PrimitiveResourceTypeMap throws exception when trying to use EF as data feed - entity-framework

Question

Short description:
I'm trying to create a WFC data service that will use entity framework to retrieve data from db. The important thing is that the service must be hosted inside sharepoint server. Everything (almost) is ok except that when I'm trying to access deployed service from sharepoint I've got an exception:
The server encountered an error processing the request. The exception message is 'The type initializer for 'System.Data.Services.Providers.PrimitiveResourceTypeMap' threw an exception.'. See server logs for more details. The exception stack trace is:
at System.Data.Services.Providers.PrimitiveResourceTypeMap.get_TypeMap() at System.Data.Services.Providers.ObjectContextServiceProvider.PopulateMetadata(ProviderMetadataCacheItem metadataCacheItem) at System.Data.Services.Providers.BaseServiceProvider.LoadMetadata(Boolean skipServiceOperations) at System.Data.Services.Providers.EntityFrameworkDataService1.CreateInternalProvider(Object dataSourceInstance) at System.Data.Services.DataService1.CreateMetadataAndQueryProviders(IDataServiceMetadataProvider& metadataProviderInstance, IDataServiceQueryProvider& queryProviderInstance, Object& dataSourceInstance, Boolean& isInternallyCreatedProvider) at System.Data.Services.DataService1.CreateProvider() at System.Data.Services.DataService1.HandleRequest() at System.Data.Services.DataService`1.ProcessRequestForMessage(Stream messageBody) at SyncInvokeProcessRequestForMessage(Object , Object[] , Object[] ) at System.ServiceModel.Dispatcher.SyncMethodInvoker.Invoke(Object instance, Object[] inputs, Object[]& outputs) at System.ServiceModel.Dispatcher.DispatchOperationRuntime.InvokeBegin(MessageRpc& rpc) at System.ServiceModel.Dispatcher.ImmutableDispatchRuntime.ProcessMessage5(MessageRpc& rpc) at System.ServiceModel.Dispatcher.ImmutableDispatchRuntime.ProcessMessage11(MessageRpc& rpc) at System.ServiceModel.Dispatcher.MessageRpc.Process(Boolean isOperationContextSet)
The same service hosted from normal web app works fine.
Is there anyone that had similar issue and has some clues?

Answer 1

I managed to create fully functional WCF data service hosted inside SharePoint 2013 on premise. I got the exception mentioned in question (as well as many others).
By fully functional I mean that my odata requests with filters from CSOM and java script are properly executed and (auto-magically) results in properly formed queries to SQL server database. Works both http and https.
Here is short description what is necessary to have it all working.
A bunch of dll from nuget needs to be deployed to GAC via SharePoint WSP (here is list which worked for me)
a. EntityFramework.dll 6.1.3 for .Net 4.5
b. EntityFramework.SqlServer.dll 6.1.3 for .Net 4.5
c. Microsoft.Data.Edm.dll 5.6.2
d. Microsoft.Data.OData.dll 5.6.2
e. Microsoft.Data.Services.dll 5.6.2
f. Microsoft.Data.Services.Client.dll 5.6.2
g. Microsoft.OData.EntityFrameworkProvider.dll 1.0.0-beta2
h. System.Spatial.dll 5.6.2
Note: The trick is that there is no direct error that some of these dll’s are missing. The exception from question is displayed when there was no System.Spatial.dll in GAC.
Service should look similar to above:
using System.Data.Services;
using System.Data.Services.Providers;
using System.ServiceModel.Activation;
[AspNetCompatibilityRequirements(RequirementsMode = AspNetCompatibilityRequirementsMode.Required)]
public class yourService : EntityFrameworkDataService<YourEntities>
{
public static void InitializeService(DataServiceConfiguration config)
{
config.SetEntitySetAccessRule("*", EntitySetRights.AllRead);
config.SetServiceOperationAccessRule("*", ServiceOperationRights.All);
config.DataServiceBehavior.MaxProtocolVersion = System.Data.Services.Common.DataServiceProtocolVersion.V3;
}
}
Svc file: YourService.svc should be deployed to dedicated feature folder inside ISAPI SP folder
For http – fragment:
<service behaviorConfiguration="WCFServicesBehavior" name=" Namespace.yourservice ">
<endpoint address="mex" binding="mexHttpBinding" contract="IMetadataExchange" />
</service>
For https: like in http but use mexHttpsBinding binding
Open your endpoint in browser to check if this is working
http://yoursite.local/_vti_bin/name_of_your_feature/yourservice.svc - should return info about service
http://yoursite.local/_vti_bin/name_of_your_feature/yourservice.svc/Name_of_your_entitySet() – should return all entities of given type
Check in SQL Server Profiler if your odata filters are properly translated to SQL queries