ASP.NET MVC 5 page hangs on db call

Question

I'm trying to get up and running with an MVC 5 project using ASP.NET Identity 2.0. My starting point is the example app in this tutorial. My initial page is Home/Index. When I try to do a search (expecting a null return value) the app simply hangs and I can't figure out why. Instantiation of the db context is causing the Seed() method to be called, which seems normal, but then it hangs on the roleManager.FindByName(roleName) call (I've commented it in the code below). Pausing the debugger showed where it was stuck but I don't know where to go from there. Relevant classes are as follows.

Controller:

public class HomeController : ApplicationController
{         
    public ActionResult Index()
    {
        var user = db.Users.Find("dummyVal");

        return View();
    }

    [Authorize]
    public ActionResult About()
    {
        ViewBag.Message = "Your app description page.";

        return View();
    }

    public ActionResult Contact()
    {
        ViewBag.Message = "Your contact page.";

        return View();
    }
}

Base Controller:

public abstract class ApplicationController : Controller
{
    protected ApplicationDbContext db;

    public ApplicationController()
    {
        db = new ApplicationDbContext();
    }
}

DB Initializer:

public class ApplicationDbInitializer : DropCreateDatabaseAlways<ApplicationDbContext> 
{
    protected override void Seed(ApplicationDbContext context) {
        InitializeIdentityForEF(context);
        base.Seed(context);
    }

    //Create [email protected] with password=Admin@123456 in the Admin role        
    public static void InitializeIdentityForEF(ApplicationDbContext db) {
        var userManager = HttpContext.Current.GetOwinContext().GetUserManager<ApplicationUserManager>();
        var roleManager = HttpContext.Current.GetOwinContext().Get<ApplicationRoleManager>();
        const string name = "[email protected]";
        const string password = "Admin@123456";
        const string roleName = "Admin";

        //Create Role Admin if it does not exist
        // EXECUTION HANGS ON THIS CALL...
        var role = roleManager.FindByName(roleName);
        if (role == null) {
            role = new IdentityRole(roleName);
            var roleresult = roleManager.Create(role);
        }

        var user = userManager.FindByName(name);
        if (user == null) {
            user = new ApplicationUser { UserName = name, Email = name };
            var result = userManager.Create(user, password);
            result = userManager.SetLockoutEnabled(user.Id, false);
        }

        // Add user admin to Role Admin if not already added
        var rolesForUser = userManager.GetRoles(user.Id);
        if (!rolesForUser.Contains(role.Name)) {
            var result = userManager.AddToRole(user.Id, role.Name);
        }

        // Create dummy user
        const string dummyUserName = "PeterVenkman";
        const string dummyUserPwd = "gf%^^ftf83X";

        var dummyUser = userManager.FindByName(dummyUserName);
        if (dummyUser == null) { 
            dummyUser = new ApplicationUser { UserName = dummyUserName, Email = dummyUserName };
            var result = userManager.Create(dummyUser, dummyUserPwd);
            result = userManager.SetLockoutEnabled(dummyUser.Id, false);
        }
    }
}

Are you sure that DB for your app exists? Maybe Db connection cannot be established and your app hangs while timeoutexception will be thrown. Check if your DB exists, if connection string is correct, and if user that you use in connection has access to the DB. — ntl
– ntl, Commented Aug 13, 2014 at 21:17
The DB does exist and I can connect to it. In fact, if I add an additional model to the context then the table does appear in the database when the context is initialized. — Gadzooks34
– Gadzooks34, Commented Aug 13, 2014 at 21:29
Ok. Does your ApplicationRoleManager use standard asp.net membership tables? (aspnet_Roles) If so, do they exist in DB? — ntl
– ntl, Commented Aug 13, 2014 at 21:53
It seems that you are using asp.net Role manager, so you should create standard tables for role management. Use the aspnet_regsql.exe tool. aspnet_regsql.exe is a command line tool. You can run it without parameters to have it help you in via wizard mode, or apply the right parameters and do it commando-style. — ntl
– ntl, Commented Aug 13, 2014 at 22:03
I believe that tool is obsolete is current versions of Identity. The tables are created by code-first definitions in the framework, and they exist in the db. Since posting, I have figured out that the problem stems from the DropCreateDatabaseAlways<> parent of the initializer. If instead I use DropCreateDatabaseIfModelChanges<> then the problem goes away. So I'm trying to figure out exactly how this works. — Gadzooks34
– Gadzooks34, Commented Aug 14, 2014 at 11:38

Suhas Joshi · Accepted Answer · 2015-01-27 18:25:10Z

14

The error is because you are instantiating the dbContext object in the controller and not getting it from the owin context. The presence of two different context objects one in the controller and one in the startup working on the same db is causing this deadlock. Simplest way to resolve this is replace the code

            db = new ApplicationDbContext();

with

db = System.Web.HttpContext.Current.GetOwinContext().Get<ApplicationDbContext>();

fixes the issue

answered Jan 27, 2015 at 18:25

Suhas Joshi

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2 Comments

dougajmcdonald Over a year ago

I'm using a repository pattern and my repository expects me to use DI to inject a context, is there a recommended approach to get a context for my IoC container and provide it to my IContext for repository use?

Josh Over a year ago

I am attempting to build a data layer in my application that is not referenced by the webapi. I want to use the user manager in the data layer, but there is no OwinContext to access, and even if there was I can't access the dbContext from the api to register it with Owin. Is there any way to make my situation work? I am experiencing the same hang as the OP. If I leave out the dbinitializer everything works fine.

Amri · Accepted Answer · 2014-10-31 20:01:48Z

4

I had the same problem and this is how I fixed it.

Delete your current database (I was using .mdf)
Create a new database
Clean and rebuild
Update database - if needed -

Unfortunately, I do not know the source of the problem. Please edit the answer/post a comment if you know :)

For other people with the same issue, make sure the username/password in ApplicationDbInitializer are valid. It will hang if you set the admin password to 123 for example.

Edit: This post provides an explanation + answer http://forums.asp.net/post/5802779.aspx

edited Oct 31, 2014 at 20:01

answered Sep 7, 2014 at 11:45

Amri

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Comments

Scott Manny · Accepted Answer · 2015-03-20 16:14:33Z

4

Suhas Joshi has the correct answer. The ApplicationDbContext object should be in essence a singleton that is managed by the "Microsoft ASPNET Identity Owin" package (installed using NuGet). When you manually create a new instance of it in your ApplicationController there is contention for the same resource causing this deadlock.

Note that the "Get()" extension used comes from the following library which you must have a reference to in your ApplicationContext class.

using Microsoft.AspNet.Identity.Owin;

Thanks Suhas Joshi for pointing this out as it saved me greatly. I would have just up-voted your answer, but unfortunately I don't have a strong enough reputation yet :).

answered Mar 20, 2015 at 16:14

Scott Manny

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