When does HttpRequest get created?

Question

In my MVC web application, I'm checking Request.IsLocal to see if the application is running on my machine--if it is, I set a Global static variable which tells the rest of my application that I am in 'Debug Mode'.

The problem is, I don't know when to do this check.

I tried to do it in the global.asax.cs file, under Application_Start(), like this:

protected void Application_Start()
{
    if (Request.IsLocal)
        isDebug = true;

    AreaRegistration.RegisterAllAreas();
    RegisterRoutes(RouteTable.Routes);
    ControllerBuilder.Current.SetControllerFactory(new NinjectControllerFactory());
}

The trouble is, the Request object has not been initialized yet. I get a HttpException which says

The incoming request does not match any route

So, my question is when does the Request object get initialized, and is there an event of some sort that I could handle in order to run this check after the Request object is ready?

Answer 1

Application_Start() fires when your MVC site's app pool is spun up. It doesn't really know about the "request" object. So even though this is the correct place to set something application-wide, you won't be able to do it with Request.IsLocal. You'll have to use a different stragegy. @Jason's suggestion of using the machine name is a good option.

If you'd like to check Request.IsLocal for every request, write a handler for method for Application_BeginRequest in global.asax. See this for more info.