Ninject ToFactory works in Resharper unit tests, but not NCrunch

Question

I'm using Ninject.Extensions.Factory with Ninject 3 to create a factory, which creates different types of IFoo based on the string provided to the factory. I've got a passing unit test, but oddly, only in the Resharper test runner. In the NCrunch test runner it fails. Is this a NCrunch config issue, or do I need to change the code?

The interface:

public interface IFooFactory
{
    IFoo CreateFoo(string name);
}

The Ninject bindings:

kernel.Bind<IFooFactory>().ToFactory(() => new UseFirstParameterAsNameInstanceProvider());
kernel.Bind<IFoo>().To<BarFoo>().Named("Bar");

The test:

[Test]
public void CanCreateFooTest()
{
    var factory = (IFooFactory) Kernel.GetService(typeof(IFooFactory));
    var bar = factory.CreateFoo("Bar");
    Assert.AreEqual(typeof(BarFoo), bar.GetType());
}

And the NCrunch exception:

System.Reflection.TargetInvocationException : Exception has been thrown by the target of an invocation.
  ----> Ninject.ActivationException : Error activating IInterceptor using conditional implicit self-binding of IInterceptor
Provider returned null.
Activation path:
  2) Injection of dependency IInterceptor into parameter  of constructor of type IFooFactoryProxy
  1) Request for IFooFactory

Suggestions:
  1) Ensure that the provider handles creation requests properly.

   at System.RuntimeMethodHandle._InvokeMethodFast(IRuntimeMethodInfo method, Object target, Object[] arguments, SignatureStruct& sig, MethodAttributes methodAttributes, RuntimeType typeOwner)
   at System.RuntimeMethodHandle.InvokeMethodFast(IRuntimeMethodInfo method, Object target, Object[] arguments, Signature sig, MethodAttributes methodAttributes, RuntimeType typeOwner)
   at System.Reflection.RuntimeMethodInfo.Invoke(Object obj, BindingFlags invokeAttr, Binder binder, Object[] parameters, CultureInfo culture, Boolean skipVisibilityChecks)
   at System.Reflection.RuntimeMethodInfo.Invoke(Object obj, BindingFlags invokeAttr, Binder binder, Object[] parameters, CultureInfo culture)
   at Ninject.Infrastructure.Language.ExtensionsForIEnumerable.ToArraySlow(IEnumerable series, Type elementType) in c:\Projects\Ninject\ninject\src\Ninject\Infrastructure\Language\ExtensionsForIEnumerable.cs:line 29
   at Ninject.Planning.Targets.Target`1.ResolveWithin(IContext parent) in c:\Projects\Ninject\ninject\src\Ninject\Planning\Targets\Target.cs:line 149
   at Ninject.Activation.Providers.StandardProvider.GetValue(IContext context, ITarget target) in c:\Projects\Ninject\ninject\src\Ninject\Activation\Providers\StandardProvider.cs:line 114
   at Ninject.Activation.Providers.StandardProvider.<>c__DisplayClass4.<Create>b__2(ITarget target) in c:\Projects\Ninject\ninject\src\Ninject\Activation\Providers\StandardProvider.cs:line 96
   at System.Linq.Enumerable.WhereSelectArrayIterator`2.MoveNext()
   at System.Linq.Buffer`1..ctor(IEnumerable`1 source)
   at System.Linq.Enumerable.ToArray[TSource](IEnumerable`1 source)
   at Ninject.Activation.Providers.StandardProvider.Create(IContext context) in c:\Projects\Ninject\ninject\src\Ninject\Activation\Providers\StandardProvider.cs:line 95
   at Ninject.Activation.Context.Resolve() in c:\Projects\Ninject\ninject\src\Ninject\Activation\Context.cs:line 157
   at Ninject.KernelBase.<>c__DisplayClass10.<Resolve>b__c(IBinding binding) in c:\Projects\Ninject\ninject\src\Ninject\KernelBase.cs:line 386
   at System.Linq.Enumerable.WhereSelectEnumerableIterator`2.MoveNext()
   at System.Linq.Enumerable.Single[TSource](IEnumerable`1 source)
   at Ninject.KernelBase.System.IServiceProvider.GetService(Type service) in c:\Projects\Ninject\ninject\src\Ninject\KernelBase.cs:line 553
   at FooProject.Tests.CanCreateFooTest() in C:\Projects\FooProject ...
--ActivationException
   at Ninject.Activation.Context.Resolve() in c:\Projects\Ninject\ninject\src\Ninject\Activation\Context.cs:line 165
   at Ninject.KernelBase.<>c__DisplayClass10.<Resolve>b__c(IBinding binding) in c:\Projects\Ninject\ninject\src\Ninject\KernelBase.cs:line 386
   at System.Linq.Enumerable.WhereSelectListIterator`2.MoveNext()
   at System.Linq.Enumerable.<CastIterator>d__b1`1.MoveNext()
   at System.Linq.Buffer`1..ctor(IEnumerable`1 source)
   at System.Linq.Enumerable.ToArray[TSource](IEnumerable`1 source)

Bilbo

Answer 1

Here the code that works with NCrunch:

        var kernel = new StandardKernel();
        kernel.Bind<IFooFactory>().ToFactory(() => new UseFirstParameterAsNameInstanceProvider());
        kernel.Bind<IFoo>().To<BarFoo>().Named("Bar");
        kernel.Load<FuncModule>();

        var factory = kernel.Get<IFooFactory>();
        var bar = factory.CreateFoo("Bar");
        Assert.Equal(typeof(BarFoo), bar.GetType());

UPDATE

This works great, and sorts out NCrunch. However, Resharper complains that it has been loaded twice. The workaround:

    #if NCRUNCH
        Kernel.Load<FuncModule>(); 
    #endif

Margret

I won't claim it's better, but until NInject offers something like EnsureLoaded<TModule>, an alternative to the #if (if you want a different approach) is checking to see if it's already been loaded via Kernel.HasModule(typeof(FuncModule).FullName) – Robb

We hit the same issue in a project where we dynamically extract all the assemblies (including ninject) from embedded resources in the main exe. This solution works here too (manually loading FuncModule). In our case, we fixed it with @JamesManning's solution as it's an already built dll used in several places. – Earmark

Answer 2

Go into the NCrunch configuration for the unit test library and set Copy referenced assemblies to workspace to True.

Othelia

+1 This solution worked perfectly for me. Not sure if there is a large performance impact or not. – Cote

Answer 3

The FuncModule is not loaded when running with that TestRunner. This happens in case the extension is not copied to the startup directory of the executed process.

I don't NCrunch. So I can't tell you what it is doing. But most likely it copies the assemblies in a different way than the R# test runner. You could load the extensions manually but this feels like a hack.

Clem

Answer 4

I have been using harriyott's suggestion for a year or so. But then this problem happend on our TFS-Buildserver, too. So now I avoid Ninject automatically loading of all Extensions and Load them manually. This avoids the #if, #endif and the same code will run on Resharper and NCrunch:

var kernel = new StandardKernel(new NinjectSettings { LoadExtensions = false});
kernel.Load<FuncModule>();

the rest is unchanged:

kernel.Bind<IFooFactory>().ToFactory(() => new UseFirstParameterAsNameInstanceProvider());
kernel.Bind<IFoo>().To<BarFoo>().Named("Bar");

var factory = kernel.Get<IFooFactory>();
var bar = factory.CreateFoo("Bar");
Assert.Equal(typeof(BarFoo), bar.GetType());

Extraterritoriality