Windows Azure Error - Could not load file or assembly MFCMIFC80

Question

I have created an Angular/WebAPI/MongoDb project and using StructureMap for dependency injection and I have it published to a private BitBucket account.

I have create an Azure Webapp and set it up to auto deploy whenever I commit a change to my BitBucket repo.

When I run it locally (from Visual Studio) my main page is: http://localhost:37071/index.html#/

It makes API calls to http://localhost:37071/api/stock?stkSymbol=ORCL successfully.

However, when it is deployed, my page loads successfully at: http://myAzureProject.azurewebsites.net/index.html#/

However, all API calls to: http://myAzureProject.azurewebsites.net/api/stock?stkSymbol=ORCL

Fail with this error message:

Server Error in '/' Application.

Could not load file or assembly 'MFCMIFC80, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a' or one of its dependencies. The system cannot find the file specified.

Description: An unhandled exception occurred during the execution of the current web request. Please review the stack trace for more information about the error and where it originated in the code. 

Exception Details: System.IO.FileNotFoundException: Could not load file or assembly 'MFCMIFC80, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a' or one of its dependencies. The system cannot find the file specified.

Source Error: 

An unhandled exception was generated during the execution of the current web request. Information regarding the origin and location of the exception can be identified using the exception stack trace below.

Assembly Load Trace: The following information can be helpful to determine why the assembly 'MFCMIFC80, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a' could not be loaded.


WRN: Assembly binding logging is turned OFF.
To enable assembly bind failure logging, set the registry value [HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Fusion!EnableLog] (DWORD) to 1.
Note: There is some performance penalty associated with assembly bind failure logging.
To turn this feature off, remove the registry value [HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Fusion!EnableLog].

Stack Trace: 


[FileNotFoundException: Could not load file or assembly 'MFCMIFC80, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a' or one of its dependencies. The system cannot find the file specified.]
   System.Reflection.RuntimeAssembly.GetExportedTypes(RuntimeAssembly assembly, ObjectHandleOnStack retTypes) +0
   System.Reflection.RuntimeAssembly.GetExportedTypes() +21
   StructureMap.Graph.TypePool.<.ctor>b__0(Assembly assembly) +10
   StructureMap.Util.LightweightCache`2.get_Item(TKey key) +65
   StructureMap.Graph.<>c__DisplayClass3.<For>b__2(Assembly x) +37
   System.Linq.<SelectManyIterator>d__14`2.MoveNext() +232
   StructureMap.StringExtensions.Each(IEnumerable`1 enumerable, Action`1 action) +140
   StructureMap.Graph.AssemblyScanner.ScanForTypes(TypePool types, PluginGraph pluginGraph) +128
   StructureMap.<>c__DisplayClass2.<RunConfigurations>b__1(AssemblyScanner x) +21
   StructureMap.StringExtensions.Each(IEnumerable`1 enumerable, Action`1 action) +131
   StructureMap.PluginGraphBuilder.RunConfigurations() +143
   StructureMap.PluginGraphBuilder.Build() +13
   StructureMap.PipelineGraph.For(Action`1 action) +49
   myAzureProject.DependencyResolution.IoC.Initialize() +82
   myAzureProject.App_Start.StructuremapMvc.Start() +10

[TargetInvocationException: Exception has been thrown by the target of an invocation.]
   System.RuntimeMethodHandle.InvokeMethod(Object target, Object[] arguments, Signature sig, Boolean constructor) +0
   System.Reflection.RuntimeMethodInfo.UnsafeInvokeInternal(Object obj, Object[] parameters, Object[] arguments) +192
   System.Reflection.RuntimeMethodInfo.Invoke(Object obj, BindingFlags invokeAttr, Binder binder, Object[] parameters, CultureInfo culture) +155
   WebActivatorEx.BaseActivationMethodAttribute.InvokeMethod() +57
   WebActivatorEx.ActivationManager.RunActivationMethods(Boolean designerMode) +350
   WebActivatorEx.ActivationManager.Run() +78

[InvalidOperationException: The pre-application start initialization method Run on type WebActivatorEx.ActivationManager threw an exception with the following error message: Exception has been thrown by the target of an invocation..]
   System.Web.Compilation.BuildManager.InvokePreStartInitMethodsCore(ICollection`1 methods, Func`1 setHostingEnvironmentCultures) +547
   System.Web.Compilation.BuildManager.InvokePreStartInitMethods(ICollection`1 methods) +132
   System.Web.Compilation.BuildManager.CallPreStartInitMethods(String preStartInitListPath, Boolean& isRefAssemblyLoaded) +102
   System.Web.Compilation.BuildManager.ExecutePreAppStart() +153
   System.Web.Hosting.HostingEnvironment.Initialize(ApplicationManager appManager, IApplicationHost appHost, IConfigMapPathFactory configMapPathFactory, HostingEnvironmentParameters hostingParameters, PolicyLevel policyLevel, Exception appDomainCreationException) +521

[HttpException (0x80004005): The pre-application start initialization method Run on type WebActivatorEx.ActivationManager threw an exception with the following error message: Exception has been thrown by the target of an invocation..]
   System.Web.HttpRuntime.FirstRequestInit(HttpContext context) +9930568
   System.Web.HttpRuntime.EnsureFirstRequestInit(HttpContext context) +101
   System.Web.HttpRuntime.ProcessRequestNotificationPrivate(IIS7WorkerRequest wr, HttpContext context) +254

Version Information: Microsoft .NET Framework Version:4.0.30319; ASP.NET Version:4.0.30319.36215

I'm not familiar with what MFCMIFC80 is or what I need to do in order to be able to get it deployed to my Azure web app.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks!

Answer 1

MFCMIFC80.dll is an MFC library (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Foundation_Class_Library). It most probably is a requirement for your MongoDB drivers. As I do not recall any dependency on MFC for regular Web API als using AngularJS.

You cannot deploy MFC on Azure Web Apps (former Web Sites).

Look for alternative MongoDB drivers which do not have dependencies on MFC.

Another reason for this error could be that in your project you refernece .NET 2.0 assemblies, while your main project targets .NET 4.0. Which may be the case with the MongoDB driver indeed (it may be only compiled against .NET 2.0 and it would cause the issues).

So go through all of your referneces (incl. StructureMap and MongoDB drivers) to make sure that all your refenreced assemblies are targetinng .NET 4.0 and not .NET 2.0.

Note that although .NET 4.0 actually runs in the .NET 2.0 Runtime environment, there still might be issues when referencing .NET 2.0 assemblies from a .NET 4.0 targeted project.

Answer 2

Finally figured it out. In my solution, I have one line to tell structuremap to scan for assemblies from path.

scan.AssembliesFromPath(Environment.CurrentDirectory);

Removing this line resolves the issue.