Orchard CMS ContentManager.New<>() Specified Cast Was Invalid - asp.net-mvc

Question

I am in the early stages of developing a new module.
Much of it is laid out in terms of the models etc. Also have the migrations all set up and my database now has the tables for my module.
I am encountering the following error when calling ContentManager.New<myPart> and would like some help please.
Error is this:
An unhandled exception has occurred and the request was terminated. Please refresh the page. If the error persists, go back
Specified cast is not valid.
System.InvalidCastException: Specified cast is not valid.
at Orchard.ContentManagement.ContentCreateExtensions.New[T]
(IContentManager manager, String contentType)
The chunk of code that fires the exception is this:
public static T New<T>(this IContentManager manager, string contentType) where T : class, IContent {
var contentItem = manager.New(contentType);
if (contentItem == null)
return null;
var part = contentItem.Get<T>();
if (part == null)
throw new InvalidCastException();
return part;
}
Here are the various parts to my module that are related to the operation i am struggling with:
ContentPart
public class GoogleMapsSettingsPart : ContentPart<GoogleMapsSettingsPartRecord>
{
public string ApiKey {
get { return Record.ApiKey; }
set { Record.ApiKey = value; }
}
}
ContentPartRecord
public class GoogleMapsSettingsPartRecord : ContentPartRecord
{
public virtual string ApiKey { get; set; }
}
Handler
public GoogleMapsSettingsPartHandler(IRepository<GoogleMapsSettingsPartRecord> repository)
{
Filters.Add(StorageFilter.For(repository));
}
Migration for this table
// Settings Table
SchemaBuilder.CreateTable("GoogleMapsSettingsPartRecord", table => table
.ContentPartRecord()
.Column("ApiKey", DbType.String, c => c.WithLength(60))
);
Some of the code from the controller for this model etc
public AdminController(IContentManager contentManager, IShapeFactory shapeFactory, IServiceLocatorService serviceLocatorService, INotifier notifier)
{
_contentManager = contentManager;
_serviceLocatorService = serviceLocatorService;
_notifier = notifier;
Shape = shapeFactory;
T = NullLocalizer.Instance;
}
/// <summary>
/// Display Settings
/// </summary>
/// <returns></returns>
public ActionResult Settings()
{
var settings = _serviceLocatorService.GoogleMapsSettings;
var editor = CreateSettingsEditor(settings);
var model = _services.ContentManager.BuildEditor(settings);
return View((object)model);
}
Finally - the Services where my call throws this exception
private GoogleMapsSettingsPart _settings;
public GoogleMapsSettingsPart GoogleMapsSettings
{
get {
if (_settings == null)
{
_settings = _contentManager.Query<GoogleMapsSettingsPart, GoogleMapsSettingsPartRecord>().List().FirstOrDefault();
if (_settings == null)
{
_settings = _contentManager.New<GoogleMapsSettingsPart>("GoogleMapsSettings");
}
}
return _settings;
}
}
The actual line where the exception happens is _settings = _contentManager.New<GoogleMapsSettingsPart>("GoogleMapsSettings");
I have tried all sorts of stuff in place of "GoogleMapsSettings" though nothing is working.
I'm pretty sure at this point it's something simple, though it's avoiding me..My limited knowledge of Orchard is stumping me
Any help would be appreciated :)

Answer 1

The exception is thrown because your content type does not have the part you specified to get.
_contentManager.New<GoogleMapsSettingsPart>("GoogleMapsSettings");
This method call creates a new content item of type GoogleMapSettings and gets the content item as a GoogleMapsSettingsPart. However, it seems that GoogleMapSettings content type does not have a GoogleMapsSettingsPart. That's why the exception gets thrown here.
var part = contentItem.Get<T>();
if (part == null)
throw new InvalidCastException();
You must either attach the part dynamically to your content type or do it in a migration (or manually in the admin, but that's not a good idea). Your migration should look like this.
this.ContentDefinitionManager.AlterTypeDefinition("GoogleMapsSettings",
alt => alt
.WithPart("GoogleMapsSettingsPart");

Answer 2

Ok, so I fixed it...
My understanding of how Orchard works is still very much in the learning stages.
for this particular operation I didn't want to have a content type in the admin - though not sure why after adding the ContentType it still didn't work...
anyway, adding the lines below to my handler took care of the rest. I believe it's actually creating a temporary type so one isn't needed in the system.
public GoogleMapsSettingsPartHandler(IRepository<GoogleMapsSettingsPartRecord> repository)
{
Filters.Add(new ActivatingFilter<GoogleMapsSettingsPart>("GoogleMapsSettings"));
Filters.Add(StorageFilter.For(repository));
Filters.Add(new TemplateFilterForRecord<GoogleMapsSettingsPartRecord>("GoogleMapsSettings", "Parts/GoogleMapsSettings"));
}

Answer 3

I'v got the same error, but in my case it was everything ok with migration class.
The reason was unlucky merge, which deleted my driver class of my part.
Just look at this code of Activating method of ContentPartDriverCoordinator class. In my case there was no partInfo for my content part and resulted part became ContentPart, so casting throws an exception
var partInfos = _drivers.SelectMany(cpp => cpp.GetPartInfo()).ToList();
foreach (var typePartDefinition in contentTypeDefinition.Parts) {
var partName = typePartDefinition.PartDefinition.Name;
var partInfo = partInfos.FirstOrDefault(pi => pi.PartName == partName);
var part = partInfo != null
? partInfo.Factory(typePartDefinition)
: new ContentPart { TypePartDefinition = typePartDefinition };
context.Builder.Weld(part);
}