Ninject.Web.Common throwing ActivationException trying to inject dependencies into HttpApplicationInitializationHttpModule - asp.net-mvc

Question

I'm not sure where to even begin solving this, but I'm getting an exception when trying to run my ASP.NET MVC app.
Here is the error I'm getting:
[ActivationException: Error activating IntPtr
No matching bindings are available, and the type is not self-bindable.
Activation path:
Injection of dependency IntPtr into parameter method of constructor of type Func{IKernel}
Injection of dependency Func{IKernel} into parameter lazyKernel of constructor of type HttpApplicationInitializationHttpModule
Request for IHttpModule
Suggestions:
Ensure that you have defined a binding for IntPtr.
If the binding was defined in a module, ensure that the module has been loaded into the kernel.
Ensure you have not accidentally created more than one kernel.
If you are using constructor arguments, ensure that the parameter name matches the constructors parameter name.
If you are using automatic module loading, ensure the search path and filters are correct.
The stack trace is as follows:
at Ninject.KernelBase.Resolve(IRequest request) in c:\Projects\Ninject\ninject\src\Ninject\KernelBase.cs:line 359
at Ninject.Planning.Targets.Target`1.GetValue(Type service, IContext parent) in c:\Projects\Ninject\ninject\src\Ninject\Planning\Targets\Target.cs:line 197
at Ninject.Planning.Targets.Target`1.ResolveWithin(IContext parent) in c:\Projects\Ninject\ninject\src\Ninject\Planning\Targets\Target.cs:line 165
at Ninject.Activation.Providers.StandardProvider.GetValue(IContext context, ITarget target) in c:\Projects\Ninject\ninject\src\Ninject\Activation\Providers\StandardProvider.cs:line 114
at Ninject.Activation.Providers.StandardProvider.<>c__DisplayClass4.<Create>b__2(ITarget target) in c:\Projects\Ninject\ninject\src\Ninject\Activation\Providers\StandardProvider.cs:line 96
at System.Linq.Enumerable.WhereSelectArrayIterator`2.MoveNext()
at System.Linq.Buffer`1..ctor(IEnumerable`1 source)
at System.Linq.Enumerable.ToArray[TSource](IEnumerable`1 source)
at Ninject.Activation.Providers.StandardProvider.Create(IContext context) in c:\Projects\Ninject\ninject\src\Ninject\Activation\Providers\StandardProvider.cs:line 96
at Ninject.Activation.Context.Resolve() in c:\Projects\Ninject\ninject\src\Ninject\Activation\Context.cs:line 157
at Ninject.KernelBase.<>c__DisplayClass10.<Resolve>b__c(IBinding binding) in c:\Projects\Ninject\ninject\src\Ninject\KernelBase.cs:line 386
at System.Linq.Enumerable.WhereSelectEnumerableIterator`2.MoveNext()
at System.Linq.Enumerable.SingleOrDefault[TSource](IEnumerable`1 source)
at Ninject.Planning.Targets.Target`1.GetValue(Type service, IContext parent) in c:\Projects\Ninject\ninject\src\Ninject\Planning\Targets\Target.cs:line 197
at Ninject.Planning.Targets.Target`1.ResolveWithin(IContext parent) in c:\Projects\Ninject\ninject\src\Ninject\Planning\Targets\Target.cs:line 165
at Ninject.Activation.Providers.StandardProvider.GetValue(IContext context, ITarget target) in c:\Projects\Ninject\ninject\src\Ninject\Activation\Providers\StandardProvider.cs:line 114
at Ninject.Activation.Providers.StandardProvider.<>c__DisplayClass4.<Create>b__2(ITarget target) in c:\Projects\Ninject\ninject\src\Ninject\Activation\Providers\StandardProvider.cs:line 96
at System.Linq.Enumerable.WhereSelectArrayIterator`2.MoveNext()
at System.Linq.Buffer`1..ctor(IEnumerable`1 source)
at System.Linq.Enumerable.ToArray[TSource](IEnumerable`1 source)
at Ninject.Activation.Providers.StandardProvider.Create(IContext context) in c:\Projects\Ninject\ninject\src\Ninject\Activation\Providers\StandardProvider.cs:line 96
at Ninject.Activation.Context.Resolve() in c:\Projects\Ninject\ninject\src\Ninject\Activation\Context.cs:line 157
at Ninject.KernelBase.<>c__DisplayClass10.<Resolve>b__c(IBinding binding) in c:\Projects\Ninject\ninject\src\Ninject\KernelBase.cs:line 386
at System.Linq.Enumerable.WhereSelectListIterator`2.MoveNext()
at System.Linq.Enumerable.<CastIterator>d__b1`1.MoveNext()
at System.Collections.Generic.List`1..ctor(IEnumerable`1 collection)
at System.Linq.Enumerable.ToList[TSource](IEnumerable`1 source)
at Ninject.Web.Common.NinjectHttpModule.Init(HttpApplication context) in c:\Projects\Ninject\Ninject.Web.Common\src\Ninject.Web.Common\NinjectHttpModule.cs:line 41
at System.Web.HttpApplication.RegisterEventSubscriptionsWithIIS(IntPtr appContext, HttpContext context, MethodInfo[] handlers)
at System.Web.HttpApplication.InitSpecial(HttpApplicationState state, MethodInfo[] handlers, IntPtr appContext, HttpContext context)
at System.Web.HttpApplicationFactory.GetSpecialApplicationInstance(IntPtr appContext, HttpContext context)
at System.Web.Hosting.PipelineRuntime.InitializeApplication(IntPtr appContext)
This doesn't seem to be an error everyone is getting (at least, my Google searches haven't turned up anything usefuL), so I assume I'm doing something odd, but I have no idea where to begin debugging this.
I should mention that I'm using several Ninject libraries (Ninject, Ninject.Web.Common, Ninject.MVC3, and Ninject.FluentValidation), all of which are version 3.0.00-RC3. I realize that all bets are off if I use pre-release libraries, but I have a feeling I'm doing something wrong because others don't seem to be getting the same error.
Any thoughts on what the problem could be or where I should start looking?

