HostBridge

💡 “Sanity for classic .NET developers in an insane world.”

You’ve got a mountain of ASP.NET WebForms, MVC5, Web API 2, WCF, or Windows Services code that you can’t rewrite to .NET 8 tomorrow. But you still want DI, Options, Logging, and sane lifetimes without rolling your own half-broken container glue.

That’s what HostBridge is for: drop-in shims that bring modern Microsoft.Extensions.* patterns to classic .NET Framework apps.

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Contents

• HostBridge
  • Contents
  • Why this exists
  • Packages
  • Examples
  • Quick start (ASP.NET)
  • OWIN (Katana) support
  • Quick start (WCF)
    • Console / WinSvc
  • Correlation Id (trace everything)
  • Diagnostics (fail fast or just warn)
  • Request lifecycle (no explicit EndRequest)
  • OWIN + System.Web coexistence (who owns the scope?)
  • Shutdown (StopAsync)
  • Build / Targets
  • CI (GitHub Actions): build, test, pack, publish
  • Contributing
  • Support & Consulting
  • Funding

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Why this exists

Because you’re busy. Because “just rewrite it” is not an option. Because you’ve already fought the dragons of HttpContext.Current and OperationContext.Current more times than you can count.

With HostBridge you can:

• Use AddScoped, AddTransient, AddSingleton and actually get correct lifetimes in ASP.NET, Web API 2, MVC5, WCF, Windows Services, and console apps.
• Read app.config / web.config into IConfiguration and bind to options.
• Run background IHostedServices in services that predate GenericHost.
• Stay sane in legacy land while still writing modern, testable code.

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Packages

Each piece is factored so you only pull what you need:

• HostBridge.Abstractions – core contracts (ILegacyHost, IHostedService, HostContext)
• HostBridge.Core – the HB static accessor, ambient scopes, helpers
• HostBridge.Options.Config – add app.config / web.config to IConfiguration
• HostBridge.AspNet – System.Web bootstrapper + per-request scope IHttpModule + [FromServices] for WebForms
• HostBridge.Mvc5 – MVC5 IDependencyResolver wired into the request scope
• HostBridge.WebApi2 – Web API 2 IDependencyResolver wired into the request scope
• HostBridge.Wcf – ServiceHostFactory + instance provider for per-operation DI
• HostBridge.WindowsService – base class for DI-driven Windows Services
• HostBridge.Health – tiny primitives for health checks

Install via NuGet:

dotnet add package HostBridge.Abstractions
dotnet add package HostBridge.Core
dotnet add package HostBridge.Options.Config
dotnet add package HostBridge.AspNet
dotnet add package HostBridge.Mvc5
dotnet add package HostBridge.WebApi2
dotnet add package HostBridge.Wcf
dotnet add package HostBridge.WindowsService
dotnet add package HostBridge.Health

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Examples

We don’t leave you hanging. Check the examples/ folder for working projects:

• ✅ WebForms (property injection with [FromServices])
• ✅ MVC5 (controllers resolved from DI)
• ✅ Web API 2 (controllers resolved from DI)
• ✅ WCF Service (per-call scoped deps)
• ✅ Windows Service (graceful shutdowns)
• ✅ Console & Composite apps (ambient scopes, hosted services)

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Quick start (ASP.NET)

using System.Web.Mvc;
using System.Web.Http;
using HostBridge;
using HostBridge.AspNet;
using HostBridge.Options.Config;
using Microsoft.Extensions.Configuration;
using Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyInjection;
using Microsoft.Extensions.Logging;

// Global.asax.cs
protected void Application_Start()
{
    var host = new LegacyHostBuilder()
            .ConfigureAppConfiguration(cfg => cfg.AddHostBridgeAppConfig())
            .ConfigureLogging(lb => lb.AddConsole())
            .ConfigureServices((_, services) =>
            {
                services.AddOptions();
                services.AddHostedService<HeartbeatService>();
                services.AddScoped<IMyScoped, MyScoped>();
                services.AddSingleton<IMySingleton, MySingleton>();
            })
            .Build();
    
    AspNetBootstrapper.Initialize(host);

    DependencyResolver.SetResolver(new MvcDependencyResolver());
    GlobalConfiguration.Configuration.DependencyResolver = new WebApiDependencyResolver();
}

