /// Required method for Designer support - do not modify
    /// the contents of this method with the code editor.
    /// </summary>
    private void InitializeComponent()
    {    
    }
    #endregion
}

Answer 5

Can you use the HttpApplication.Appliction property?

public class MyHttpApplication : System.Web.HttpApplication
{
    protected void Application_Start()
    {
        this.Application["auth"] = GetAuthFromContainer();
    }

    protected void Application_AuthenticateRequest()
    {
        IUserAuthentication auth = (IUserAuthentication)this.Application["auth"]; 
        // auth != null
    }
}