How do I access the autofac container in ASP.NET MVC3 controller?

Question

I would like to resolve a dependency using a named parameter in an MVC controller. If I can access the Autofac container I should be able to do it like so:

var service = Container.Resolve<IService>(
    new NamedParameter("fileExtension", dupExt)
);

I can't find out how to access the AutoFac container. Is there a global reference to the container that I can use or is there another way to use named parameters?

Solution 1

I've just discovered I can use IComponentContext for the same thing. You can inject an instance of IComponentContext into the controller.

public class MyController : Controller
{
    private readonly IComponentContext _icoContext;

    public void MyController(IComponentContext icoContext)
    {
        _icoContext= icoContext;
    }

    public ActionResult Index()
    {
        var service = _icoContext.Resolve<IService>(
            new NamedParameter("ext", "txt")
        );
    }
}

I've found some good advice on getting global access to the container in this question: Autofac in web applications, where should I store the container for easy access?

I've also found how to get access to the dependency resolver globally here: Global access to autofac dependency resolver in ASP.NET MVC3?

Solution 2

AutofacDependencyResolver.Current.ApplicationContainer

.Resolve

.ResolveNamed

.ResolveKeyed

.....

Comments

[Wojteq]

You should't do that. It's a bad practice. Instead of service locator approach it's better to do constructor injection. Simply inject IService to the constructor and use the injected instace as a class fiel

[Richard Garside]

How can I use named parameters with that approach?

[Wojteq]

You can get something similar using Factory delegate: code.google.com/p/autofac/wiki/DelegateFactories

[Joris Meys]

You might want to flesh out your response a bit. Just posting a few names is not that helpful for most people.

[Wei Ma]

I think his answer is actually helping. I got my problem resolved with this answer.

[PaulG]

Well, I did not. I think this answer should be improved.