Azure Functions binding redirect

Question

Is it possible to include a web.config or app.config file in the azure functions folder structure to allow assembly binding redirects?

Answer 1

First SO post, so apologies if formatting's a bit off.

We've hit this issue a couple of times and managed to find a better way of getting the required redirects by forcing MSBUILD to generate a binding redirects file and then parsing that to be used with the previously suggested answer.

Modify the project settings and add in a couple of targets:

<Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk">
  <PropertyGroup>
    ...
    <AutoGenerateBindingRedirects>True</AutoGenerateBindingRedirects>
    <GenerateBindingRedirectsOutputType>true</GenerateBindingRedirectsOutputType>
    ...
  </PropertyGroup>
</Project>

These classes apply the binding redirects using the same idea that was posted earlier (link) except instead of using the host.json file it reads from the generated binding redirects file. The filename to use is from reflection using the ExecutingAssembly.

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Globalization;
using System.IO;
using System.Reflection;
using System.Xml.Serialization;

 public static class AssemblyBindingRedirectHelper
    {
        private static FunctionRedirectBindings _redirects;

        public static void ConfigureBindingRedirects()
        {
            // Only load the binding redirects once
            if (_redirects != null)
                return;

            _redirects = new FunctionRedirectBindings();

            foreach (var redirect in _redirects.BindingRedirects)
            {
                RedirectAssembly(redirect);
            }
        }

        public static void RedirectAssembly(BindingRedirect bindingRedirect)
        {
            ResolveEventHandler handler = null;

            handler = (sender, args) =>
            {
                var requestedAssembly = new AssemblyName(args.Name);

                if (requestedAssembly.Name != bindingRedirect.ShortName)
                {
                    return null;
                }

                var targetPublicKeyToken = new AssemblyName("x, PublicKeyToken=" + bindingRedirect.PublicKeyToken).GetPublicKeyToken();
                requestedAssembly.Version = new Version(bindingRedirect.RedirectToVersion);
                requestedAssembly.SetPublicKeyToken(targetPublicKeyToken);
                requestedAssembly.CultureInfo = CultureInfo.InvariantCulture;

                AppDomain.CurrentDomain.AssemblyResolve -= handler;

                return Assembly.Load(requestedAssembly);
            };

            AppDomain.CurrentDomain.AssemblyResolve += handler;
        }
    }

    public class FunctionRedirectBindings
    {
        public HashSet<BindingRedirect> BindingRedirects { get; } = new HashSet<BindingRedirect>();

        public FunctionRedirectBindings()
        {
            var assm = Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly();
            var bindingRedirectFileName = $"{assm.GetName().Name}.dll.config";
            var dir = Path.Combine(Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("HOME"), @"site\wwwroot");
            var fullPath = Path.Combine(dir, bindingRedirectFileName);

            if(!File.Exists(fullPath))
                throw new ArgumentException($"Could not find binding redirect file. Path:{fullPath}");

            var xml = ReadFile<configuration>(fullPath);
            TransformData(xml);
        }

        private T ReadFile<T>(string path)
        {
            using (StreamReader reader = new StreamReader(path))
            {
                var serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(T));
                var obj = (T)serializer.Deserialize(reader);
                reader.Close();
                return obj;
            }
        }

        private void TransformData(configuration xml)
        {
            foreach(var item in xml.runtime)
            {
                var br = new BindingRedirect
                {
                    ShortName = item.dependentAssembly.assemblyIdentity.name,
                    PublicKeyToken = item.dependentAssembly.assemblyIdentity.publicKeyToken,
                    RedirectToVersion = item.dependentAssembly.bindingRedirect.newVersion
                };
                BindingRedirects.Add(br);
            }
        }
    }

    public class BindingRedirect
    {
        public string ShortName { get; set; }
        public string PublicKeyToken { get; set; }
        public string RedirectToVersion { get; set; }
    }

Xml classes to use to deserialise the generated binding redirect file into something easier to use. These were generated from the binding redirects file by using VS2017 "paste special -> paste xml as classes" so feel free to roll your own if needed.