Answer 1

You can fix this by adding these two bindings to the kernel:
kernel.Bind<Func<IKernel>>().ToMethod(ctx => () => new Bootstrapper().Kernel);
kernel.Bind<IHttpModule>().To<HttpApplicationInitializationHttpModule>();

Answer 2

I decided to delete my App_Start\NinjectWebCommon.cs file (which was created when I installed Ninject.MVC 3.0.0-rc2) and reinstall the Nuget package (rc3). The newly created NinjectWebCommon.cs file was slightly different. Problem solved!

Answer 3

I faced the same problem with a WebApi project, debuging I noticed that the CreateKernel in App_Start/NinjectWebCommon.cs was called twice, and the second time it crashes, I fixed removing 2 lines at the very top of that file
[assembly: WebActivatorEx.PreApplicationStartMethod(typeof(RetailStore.App_Start.NinjectWebCommon), "Start")]
[assembly: WebActivatorEx.ApplicationShutdownMethodAttribute(typeof(RetailStore.App_Start.NinjectWebCommon), "Stop")]
And then the method was called once and the bug vanished.

Answer 4

I got the exact same error message, even though the code hadn't changed from the night before.
I was working through the example code from http://www.asp.net/web-api/videos/getting-started/authorization
I lost well over an hour over something silly. I had decorated my controller to [Authorize], but the next day when I started work and was testing the api, my session was no longer valid, so I assumed it was something subtle in the code that had changed.
Hope this helps someone else who is as new to Ninject as I am...
What appeared in my browser was:
XML Parsing Error: no element found
Location: server-name/api/Cities/
Line Number 1, Column 1: