Using Castle Windsor for ASP.NET MVC Controller classes

If you want to use Castle Windsor’s MicroKernel (or another IoC container) for ASP.NET MVC controllers, it’s fairly easy. The ASP.NET MVC team allowed you to replace the factory used to create controller objects.

In Global.asax.cs, add the following:

protected void Application_Start()
{
    IWindsorContainer container = new WindsorContainer(new XmlInterpreter());
    Application["WindsorContainer"] = container;

    AddControllersToContainer(container);

    ControllerBuilder.Current.SetControllerFactory(typeof(WindsorControllerFactory));
    RegisterRoutes(RouteTable.Routes);
}

protected void Application_End()
{
    IWindsorContainer container = (IWindsorContainer)Application["WindsorContainer"];
    container.Dispose();

    Application["WindsorContainer"] = null;
}

public static void AddControllersToContainer(IWindsorContainer container)
{
    Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().GetExportedTypes()
        .Where(type => typeof(IController).IsAssignableFrom(type))
        .ForEach(type => container.AddComponentWithLifestyle(type.Name.ToLower(), type, LifestyleType.Transient));
}

public IWindsorContainer Container
{
    get { return (IWindsorContainer)Application["WindsorContainer"]; }
}

You’ll need an implementation of ForEach that works on IEnumerable.

You’ll need a controller factory:

public class WindsorControllerFactory : IControllerFactory
{
    private static IWindsorContainer _container;

    public static IWindsorContainer Container
    {
        get
        {
            // Allow unit tests to override the container.
            return _container ?? (IWindsorContainer)HttpContext.Current.Application["WindsorContainer"];
        }
        set { _container = value; }
    }

    public IController CreateController(RequestContext requestContext, string controllerName)
    {
        return (IController)Container.Resolve(controllerName.ToLower() + "controller");
    }

    public void ReleaseController(IController controller)
    {
        Container.Release(controller);
    }
}

See ASP.NET MVC Framework: Create your own IControllerFactory and use Spring.NET