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OWIN (Katana) support

public void Configuration(IAppBuilder app)
{
  var host = new LegacyHostBuilder()
            .ConfigureAppConfiguration(cfg => cfg.AddHostBridgeAppConfig())
            .ConfigureLogging(lb => lb.AddConsole())
            .ConfigureServices((_, services) =>
            {
                services.AddOptions();
                services.AddHostedService<HeartbeatService>();
                services.AddScoped<IMyScoped, MyScoped>();
                services.AddSingleton<IMySingleton, MySingleton>();
            })
            .Build();
  
  AspNetBootstrapper.Initialize(host);

  app.UseHostBridgeRequestScope();

  var cfg = new HttpConfiguration();
  cfg.DependencyResolver = new WebApiOwinAwareResolver(); // prefers OWIN scope
  cfg.MapHttpAttributeRoutes();
  app.UseWebApi(cfg);
}

WebApiOwinAwareResolver lives in HostBridge.WebApi2.

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Quick start (WCF)

// Global.asax.cs
protected void Application_Start()
{
    var host = new LegacyHostBuilder().Build();
    HostBridge.Wcf.HostBridgeWcf.Initialize(host);
}

<%@ ServiceHost Language="C#" Debug="true"
    Service="MyNs.MyService"
    Factory="HostBridge.Wcf.DiServiceHostFactory" %>

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Console / WinSvc

using (Correlation.Begin(_log)) { /* logs carry the same CorrelationId */ }

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Correlation Id (trace everything)

services.AddSingleton<ICorrelationAccessor, CorrelationAccessor>();

using (Correlation.Begin(logger)) {
  // all logs include CorrelationId
}

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Diagnostics (fail fast or just warn)

var verifier = new HostBridgeVerifier()
  .Add(AspNetChecks.VerifyAspNet)
  .Add(WcfChecks.VerifyWcf);

// Dev/test:
verifier.ThrowIfCritical();

// Prod:
verifier.Log(logger);

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Request lifecycle (no explicit EndRequest)

You do not need to manually create/clear request scopes or correlation. HostBridge adapters handle it:

• ASP.NET: modules create/dispose scopes per request.
• OWIN: UseHostBridgeRequestScope() does it for you.

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OWIN + System.Web coexistence (who owns the scope?)

• Use both System.Web modules + OWIN middleware.
• Web API 2 uses WebApiOwinAwareResolver → OWIN scope.
• MVC/WebForms continue using System.Web scope.
• Correlation: enable both correlation adapters.
• Never resolve from the root; always use the current scope.

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Shutdown (StopAsync)

Call StopAsync at shutdown to flush hosted services and logs.

• ASP.NET: Application_End in Global.asax.
• OWIN: hook host.OnAppDisposing.
• WCF: same as ASP.NET.
• Windows Service: OnStop (already in HostBridgeServiceBase).
• Console apps: call StopAsync before exit.

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Build / Targets

• Targets: netstandard2.0, net472, net48.
• No RID needed for Framework.
• XML docs ship.
• Warnings as errors.
• Deterministic builds with CI metadata.

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CI (GitHub Actions): build, test, pack, publish

• Workflow: .github/workflows/ci.yml
• Runs on Windows
• Builds src/* in Release, runs tests in Debug
• Uses Nerdbank.GitVersioning (version.json) – prerelease versions on branches/PRs; stable on tags matching vMAJOR.MINOR.PATCH
• Packs NuGet on tag push (v*) → publishes to NuGet.org
• Uploads .nupkg and .snupkg as workflow artifacts on PRs and pushes
• Needs NUGET_API_KEY secret configured

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Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md.

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Support & Consulting

MIT and free. If it saved you headaches, consider funding. Contact: community@onspec.solutions

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Funding

💡 HostBridge is free forever — no paywalls, no feature gates.

If it saved you a late night, helped squash a NullReferenceException, or just kept your legacy app sane, you can:

• ☕ Buy a coffee on Ko-fi (one-time thank-you)
• (Future) Sponsor on GitHub (recurring support)
• (Future) Open Collective for transparent budgets once we hit traction

Bucket is full rule: when current goals are met, we pause donations until the next plan is posted.