Base controller from another class library doesn't working in web api

Question

I have two Web API projects and I have a MarketController and I need to extend the Api controller so I did it.

I created a BaseController class

Answer 1

No need to implement custom ControllerFactory or AssemblyResolver classes. This scenario will "just work" provided you add the Microsoft.AspNet.WebApi.Core nuget package to the assembly containing the base class.

In my case I'd just added a reference to the System.Web.Http.dll which will compile, but the controllers will not load properly. Adding the Nuget package got everything working with no code changes.

Answer 2

By default MVC looks for all controllers in same assembly of mvc application. The default controller factory creates controller instance based on string 'ControllerName+Controller' like MarketController where market comes from url market/actionname.It will look for MarketController in the same assembly as mvc application.

To put controller in separate assembly you will have to create your own controller factory or you will have to specify assembly name is app start.

Once you've created your own custom ControllerFactory, you add the following line to Application_Start in global.asax to tell the framework where to find it:

ControllerBuilder.Current.SetControllerFactory(new MyControllerFactory());

Or for simple cases like yours you can do this :

routes.MapRoute(
    "Default",
    "{controller}/{action}/{id}",
    new { controller = "Home", action = "Index", id = "" },
    new[] { "BLLAssembly.Controllers" }
);

Here BLLAssembly.Controllers is namespace for your BaseController in BLL assembly.

There is one more advanced way using custom assembly resolver ,i.e IAssembliesResolver The below article tells how to do this with Web Api also,

http://www.strathweb.com/2012/06/using-controllers-from-an-external-assembly-in-asp-net-web-api/