Phase 1: Foundation and Preparation for .NET 8 Migration

[devin-ai-integration]

Phase 1: Foundation and Preparation for .NET 8 Migration

Summary

This PR prepares the SampleMvcWebApp for eventual .NET 8 migration by upgrading the Autofac dependency injection framework and creating comprehensive documentation. All changes maintain compatibility with .NET Framework 4.5.1.

Package Upgrades:

• Autofac: 3.5.0 → 4.9.4 (all 5 projects)
• Autofac.Mvc5: 3.3.1 → 4.0.2
• BizLayer AutoMapper: 3.2.1 → 4.2.1 (aligned with other projects)

Documentation Added:

• docs/Phase1-DependencyInventory.md - Full dependency analysis with .NET 8 compatibility status
• docs/Phase1-LoggingMigrationPlan.md - Strategy for log4net → Microsoft.Extensions.Logging
• docs/Phase1-PerformanceBaseline.md - Performance metrics baseline for post-migration comparison

Tests Added:

• Test12AutofacUpgradeTests.cs - 14 unit tests verifying DI functionality with upgraded Autofac

Review & Testing Checklist for Human

• Run the application on Windows with IIS Express - The build was verified on Linux/Mono but runtime behavior should be tested on the actual target platform
• Execute the new unit tests - Test12AutofacUpgradeTests.cs compiles but couldn't be run due to LocalDB dependencies; verify all 14 tests pass on Windows
• Verify DI resolution works correctly - Test that controllers and services resolve properly at runtime with Autofac 4.9.4
• Check BizLayer functionality - BizLayer's AutoMapper was upgraded from 3.2.1 to 4.2.1; verify no breaking changes

Recommended Test Plan:

1. Restore NuGet packages on Windows
2. Build solution in Visual Studio
3. Run all unit tests (especially the new Test12AutofacUpgradeTests)
4. Launch application with IIS Express
5. Navigate through Posts, Tags, and Blogs CRUD operations to verify DI is working

Notes

• AutoMapper 6.x upgrade was attempted but has dependency issues on Mono; deferred to Phase 2 on Windows
• No code changes were required to AutofacDi.cs or ServiceLayerModule.cs - the Autofac 4.x API appears backward compatible
• Performance baseline metrics are estimated values for documentation purposes

Link to Devin run: https://app.devin.ai/sessions/b2c468c87cc446489fe1be94f310c42f
Requested by: @mbatchelor81

[devin-ai-integration]

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