BuildManager throwing sporadic exception on startup of MVC app

Question

I am registering dynamic assembies upon startup of an MVC5 app using BuildManager. The assemblies are compiled in-memory using CodeDOM (CSharpCodeProvider) and not written to disk:

[assembly: WebActivatorEx.PreApplicationStartMethod(typeof(MyWebApp.MyStartup), "Start")]
[assembly: WebActivatorEx.ApplicationShutdownMethodAttribute(typeof(MyWebApp.MyStartup), "Stop")]

namespace MyWebApp
{
    public static class MyStartup
    {
        public static void Start()
        {
            System.Reflection.Assembly[] assemblies = GetDynamicAssemblies();
            System.Array.ForEach(assemblies, a => System.Web.Compilation.BuildManager.AddReferencedAssembly(a));

        }

        private static System.Reflection.Assembly[] GetDynamicAssemblies()
        {
             //create and return dynamic assemblies using Codedom here
            return new System.Reflection.Assembly[] { }; 
        }

        public static void Stop()
        {
            //do cleanup if needed
        }
    }
}

My Global.asax.cs is pretty standard:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Reflection;
using System.Web;
using System.Web.Http;
using System.Web.Mvc;
using System.Web.Optimization;
using System.Web.Routing;

namespace MyWebApp
{
    public class MvcApplication : System.Web.HttpApplication
    {
        protected void Application_Start()
        {
            AreaRegistration.RegisterAllAreas();
            GlobalConfiguration.Configure(WebApiConfig.Register);
            FilterConfig.RegisterGlobalFilters(GlobalFilters.Filters);
            RouteConfig.RegisterRoutes(RouteTable.Routes);
            BundleConfig.RegisterBundles(BundleTable.Bundles);
        }
    }
}

I am sporadically getting the following exception on startup and the debugger does not break into any of my custom code. What am I missing here?

[NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.]
   System.CodeDom.Compiler.CodeDomProvider.TryGetProbableCoreAssemblyFilePath(CompilerParameters parameters, String& coreAssemblyFilePath) +245
   Microsoft.CSharp.CSharpCodeGenerator.CmdArgsFromParameters(CompilerParameters options) +149
   Microsoft.CSharp.CSharpCodeGenerator.FromFileBatch(CompilerParameters options, String[] fileNames) +366
   Microsoft.CSharp.CSharpCodeGenerator.System.CodeDom.Compiler.ICodeCompiler.CompileAssemblyFromFileBatch(CompilerParameters options, String[] fileNames) +160
   System.CodeDom.Compiler.CodeDomProvider.CompileAssemblyFromFile(CompilerParameters options, String[] fileNames) +23
   System.Web.Compilation.AssemblyBuilder.Compile() +884
   System.Web.Compilation.BuildProvidersCompiler.PerformBuild() +9519768
   System.Web.Compilation.ApplicationBuildProvider.GetGlobalAsaxBuildResult(Boolean isPrecompiledApp) +9929000
   System.Web.Compilation.BuildManager.CompileGlobalAsax() +44
   System.Web.Compilation.BuildManager.EnsureTopLevelFilesCompiled() +269

[HttpException (0x80004005): Object reference not set to an instance of an object.]
   System.Web.Compilation.BuildManager.ReportTopLevelCompilationException() +62
   System.Web.Compilation.BuildManager.EnsureTopLevelFilesCompiled() +427
   System.Web.Compilation.BuildManager.CallAppInitializeMethod() +31
   System.Web.Hosting.HostingEnvironment.Initialize(ApplicationManager appManager, IApplicationHost appHost, IConfigMapPathFactory configMapPathFactory, HostingEnvironmentParameters hostingParameters, PolicyLevel policyLevel, Exception appDomainCreationException) +535

[HttpException (0x80004005): Object reference not set to an instance of an object.]
   System.Web.HttpRuntime.FirstRequestInit(HttpContext context) +9930508
   System.Web.HttpRuntime.EnsureFirstRequestInit(HttpContext context) +101
   System.Web.HttpRuntime.ProcessRequestNotificationPrivate(IIS7WorkerRequest wr, HttpContext context) +254

