MVCSiteMapProvider gives null reference when moved to production - nullreferenceexception

Question

I am writing an MVC 4.5 application using MVCSiteMapProvider 4.4.9.0. When developing in Visual Studio running the Visual Studio Development Server, everything works as expected. However, after publishing the project to the production server, I am running into a NullReferenceException. Here is the call stack. (Sorry, not enough reputation points to post screen shot)
Server Error in '/' Application.
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Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
Description: An unhandled exception occurred during the execution of the current web request. Please review the stack trace for more information about the error and where it originated in the code.
Exception Details: System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
Source Error:
An unhandled exception was generated during the execution of the current web request. Information regarding the origin and location of the exception can be identified using the exception stack trace below.
Stack Trace:
[NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.]
MvcSiteMapProvider.Reflection.MvcSiteMapNodeAttributeDefinitionProvider.GetAttributeDefinitionsForControllers(Type type) +71
MvcSiteMapProvider.Reflection.MvcSiteMapNodeAttributeDefinitionProvider.GetMvcSiteMapNodeAttributeDefinitions(IEnumerable`1 assemblies) +168
MvcSiteMapProvider.DI.SiteMapNodeFactoryContainer.GetMvcSiteMapNodeAttributeDynamicNodeProviderNames() +105
MvcSiteMapProvider.DI.SiteMapNodeFactoryContainer.ResolveDynamicNodeProviders() +148
MvcSiteMapProvider.DI.SiteMapNodeFactoryContainer..ctor(ConfigurationSettings settings, IMvcContextFactory mvcContextFactory, IUrlPath urlPath) +306
MvcSiteMapProvider.DI.SiteMapLoaderContainer..ctor(ConfigurationSettings settings) +409
MvcSiteMapProvider.DI.Composer.Compose() +430
[TargetInvocationException: Exception has been thrown by the target of an invocation.]
System.RuntimeMethodHandle.InvokeMethod(Object target, Object[] arguments, Signature sig, Boolean constructor) +0
System.Reflection.RuntimeMethodInfo.UnsafeInvokeInternal(Object obj, Object[] parameters, Object[] arguments) +229
System.Reflection.RuntimeMethodInfo.Invoke(Object obj, BindingFlags invokeAttr, Binder binder, Object[] parameters, CultureInfo culture) +193
System.Reflection.MethodBase.Invoke(Object obj, Object[] parameters) +35
WebActivatorEx.BaseActivationMethodAttribute.InvokeMethod() +341
WebActivatorEx.ActivationManager.RunActivationMethods(Boolean designerMode) +854
WebActivatorEx.ActivationManager.RunPostStartMethods() +40
WebActivatorEx.StartMethodCallingModule.Init(HttpApplication context) +159
System.Web.HttpApplication.RegisterEventSubscriptionsWithIIS(IntPtr appContext, HttpContext context, MethodInfo[] handlers) +530
System.Web.HttpApplication.InitSpecial(HttpApplicationState state, MethodInfo[] handlers, IntPtr appContext, HttpContext context) +304
System.Web.HttpApplicationFactory.GetSpecialApplicationInstance(IntPtr appContext, HttpContext context) +404
System.Web.Hosting.PipelineRuntime.InitializeApplication(IntPtr appContext) +475
[HttpException (0x80004005): Exception has been thrown by the target of an invocation.]
System.Web.HttpRuntime.FirstRequestInit(HttpContext context) [phone]
System.Web.HttpRuntime.EnsureFirstRequestInit(HttpContext context) +159
System.Web.HttpRuntime.ProcessRequestNotificationPrivate(IIS7WorkerRequest wr, HttpContext context) [phone]
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Version Information: Microsoft .NET Framework Version:4.0.30319; ASP.NET Version:4.0.30319.17929
I have done a search on this error and the ones I have found showed a completely different call stack trace.
Here is the MVC.SiteMap
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<mvcSiteMap xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xmlns="http://mvcsitemap.codeplex.com/schemas/MvcSiteMap-File-4.0"
xsi:schemaLocation="http://mvcsitemap.codeplex.com/schemas/MvcSiteMap-File-4.0 MvcSiteMapSchema.xsd">
<mvcSiteMapNode title="Projects" controller="Project" action="Index">
<mvcSiteMapNode title="Supplier/Trade" controller="SupplierTrade" action="Index" preservedRouteParameters="pid">
<mvcSiteMapNode title="Approval Actions" controller="SupplierTrade" action="ApprovalActions" preservedRouteParameters="pid, stmid">
<mvcSiteMapNode title="Edit PMs" controller="User" action="Index" preservedRouteParameters="pid, stmid"/>
<mvcSiteMapNode title="Contractor Standard Invoice Percent" controller="ContractorStandardInvoicePercent" action="Index" preservedRouteParameters="pid, stmid"/>
<mvcSiteMapNode title="Approval Status Of CostCode" controller="ApprovalStatusOfCostCode" action="Index" preservedRouteParameters="pid, stmid"/>
</mvcSiteMapNode>
</mvcSiteMapNode>
</mvcSiteMapNode>
</mvcSiteMap>
I keep thinking that there is some configuration setting I am missing or a file that is on my dev machine but not on the production machine as version 3.3.6 works flawlessly. Any ideas?

Answer 1

The error indicates there is something wrong when MvcSiteMapProvider scans your project for [MvcSiteMapNodeAttribute] nodes. Some things you could try:
If you are not using [MvcSiteMapNodeAttribute] in your application, you can disable this scanning by setting "MvcSiteMapProvider_ScanAssembliesForSiteMapNodes" to "false" in web.config.
If you are using [MvcSiteMapNodeAttribute], make sure you add all of the assemblies where you have them defined in "MvcSiteMapProvider_IncludeAssembliesForScan", separated by commas. Make sure each name matches what is defined in the "Assembly name" field in project properties on the Application tab. This (or the "MvcSiteMapProvider_ExcludeAssembliesForScan") field is required when "MvcSiteMapProvider_ScanAssembliesForSiteMapNodes" is "true".
If you are using "MvcSiteMapProvider_ExcludeAssembliesForScan", try switching to using "MvcSiteMapProvider_IncludeAssembliesForScan" to ensure MvcSiteMapProvider isn't picking up some assemblies that it shouldn't.
Reference: Configuring MvcSiteMapProvider