ASP.NET returning Class name instead of data on IIS, but not on production environment

Question

I am using RazorPDF to return PDF as a view. The problem is that when I run on my machine the code works fine, returning the PDF as I want, but when I upload the code to IIS in Windows Server 2008, the code returns "RazorPDF.PdfResult" that is the name of the class as a string. The rest of the application works fine on both environments.

This is the correct return result, on local machine: right_return

And this is the result when running on windows server:wrong_return

The code:

public ActionResult OrcamentosResultado(LogisticaModel model, string pdf)
{
    //Some code
    if (pdf == "pdf")
    {
        PdfResult retorno = new PdfResult(model, "ComprasPDF");
        return retorno;
    }
    //Some more code
}

I am using ASP.NET 4.0 and System.Web.MVC 3.0

Are you absolutely sure you published all your changed files? — mason, Oct 08 '15 at 19:03
Additional info: I have found this silimar question: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/21610854/error-converting-mvc4-view-to-pdf-with-rotativa-or-razorpdf But the answer didnt work for me, since the problem only happens on the IIS server — Tales Pádua, Oct 08 '15 at 19:17
Which of the following do you expect to return: 1- A Pdf Stream marked as a pdf application doc to show the pdf in a web browser; 2- a json object of some kind; 3- a text stream of some kind; 4- a graphic; 5- a full html page that should be displayed. ? I am sure you are seeing the default ToString behavior and I would argue that it works in production By Coincidence and that your code needs a little help to tell IIS/MVC what to do in all cases. — Sql Surfer, Oct 08 '15 at 19:27
@SqlSurfer, This is an old project that I didnt wrote, I am just fixing some problems. For what I can tell, the PdfResult takes a View (in this case ComprasPDF.cshtml), converts it into pdf and then return to the browser. This project was developed in VS2012, but I am using VS 2013 now. Maybe this is some VS settings? Any idea where to look at those kind of behaviors? — Tales Pádua, Oct 08 '15 at 20:21

score 0 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 12:14

I found the problem and it was kinda the same as the question I mentioned in a comment above Error converting MVC4 view to PDF with Rotativa or RazorPDF

The problem was a conflict between System.web.mvc dll in the server, that was version 2.0.0.0, (on C:/Windows/assembly) and the same dll in my bin folder, version 3.0.0.1

As @SqlSurfer pointed, the 2.0.0.0 mvc dll has some ToString behavior.

To fix it, I just changed the Web.config to look for the dll on the bin folder, not the server

<runtime>
<assemblyBinding xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1">
  <dependentAssembly>
    <assemblyIdentity name="System.Web.Mvc" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" />
    <bindingRedirect oldVersion="1.0.0.0-3.0.0.0" newVersion="3.0.0.1" />
  </dependentAssembly>
</assemblyBinding>

The error was not happening in my local machine because my machine does not have the System.web.mvc dll on windows/assembly folder.

Thanks to all

It would be interesting to know if this problem would be detected by nugget under normal circumstances or if you were actively using nugget in this situation? — Sql Surfer, Oct 08 '15 at 22:25
@SqlSurfer, How would Nuget detect this? I used Nuget on my machine, but I dont know about the server, and I dont know why the server had the mvc dll on windows assemblies — Tales Pádua, Oct 09 '15 at 16:53

ASP.NET returning Class name instead of data on IIS, but not on production environment

1 Answers1