Autofac Lifetime Scope with ASP.NET MVC

Question

I'm new to Autofac. I'm trying to integrate autofac with asp.net mvc application with the full solution following Repository pattern

Following are the configuration that I did.

MvcProject.Website.Global.asax.cs

..Application_start() {
  App_Start.AutofacConfig.ConfigureContainer();
}

MvcProject.Website.App_Start.AutofacConfig.cs

NOTE: I have registered RegisterTypes as Modules in different projects and bind them from following main config file.

public static class AutofacConfig
   {
       public static void ConfigureContainer()
       {
           var builder = new ContainerBuilder();
  builder.RegisterControllers(typeof(MvcApplication).Assembly).PropertiesAutowired();

           //Register Repository dependencies
           builder.RegisterModule(new RepositoryModule("mssql"));

           //Register Application dependencies
           builder.RegisterModule(new ApplicationModule());

           var container = builder.Build();
           DependencyResolver.SetResolver(new AutofacDependencyResolver(container));
       }
   }

Then, in Application layer, Type registration done by extending Module abstract class

MvcProject.Application.ApplicationModule.cs

public class ApplicationModule : Module
{
    protected override void Load(Containerbuilder builder)
    {
        builder.RegisterType<MyService>.InstancePerLifetimeScope();
        base.Load(builder);
    }
}

Then, from the controller

MvcProject.Website.Controllers.MyController.cs

public class MyController : Controller
   {
       private ILifetimeScope _scope;

       public MyController(ILifetimeScope scope)
       {
           _scope = scope;
       }

       public ActionResult SayHello()
       {
           using (var localscope = _scope.BeginLifetimeScope())
           {
               var service = localscope.Resolve<MyService>();
               var viewModel = service.GetMyViewModel();
               return View(viewModel);
           }
       }
   }

My main questions are:

to avoid Memory leak issues, do we need to define lifetime scopes (as in the above MyController's SayHello action) in MVC Controllers or is that NOT necessary for the MVC ?
Delegating the Type Registry to individual projects using Module is the correct way or is there a better/correct way ?
Is there a better way to get ILifetimeScope inside the MyController without passing "ILifetimeScope" parameter from Constructor of the Controller ?

Thank you in advance.

Travis Illig Travis Illig · Accepted Answer · 2016-01-06T23:34:34

I'm guessing you've already checked out the Autofac docs for some examples and explanations of things like how to integrate with MVC and how lifetime scopes work so I'll keep it short:

Don't create your own lifetime scopes in controllers if you don't have to. Each request already gets its own lifetime scope - everything you resolve that's scoped to a request or on a per-instance basis will get disposed for you at the end of the request.
How you register your types and keep them organized is highly subjective based on how your app is structured. Modules on a per project basis is one way (a good way) to do it.
Generally avoid passing an ILifetimeScope around in your controllers. Just take your dependencies in the constructor for the controller like any other inversion-of-control/dependency injection scenario. If you want to defer resolving a service (like you may not need it) then look at things like the Func<T> relationship that Autofac supports.

Autofac Lifetime Scope with ASP.NET MVC

1 Answers