Compile without IIS

agramont

agramont

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Joined
May 21, 2003
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Id like to know if I can compile an ASP.NET Application without IIS installed.

Let me explain:
On box A (Windows 2000 Svr), we have an ASP.NET (1.1) application

On box B (our build machine), we want to compile the code from Box A on this machine. This machine is identical to Box A except that it does not have IIS installed.

The Problem:
The project that was created on box A is setup to develop the web service via a connection to the web server (pointed at a virtual directory that points to the files). It seems that VS.NET has a problem with compiling the project (from box b) because it can not connect to the virtual directory.

I know, whats the big deal of having IIS installed on the build machine to get this to work. Weve done that to work around the issue, but it doesnt answer the question.

Can I compile an ASP.NET Application (via Visual Studio.NET 2003) without having IIS installed?

Or do I even need to compile the ASP.NET Application at all? Can I just deploy the application (its done via an MSI Install) and let ASP.NET compile that application after its been deployed and installed?
 
This is kind of a hazy subject. If you are using any references that were custom created for the project, they need to be compiled one way or another and dropped into the appropriate folder on the Web Server. If you absolutely must use VS for compilation, then the answer is yes you must have IIS installed (must be installed prior to installing VS or wont work).

You could also compile any .dlls need by the project by just using the command line csc.exe compiler and then dropping the dlls into the appropriate folder on the server. But that can be a little tedious and leaves a lot of room for errors.

If you do not feel comfortable using the command line compiler and cannot install IIS, my best recommendation would be for you to download WebMatrix and use that. It does not require IIS as it has some kind of built in virtual server that it installs for you to be able to develop and test web apps in ASP.Net. It can be found at http://www.asp.net/webmatrix/download.aspx?tabindex=4.

Hope the info helps.

--Sean
 
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