Create two Automapper maps between the same two object types

Kevin Kalitowski raised a good point about wal’s answer: If we need two configurations to deal with a mapping that needs to be different, then don’t we have to duplicate all the other mappings that are common?

I think I’ve found a way around this using profiles: Have one profile for each of the unique mappings, and a third profile for the common mappings. Then create two configurations, one for each unique profile but also add the common profile to each configuration as well.

Example, in AutoMapper 4.2:

The classes to be mapped: User and Vehicle:

public class User
{
    public string Name { get; set; }
    public int Age { get; set; }
}

public class Vehicle
{
    public int FleetNumber { get; set; }
    public string Registration { get; set; }
}

The profiles:

public class Profile1 : Profile
{
    protected override void Configure()
    {
        base.CreateMap<User, User>();
    }
}

public class Profile2 : Profile
{
    protected override void Configure()
    {
        base.CreateMap<User, User>().ForMember(dest => dest.Age, opt => opt.Ignore());
    }
}

public class CommonProfile : Profile
{
    protected override void Configure()
    {
        base.CreateMap<Vehicle, Vehicle>();
    }
}

Then create the configurations and map the objects:

[TestMethod]
public void TestMethod()
{
    var user = new User() { Name = "John", Age = 42 };
    var vehicle = new Vehicle {FleetNumber = 36, Registration = "XYZ123"};

    var configuration1 = new MapperConfiguration(cfg =>
    {
        cfg.AddProfile<CommonProfile>();
        cfg.AddProfile<Profile1>();
    });

    var mapper1 = configuration1.CreateMapper();
    var mappedUser1 = mapper1.Map<User, User>(user);//maps both Name and Age
    var mappedVehicle1 = mapper1.Map<Vehicle, Vehicle>(vehicle);//Maps both FleetNumber 
                                                                //and Registration.

    var configuration2 = new MapperConfiguration(cfg =>
    {
        cfg.AddProfile<CommonProfile>();
        cfg.AddProfile<Profile2>();
    });

    var mapper2 = configuration2.CreateMapper();
    var mappedUser2 = mapper2.Map<User, User>(user);//maps only Name
    var mappedVehicle2 = mapper2.Map<Vehicle, Vehicle>(vehicle);//Same as mappedVehicle1.
}

I tried this out and it works.