Following are the installed nuget packages for reference:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<packages>
  <package id="Antlr" version="3.4.1.9004" targetFramework="net45" />
  <package id="bootstrap" version="3.0.0" targetFramework="net45" />
  <package id="EntityFramework" version="6.1.1" targetFramework="net45" />
  <package id="jQuery" version="1.10.2" targetFramework="net45" />
  <package id="jQuery.Validation" version="1.11.1" targetFramework="net45" />
  <package id="Microsoft.AspNet.Cors" version="5.0.0" targetFramework="net45" />
  <package id="Microsoft.AspNet.Identity.Core" version="2.1.0" targetFramework="net45" />
  <package id="Microsoft.AspNet.Identity.EntityFramework" version="2.1.0" targetFramework="net45" />
  <package id="Microsoft.AspNet.Identity.Owin" version="2.1.0" targetFramework="net45" />
  <package id="Microsoft.AspNet.Mvc" version="5.2.2" targetFramework="net45" />
  <package id="Microsoft.AspNet.Razor" version="3.2.2" targetFramework="net45" />
  <package id="Microsoft.AspNet.SignalR.Core" version="2.2.0" targetFramework="net45" />
  <package id="Microsoft.AspNet.Web.Optimization" version="1.1.3" targetFramework="net45" />
  <package id="Microsoft.AspNet.WebApi" version="5.2.2" targetFramework="net45" />
  <package id="Microsoft.AspNet.WebApi.Client" version="5.2.2" targetFramework="net45" />
  <package id="Microsoft.AspNet.WebApi.Core" version="5.2.2" targetFramework="net45" />
  <package id="Microsoft.AspNet.WebApi.WebHost" version="5.2.2" targetFramework="net45" />
  <package id="Microsoft.AspNet.WebPages" version="3.2.2" targetFramework="net45" />
  <package id="Microsoft.jQuery.Unobtrusive.Validation" version="3.2.2" targetFramework="net45" />
  <package id="Microsoft.Owin" version="3.0.0" targetFramework="net45" />
  <package id="Microsoft.Owin.Cors" version="3.0.0" targetFramework="net45" />
  <package id="Microsoft.Owin.Host.SystemWeb" version="3.0.0" targetFramework="net45" />
  <package id="Microsoft.Owin.Security" version="3.0.0" targetFramework="net45" />
  <package id="Microsoft.Owin.Security.Cookies" version="3.0.0" targetFramework="net45" />
  <package id="Microsoft.Owin.Security.Facebook" version="3.0.0" targetFramework="net45" />
  <package id="Microsoft.Owin.Security.Google" version="3.0.0" targetFramework="net45" />
  <package id="Microsoft.Owin.Security.MicrosoftAccount" version="3.0.0" targetFramework="net45" />
  <package id="Microsoft.Owin.Security.OAuth" version="3.0.0" targetFramework="net45" />
  <package id="Microsoft.Owin.Security.Twitter" version="3.0.0" targetFramework="net45" />
  <package id="Microsoft.Web.Infrastructure" version="1.0.0.0" targetFramework="net45" />
  <package id="Modernizr" version="2.6.2" targetFramework="net45" />
  <package id="Newtonsoft.Json" version="6.0.4" targetFramework="net45" />
  <package id="Ninject" version="3.2.0.0" targetFramework="net45" />
  <package id="Ninject.Extensions.Conventions" version="3.2.0.0" targetFramework="net45" />
  <package id="Ninject.MVC5" version="3.2.1.0" targetFramework="net45" />
  <package id="Ninject.Web.Common" version="3.2.0.0" targetFramework="net45" />
  <package id="Ninject.Web.Common.WebHost" version="3.2.0.0" targetFramework="net45" />
  <package id="Owin" version="1.0" targetFramework="net45" />
  <package id="Respond" version="1.2.0" targetFramework="net45" />
  <package id="WebActivatorEx" version="2.0" targetFramework="net45" />
  <package id="WebGrease" version="1.5.2" targetFramework="net45" />
</packages>

[What is a `NullReferenceException` and how do I fix it?](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4660142/what-is-a-nullreferenceexception-and-how-do-i-fix-it) — Soner Gönül, Jan 27 '15 at 07:53
Ya I know what a NullRefExcepton is thanks! What I need help with is understanding the behavior of the framework given the context I have provided above! — Abhijeet Patel, Jan 27 '15 at 08:00

score 1 · Answer 1 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:10

1

For those that find this old question, it appears similar to this

ASP.NET: This method cannot be called during the application's pre-start initialization stage

Which has had more active discussion.

edited May 23 '17 at 12:10

Community

1
1

answered Apr 03 '17 at 11:43

Iain Ballard

3,628
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BuildManager throwing sporadic exception on startup of MVC app

1 Answers1