I am trying to map directly to the C# class ListItem. ListItem is under the namespace System.Web.UI.Controls, and the assembly is System.Web. (for those who didn't know that) I can get this mapping to work if I put the System.Web.dll in my bin directory. My question is can I map this assembly without placing the *.dll in my bin directory?

Has anybody even tried this, I don't think its too far of a stretch to think it can be done. When it comes down to it all I need to know is if you can map to an assembly that isn't in the bin folder.

Yes, as long as the class in question follows the POCO rules for NH persistable objects. See the docs.

ok, well, I looked at the docs, the only thing the class has going against it is that it is sealed. so unfortunately that means that I can't inherit from the class. but i have successfully pulled items in as ListItems when the System.Web dll was in my bin directory. I guess the main issue now is how do how do I make nHibernate resolve the assembly when it is not in the bin. I'm sorry but I didn't see anything that explicitly states how to do that.

Serendipity, I just now ran into this problem myself. I have a mapped object that uses an enum from System.Web. This used to work in 1.0.x, but now upgrading to 1.2.1 for this component broke it. It now chokes (as does yours) at add assembly.

The problem is that there is some breaking change that is affecting how types in the mapping files are resolved. I don't know that it is a "must be in the bin directory" issue (though that might resolve it, you're right that there should be a better way).

So, I'm going to try to work this out, but first I'll send up the question newly formatted for anyone that might know (do the devs read the forums anymore?):

What breaking changes in mapping type resolution were there from 1.0.x to 1.2.x, and what are the workarounds?

Yep, it was right there in the first 1.2.0 beta: NH-353 ( http://www.covalentsw.com:8080/browse/NH-353 ): Assembly.LoadWithPartialName is obsolete in .NET2. Therefore, you have to use a fully qualified assembly name in your mapping, or use the <runtime> section in your app.config, a la:

Thanks for the help! I couldn't get the <runtime> configuration to work, but fully quantifying the name did.