MVC4

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Simple fix to error: “Newtonsoft.Json.Serialization.DefaultContractResolver.set_IgnoreSerializableAttribute(Boolean)”

Friday, October 17th, 2014

After installing SQL Server 2012 and took out SQL server 2008 on local machine last week, today it was first time I tried to load the ..DS.Admin.Web project on local machine and when rendering the Home/Index page, got this error first:

System.MissingMethodException was unhandled by user code

HResult=-2146233069
Message=Method not found: 'Void Newtonsoft.Json.Serialization.DefaultContractResolver.set_IgnoreSerializableAttribute(Boolean)'.
Source=System.Net.Http.Formatting
...
.Web.Admin\Global.asax.cs:line 22

Searched the error “Void Newtonsoft.Json.Serialization.DefaultContractResolver.set_IgnoreSerializableAttribute(Boolean)” and led to this post:

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/16756336/method-not-found-void-newtonsoft-json-serialization-defaultcontractresolver-set

So, I first tried this:

Install-Package Newtonsoft.Json –IncludePrerelease
PM> Install-Package Newtonsoft.Json –IncludePrerelease
'Newtonsoft.Json 6.0.5' already installed.
Successfully removed 'Newtonsoft.Json 4.5.1' from Corestream.PPDS.Web.Admin.
Successfully added 'Newtonsoft.Json 6.0.5' to Corestream.PPDS.Web.Admin.

But that led to a different message:

Could not load file or assembly 'Newtonsoft.Json, Version=4.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=30ad4fe6b2a6aeed' or one of its dependencies. The located assembly's manifest definition d
downloaded 3.5 from http://json.codeplex.com/releases/view/50552 and copied the Newtonsoft.json.dll to
C:\Empower\Development\PPDS2\Corestream.PPDS.Admin\Corestream.PPDS.Web\packages\Newtonsoft.Json.6.0.5\lib\net40\Newtonsoft.Json.dll

Thought it might be that I needed to go back to older version of newsoft.json.dll as I am developing this project in VS2010 while some other projects in VS2012; so I went to Newtonsoft site to download the 3.5 version, based on some advice given online. Did that and set the project reference to point to the Newtonsoft.Josn.dll 3.5 version. Not that was not it, still got error about assembly mismatch. Did some more search and found some even suggested removing Newtonsoft.json.dll from GAC. It proved that was nonsense as when I ran this:

Windows+R and typed assembly

The Newtonsoft assembly does not even show up – it is not in GAC, at least for my machine.

Then I tried another smart advice and added this entry to web.config:

<dependentAssembly>
<assemblyIdentity name="Newtonsoft.Json" publicKeyToken="30ad4fe6b2a6aeed" culture="neutral" />
<bindingRedirect oldVersion="0.0.0.0-6.0.0.0" newVersion="6.0.1.0" />
</dependentAssembly>

Well, only bit further, this time got this error:

System.IO.FileLoadException was unhandled by user code
HResult=-2146234304
Message=Could not load file or assembly 'Newtonsoft.Json, Version=4.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=30ad4fe6b2a6aeed' or one of its dependencies. The located assembly's manifest definition does not match the assembly reference. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80131040)
Source=System.Net.Http.Formatting
FileName=Newtonsoft.Json, Version=4.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=30ad4fe6b2a6aeed
FusionLog=""
....

Well, finally, I realized the best and the simplest solution to this is well under my own nose and I cursed myself for wasting so much time on wandering around on the wild web – so here come the real deal that got me out of this hole:

“The Best Solution is the Simplest Solution” – it proved true again: 

  • Started a brand new project in VS2010 and chose MVC4/Internet Application template as project type.
  • After the project compiled and flied smoothly, rendering that nice Home page that has been missing for hours from me, I checked the project’s references and noticed that now it pointed to a 4.5.6 version of Newtonsoft.Json.dll, instead of 4.5.1 or 4.5.0 that I used in the troubled project. This is in the new project’s packages folder.
  • So I just went back to the troubling project and changed the reference to point to here at this 4.5.6 version that was brought in with the mighty MVC4/Internet Application wizard for my dummy project, and as I expected, everything just went back to normal and it ended my Friday afternoon on a happier note.

The bad (might be good to some) attribute introduced in MVC4 – [InitializeSimpleMembership]

Thursday, August 21st, 2014

Yesterday I deployed a MVC4 app to Winhost and got this error below when I clicked on “Log In” or “Register”, which I didn’t when deployed to local IIS.

A network-related or instance-specific error occurred while establishing a connection to SQL Server. The server was not found or was not accessible. Verify that the instance name is correct and that SQL Server is configured to allow remote connections. (provider: SQL Network Interfaces, error: 26 - Error Locating Server/Instance Specified)

I had seen such error before; mostly the error was due to some misspelled SQL server name or firewall blocking remote access, etc. I checked my SQL server connection strings for both SqlClient and Entities Framework model and were able to connect to the remote SQL db hosted at Winhost. When I submitted a support ticket to Winhost tech team, their server side log showed that my app tried to connect to a SQL Express instance which they don’t support. How strange was that? I do not use SQL Express and my database which contains the ASP.Net Membership objects resides on a full version local SQL Server, not Express. There is no place in my web.config that has anything to do with SQL Express instance. So I examined the Controller codes where the Log In link is clicked; here it was, the new “InitializeSimpleMembership” attribute on the AccountController class which was created automatically by my selecting the “Internet Application” MVC4 project template. This was something new introduced by MVC4 team at Microsoft, where a bunch of genius are always trying to come up with some dummy robot codes to  make everything so automatic – by “simply” looking for a SQL Express db to initiate the Membership provider for Web.Security; this “InitializeSimpleMembership” attribute, as it turns out, was the only culprit for all these non-simple headaches when you deploy your site to hosting server that usually do not support SQL Express. And there was no warning or error when I used the Publishing wizard from VS2012 to deploy the site to Winhost.

The fix? Simply commented out the attribute, as shown below,and re-deployed to Winhost; then everything works!

[Authorize]

  //[InitializeSimpleMembership]
    public class AccountController : Controller
    {
        //
        // GET: /Account/Login

        [AllowAnonymous]
        public ActionResult Login(string returnUrl)
        {
            ViewBag.ReturnUrl = returnUrl;
            return View();