Tracing ASP.NET MVC 3 RTM Source Code

Trying to understand how the magic model binding works in ASP.NET MVC, so I managed to include ASP.NET MVC 3 source projects to my solution, here are my steps to make ASP.NET MVC 3 RTM source code traceable:

為了搞懂ASP.NET MVC中神奇的Model Binding原理，花了點功夫讓我的專案可以納入ASP.NET MVC 3原始碼一起追蹤，順手整理成心得以饗同好。

1. Download ASP.NET MVC 3 RTM Source Code from CodePlex and unzip it.
2. Create a new ASP.NET MVC 3 Web Application project in Visual Studio 2010 ( choose Razor view engine in my case )
3. Add System.Web.Mvc, System.Web.Razor, System.Web.WebPages, System.Web.WebPages.Deployment, System.Web.WebPages.Razor, totally 5 projects, to the solution. ( projects are under mvc3-rtm-sources/mvc3/src and mvc3-rtm-sources/webpages/src )
   
4. Remove original reference to System.Web in test project ( TraceMVCSource in my case )
   
5. Add reference to the project System.Web.Mvc.
   
6. Run the test project, a compilation error is returned because of assembly versioning issue.
   
   c:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\Temporary ASP.NET Files\root\ebd5a45d\6aa2a371\App_Web_index.cshtml.a8d08dba.lfcln4mj.0.cs(29): error CS0433: The type 'System.Web.Mvc.WebViewPage<TModel>' exists in both 'c:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\Temporary ASP.NET Files\root\ebd5a45d\6aa2a371\assembly\dl3\6dc30b64\304041e0_44f6cb01\System.Web.Mvc.DLL' and 'c:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\assembly\GAC_MSIL\System.Web.Mvc\v4.0_3.0.0.0__31bf3856ad364e35\System.Web.Mvc.dll'
   
7. Modify /web.config, remove the strong name part of System.Web.Mvc and System.Web.WebPages.
   

     <system.web>

       <compilation debug="true" targetFramework="4.0">

         <assemblies>

           <add assembly="System.Web.Abstractions, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35" />

           <add assembly="System.Web.Helpers, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35" />

           <add assembly="System.Web.Routing, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35" />

           <!--

           <add assembly="System.Web.Mvc, Version=3.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35" />

           <add assembly="System.Web.WebPages, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35" />

           -->

           <add assembly="System.Web.Mvc" />

           <add assembly="System.Web.WebPages" />

         </assemblies>

       </compilation>

8. Run the test project again, another exception gives us the hint about something to do with Razor view engine configuration.

   [A]System.Web.WebPages.Razor.Configuration.HostSection cannot be cast to [B]System.Web.WebPages.Razor.Configuration.HostSection. Type A originates from 'System.Web.WebPages.Razor, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35' in the context 'Default' at location 'C:\Windows\Microsoft.Net\assembly\GAC_MSIL\System.Web.WebPages.Razor\v4.0_1.0.0.0__31bf3856ad364e35\System.Web.WebPages.Razor.dll'. Type B originates from 'System.Web.WebPages.Razor, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=null' in the context 'Default' at location 'C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\Temporary ASP.NET Files\root\ebd5a45d\6aa2a371\assembly\dl3\c825e379\b33a46df_44f6cb01\System.Web.WebPages.Razor.DLL'.

9. Modify /Views/web.config, remove Version, Culture and PublicKeyToken parts from these settings. (with yellow background color)
   

   <configuration>

     <configSections>

       <sectionGroup name="system.web.webPages.razor" 
   type="System.Web.WebPages.Razor.Configuration.RazorWebSectionGroup, System.Web.WebPages.Razor">

         <section name="host" 
   type="System.Web.WebPages.Razor.Configuration.HostSection, System.Web.WebPages.Razor" 
   requirePermission="false" />

         <section name="pages" 
   type="System.Web.WebPages.Razor.Configuration.RazorPagesSection, System.Web.WebPages.Razor" 
   requirePermission="false" />

       </sectionGroup>

     </configSections>

     <system.web.webPages.razor>

       <host factoryType="System.Web.Mvc.MvcWebRazorHostFactory, System.Web.Mvc" />

       <pages pageBaseType="System.Web.Mvc.WebViewPage">

         <namespaces>

           <add namespace="System.Web.Mvc" />

           <add namespace="System.Web.Mvc.Ajax" />

           <add namespace="System.Web.Mvc.Html" />

           <add namespace="System.Web.Routing" />

         </namespaces>

       </pages>

     </system.web.webPages.razor>

Now we can trace into MVC 3 source code in debugging mode, have fun!