SelfHosted AspNet WebAPI With Controller Classes In Different Project - asp.net-web-api

Question

I have created a SelfHosted AspNet WebAPI with Visual Studio 2012 (.NET Framework 4.5). I enabled SSL for the WebAPI. It works fine when the controller is defined in the same project.
But when I add a reference of another project, containing controllers, it gives me the following error:
No HTTP resource was found that matches the request URI 'https://xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx:xxxx/hellowebapi/tests/'.
I have created custom classes for HttpSelfHostConfiguration and MessageHandler.
Any help to resolve this problem would be a great time-savor for me.
Thanking in advance.

Answer 1

You can write a simple custom assemblies resolver which makes sure that your referenced assembly is loaded for the controller probing to work.
Following is a nice post from Filip regarding this:
http://www.strathweb.com/2012/06/using-controllers-from-an-external-assembly-in-asp-net-web-api/
Sample:
class Program
{
static HttpSelfHostServer CreateHost(string address)
{
// Create normal config
HttpSelfHostConfiguration config = new HttpSelfHostConfiguration(address);
// Set our own assembly resolver where we add the assemblies we need
CustomAssembliesResolver assemblyResolver = new CustomAssembliesResolver();
config.Services.Replace(typeof(IAssembliesResolver), assemblyResolver);
// Add a route
config.Routes.MapHttpRoute(
name: "default",
routeTemplate: "api/{controller}/{id}",
defaults: new { controller = "Home", id = RouteParameter.Optional });
HttpSelfHostServer server = new HttpSelfHostServer(config);
server.OpenAsync().Wait();
Console.WriteLine("Listening on " + address);
return server;
}
static void Main(string[] args)
{
// Create and open our host
HttpSelfHostServer server = CreateHost("http://localhost:8080");
Console.WriteLine("Hit ENTER to exit...");
Console.ReadLine();
}
}
public class CustomAssembliesResolver : DefaultAssembliesResolver
{
public override ICollection<Assembly> GetAssemblies()
{
ICollection<Assembly> baseAssemblies = base.GetAssemblies();
List<Assembly> assemblies = new List<Assembly>(baseAssemblies);
var controllersAssembly = Assembly.LoadFrom(#"C:\libs\controllers\ControllersLibrary.dll");
baseAssemblies.Add(controllersAssembly);
return assemblies;
}
}