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Globalization;
using System.IO;
using System.Reflection;
using System.Xml.Serialization;

// NOTE: Generated code may require at least .NET Framework 4.5 or .NET Core/Standard 2.0.
[System.SerializableAttribute()]
[System.ComponentModel.DesignerCategoryAttribute("code")]
[System.Xml.Serialization.XmlTypeAttribute(AnonymousType = true)]
[System.Xml.Serialization.XmlRootAttribute(Namespace = "", IsNullable = false)]
public partial class configuration
{

    [System.Xml.Serialization.XmlArrayItemAttribute("assemblyBinding", Namespace = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1", IsNullable = false)]
    public assemblyBinding[] runtime { get; set; }
}

[System.SerializableAttribute()]
[System.ComponentModel.DesignerCategoryAttribute("code")]
[System.Xml.Serialization.XmlTypeAttribute(AnonymousType = true, Namespace = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1")]
[System.Xml.Serialization.XmlRootAttribute(Namespace = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1", IsNullable = false)]
public partial class assemblyBinding
{

    public assemblyBindingDependentAssembly dependentAssembly { get; set; }
}

[System.SerializableAttribute()]
[System.ComponentModel.DesignerCategoryAttribute("code")]
[System.Xml.Serialization.XmlTypeAttribute(AnonymousType = true, Namespace = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1")]
public partial class assemblyBindingDependentAssembly
{

    public assemblyBindingDependentAssemblyAssemblyIdentity assemblyIdentity { get; set; }

    public assemblyBindingDependentAssemblyBindingRedirect bindingRedirect { get; set; }
}

[System.SerializableAttribute()]
[System.ComponentModel.DesignerCategoryAttribute("code")]
[System.Xml.Serialization.XmlTypeAttribute(AnonymousType = true, Namespace = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1")]
public partial class assemblyBindingDependentAssemblyAssemblyIdentity
{

    [System.Xml.Serialization.XmlAttributeAttribute()]
    public string name { get; set; }

    [System.Xml.Serialization.XmlAttributeAttribute()]
    public string publicKeyToken { get; set; }

    [System.Xml.Serialization.XmlAttributeAttribute()]
    public string culture { get; set; }
}

[System.SerializableAttribute()]
[System.ComponentModel.DesignerCategoryAttribute("code")]
[System.Xml.Serialization.XmlTypeAttribute(AnonymousType = true, Namespace = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1")]
public partial class assemblyBindingDependentAssemblyBindingRedirect
{

    [System.Xml.Serialization.XmlAttributeAttribute()]
    public string oldVersion { get; set; }

    [System.Xml.Serialization.XmlAttributeAttribute()]
    public string newVersion { get; set; }
}

Answer 2

Just posted a new blog post explaining how to fix the problem, have a look:

https://codopia.wordpress.com/2017/07/21/how-to-fix-the-assembly-binding-redirect-problem-in-azure-functions/

It's actually a tweaked version of the JoeBrockhaus's code, that works well even for Newtonsoft.Json.dll

Answer 3

It is not directly possible today, but we are thinking about ways to achieve this. Can you please open an issue on https://github.com/Azure/azure-webjobs-sdk-script/issues to make sure your specific scenario is looked at? Thanks!

Answer 4

Here's an alternate solution for when you want the exact version of a particular assembly. With this code, you can easily deploy the assemblies that are missing:

public static class AssemblyHelper
{
    //--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    /// <summary>
    /// Redirection hack because Azure functions don't support it.
    /// How to use:  
    ///     If you get an error that a certain version of a dll can't be found:
    ///         1) deploy that particular dll in any project subfolder 
    ///         2) In your azure function static constructor, Call 
    ///             AssemblyHelper.IncludeSupplementalDllsWhenBinding()
    ///         
    /// This will hook the binding calls and look for a matching dll anywhere 
    /// in the $HOME folder tree.  
    /// </summary>
    //--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    public static void IncludeSupplementalDllsWhenBinding()
    {
        var searching = false;

        AppDomain.CurrentDomain.AssemblyResolve += (sender, args) =>
        {
            // This prevents a stack overflow
            if(searching) return null;
            var requestedAssembly = new AssemblyName(args.Name);
            searching = true;

