How can I make Unity resolve models that AutoMapper creates when mapping?

Question

I have e.g. the following code that queries a list of DTOs, and maps that to a list of viewmodels. I would like to have my container resolve these viewmodels, instead of AutoMapper simply instantiating them without any injection.

using (var db = new AppDbContext())
{
    var types = await db.ApptTypes
        .Where(t => t.BranchId == branchId && (includeDeleted || !t.IsDeleted))
        .Include(e => e.CreatedBy)
        .Include(e => e.CreatedAt)
        .Include(e => e.Org)
        .Include(e => e.Branch)
        .ToListAsync(cancellationToken);
    return Mapper.Map<IEnumerable<ApptTypeDetailViewModel>>(types);
}

Answer 1

Thanks to this answer, I have found a neat and fairly reliable way of achieving what I want. The main process looks like this:

class Program
{
    private static IUnityContainer _container;
    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        var boot = new Bootstrapper();
        boot.Run();
        _container = boot.Container;

        InitMaps(_container);

        var dto = new Dto {Id = 418, Name = "Abrahadabra"};
        var model = Mapper.Map<ViewModel>(dto);
    }

    private static void InitMaps(IUnityContainer container)
    {
        Mapper.Initialize(cfg =>
        {
            cfg.CreateMap<Dto, ViewModel>()
                .ConstructUsing(f => UnityObjectFactoty.GetInstance<ViewModel>(container));
        });
    }
}

And the factory:

class UnityObjectFactoty
{
    public static TObject GetInstance<TObject>(IUnityContainer container)
    {
        return container.Resolve<TObject>();          
    }
}

Where the viewmodel is:

public class ViewModel
{
    public ViewModel(IService service)
    {
        _service = service;
    }

    private IService _service;
    public int Id { get; set; }
    public string Name { get; set; }
}

All that remains is to provide ctor parameters not resolved by the container, but that is not a requirement in my use case of this pattern.