Deploying Applications to the Web in .NET

This article has been excerpted from book "The Complete Visual C# Programmer's Guide" from the Authors of C# Corner.

In this article I will explain you about Deploying Applications to the Web in .NET.

Deploying Applications to the Web in .NET

A few files are required for deploying an ASP.NET application: the *.aspx Web pages, the *.asmx Web services, the binary file compiled from the code-behind aspx.cs and asmx.cs files, the local Web configuration file, and the discovery files for the Web services. Table 26.2 shows the different directories and files deployed in a Web application.

ASP.NET Item	Description
Application directory	The root directory of the application. This directory must be made into an IIS Web application; otherwise the application might not run.
<AppName>.aspx	The URL for bringing up Web forms.
<webservice>.asmx file	The URL for calling a Web service.
<webservice>.disco file	Discovery file for locating a Web service.
Web.config file	Used to override the default configuration into for the server application.
\bin directory	Contains the binary file for Web services and Web Forms.

Table 26.2: ASP.NET Deployed Files and Directories

Web applications can be deployed using FTP tools such as WSFTP or SecureCRT. Listing 26.2 shows the files deployed in a sample GuestBook application and the directory structure.

Listing 26.2: Directory and File Structure of GuestBook Application

GuestBookApp (IIS application directory)
MyGuestBook.aspx
ViewGuestBook.aspx
GuestBookServices.asmx
Thanks.aspx
Web.config
GuestBookApp.vsdisco
GuestBook.mdb
bin (binary directory for Web services and application)
GuestBookApp.dll

Using the Wizard to Deploy ASP.NET

The Project Wizard really makes your life easy when it comes to deploying an application to the Web. Begin by choosing Add Project->New Project from the File menu. Type the name of the setup project in the Name field and double-click Web Setup Project (see Figure 26.20). This will add a Web setup project to the Solution Explorer.



Figure 26.20: Choosing a Web Setup Project

Double-click the setup project in the Solution Explorer to bring up the File System window. Rightclick the Web Application folder and choose Add->Project Output, as shown in Figure 26.21.
 


Figure 26.21: Adding Project Files to the Setup Project

This brings up a window in which you can choose the output from the project. Choose Primary Output to package all the local DLLs and DLL dependencies and click OK. See Figure 26.22.



Figure 26.22: Choosing Project Output for the Setup

Next, right-click the Web Application folder, and this time choose Add->File and hold down the CTRL key and click all the files necessary to support your Web application, as shown in Figure 26.23.



Figure 26.23: Choosing Files to Deploy for the Web Application

When you have finished choosing files, click Open. The File System window should now look like Figure 26.24.



Figure 26.24: File System Window After Adding Necessary Files

Now compile the setup project from the Build menu. The build will create an .msi file that you can deploy and run on your Web server to set up your Web application. The Web setup file will be created in the root of wherever you created your Web project. If you created the project on your localhost, it will place the setup under \InetPub\wwwroot\<projectsetup>.

To run the Web setup, double-click the setup.exe file. You'll be prompted regarding to which virtual directory you would like to install your Web project as well as a port number, as in Figure 26.25.



Figure 26.25: Web Setup Wizard from setup.exe

After running the installation on your local drive, you'll find the Web application has installed in the GuestBook directory with the directory structure in Figure 26.26. Note that this matches the directory structure shown earlier in Listing 26.2.



Figure 26.26Guestbook Files and Directory Structure

If you had copied the setup files to a Web server and run the setup on that Web server, it would have created a <projectsetup> folder in the virtual directory specified in Figure 26.25 and then placed the Web application files and bin directory in that <projectsetup> folder.

Conclusion

Hope this article would have helped you in understanding Deploying Applications to the Web in .NET. See other articles on the website on .NET and C#.