            Assembly foundAssembly = null;
            try
            {
                foundAssembly = Assembly.Load(requestedAssembly);
            }
            catch(Exception e)
            {
                Debug.WriteLine($"Could not load assembly: {args.Name} because {e.Message}");
            }

            searching  = false;

            if(foundAssembly == null)
            {
                var home = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("HOME") ?? ".";

                var possibleFiles = Directory.GetFiles(home, requestedAssembly.Name + ".dll", SearchOption.AllDirectories);
                foreach (var file in possibleFiles)
                {
                    var possibleAssembly = AssemblyName.GetAssemblyName(file);
                    if (possibleAssembly.Version == requestedAssembly.Version)
                    {
                        foundAssembly = Assembly.Load(possibleAssembly);
                        break;
                    }
                }
            }

            return foundAssembly;
        };
    }
}

Answer 5

Assuming you are using the latest (June'17) Visual Studio 2017 Function Tooling, I derived a somewhat-reasonable config-based solution for this following a snippet of code posted by npiasecki over on Issue #992.

It would be ideal if this were managed through the framework, but at least being configuration-driven you have a bit more change isolation. I suppose you could also use some pre-build steps or T4 templating that reconciles the versions of the nugets in the project (and their dependencies) before writing out this config or generating code.

So the downside..

.. becomes having to remember to update the BindingRedirects config when you update the NuGet package (this is often a problem in app.configs anyway). You may also have an issue with the config-driven solution if you need to redirect Newtonsoft.

In our case, we were using the new Azure Fluent NuGet that had a dependency on an older version of Microsoft.IdentityModel.Clients.ActiveDirectory than the version of the normal ARM management libraries which are used side-by-side in a particular Function.

local.settings.json

{
    "IsEncrypted": false,
    "Values": {
        "BindingRedirects": "[ { \"ShortName\": \"Microsoft.IdentityModel.Clients.ActiveDirectory\", \"RedirectToVersion\": \"3.13.9.1126\", \"PublicKeyToken\": \"31bf3856ad364e35\" } ]"
    }
}

FunctionUtilities.cs

using Newtonsoft.Json;
using Newtonsoft.Json.Linq;
using System;
using System.Globalization;
using System.Linq;
using System.Reflection;

namespace Rackspace.AzureFunctions
{
    public static class FunctionUtilities
        {
            public class BindingRedirect
            {
                public string ShortName { get; set; }
                public string PublicKeyToken { get; set; }
                public string RedirectToVersion { get; set; }
            }

            public static void ConfigureBindingRedirects()
            {
                var config = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("BindingRedirects");
                var redirects = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<List<BindingRedirect>>(config);
                redirects.ForEach(RedirectAssembly);
            }

            public static void RedirectAssembly(BindingRedirect bindingRedirect)
            {
                ResolveEventHandler handler = null;

                handler = (sender, args) =>
                {
                    var requestedAssembly = new AssemblyName(args.Name);

                    if (requestedAssembly.Name != bindingRedirect.ShortName)
                    {
                        return null;
                    }

                    var targetPublicKeyToken = new AssemblyName("x, PublicKeyToken=" + bindingRedirect.PublicKeyToken)
                        .GetPublicKeyToken();
                    requestedAssembly.Version = new Version(bindingRedirect.RedirectToVersion);
                    requestedAssembly.SetPublicKeyToken(targetPublicKeyToken);
                    requestedAssembly.CultureInfo = CultureInfo.InvariantCulture;

                    AppDomain.CurrentDomain.AssemblyResolve -= handler;

                    return Assembly.Load(requestedAssembly);
                };

                AppDomain.CurrentDomain.AssemblyResolve += handler;
            }
        }
    }

Answer 6

Inspired by the accepted answer I figured I'd do a more generic one which takes into account upgrades as well.

It fetches all assemblies, orders them descending to get the newest version on top, then returns the newest version on resolve. I call this in a static constructor myself.

public static void RedirectAssembly()
{
    var list = AppDomain.CurrentDomain.GetAssemblies()
        .Select(a => a.GetName())
        .OrderByDescending(a => a.Name)
        .ThenByDescending(a => a.Version)
        .Select(a => a.FullName)
        .ToList();
    AppDomain.CurrentDomain.AssemblyResolve += (sender, args) =>
    {
        var requestedAssembly = new AssemblyName(args.Name);
        foreach (string asmName in list)
        {
            if (asmName.StartsWith(requestedAssembly.Name + ","))
            {
                return Assembly.Load(asmName);
            }
        }
        return null;
    };
}