Request/User object is null in Controller constructor in ASP.NET MVC

[Resolved]

Problem


I was trying to access the User object in Controller constructor so that I can get the logged in username in the constructor, but the User object was coming as null and as a result I was getting Null reference exception.

Solution


The solution of this problem is to create an override method of Initialize by passing RequestContext object.

public class ChartsController : Controller
{
    string _userName = string.Empty;
    protected override void Initialize(System.Web.Routing.RequestContext requestContext)
    {
        base.Initialize(requestContext);

        if (requestContext.HttpContext.User.Identity.IsAuthenticated)
        {
            _userName = requestContext.HttpContext.User.Identity.Name;
        }
    }
}

and then we can access the User object. The same is applicable for Session or any other object inside HttpContext.

Hope this helps.

Thanks

Regards,
Sheo Narayan
http://www.dotnetfunda.com