Compiling directories in web project...

[Guest]

In vs.net 2005 you can build the entire website, entire solution or a single
page. The project I am working on has more than 1000 pages spread over 50-60
directories. We work on one or two of the directories most of the time.

When an external dependency is changed (say a function in business layer),
we have to compile the entire web project, which takes a lot of time because
vs.net compiles all 60 directories.

What is need is an option to just compile one directory (to minimize the
development time).

Is this possible? I could not find an option to do this in vs.net 2005.
Also, if it is not directly possible, is it possible to do it by writing a
macro or build script? Any pointers will be appreciated.

Thanks

 

[S. Justin Gengo [MCP]]

jojobar,

The main .dll file of the site contains all the codebehind for each page. So
I don't think this is possible. However if you were to use a modular
usercontrol system such as the one .net nuke uses then you could update and
install those modules. The way the DotNetNuke site works is probably the
closest to what you describe: www.dotnetnuke.com



--
Sincerely,

S. Justin Gengo, MCP
Web Developer / Programmer

www.aboutfortunate.com

"Out of chaos comes order."
Nietzsche

 

[Ken Cox - Microsoft MVP]

Be sure to check out Rick Strahl's free West Wind ASP.NET 2.0 Compiler
Utility

http://www.west-wind.com/tools/aspnetcompiler.asp

Also, I wonder if MSBuild would help you there if you added the directories
as items?

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms171452.aspx

Ken
Microsoft MVP [ASP.NET]

 

[Guest]

I am not sure what you mean by the modular user control that dotnetnuke uses.
I just downloaded their source. Their architecture is very modular but the
user controls are all in a folder below the websie.

I tried changing one of their lirary files and then compiled the website
(after initially compiling the solution).

It took about 35 seconds on my 2.4ghz 786MB RAM & 7200 rpm laptop. Maybe my
machine is slow, but I as looking fo making the development cycle fater.
This was a big problem with asp.net 1.1

Thanks for your help.

 

[S. Justin Gengo [MCP]]

jojobar,

You can build just the module and then deploy the module's .dll file (and
..aspx file depending on your compile choice). There is no need for the
entire solution to be built if you are just adding a module or making a
change to an included module. The neat thing about DotNetNuke is that
modules are their own separate "entities" which can be created and installed
separately from any given instance of DotNetNuke itself. This means separate
modules may be worked on and then installed on a production site without
compiling everything.

--
Sincerely,

S. Justin Gengo, MCP
Web Developer / Programmer

www.aboutfortunate.com

"Out of chaos comes order."
Nietzsche

 

[Yuan Ren[MSFT]]

Hi jojobar,

Thanks for posting!

As Ken mentioned, I think the West Wind ASP.NET 2.0 Compiler Utility is
appropriate for current demand.

Otherwise, if you want to make the build flexible, I suggest you use the
MSBuild for ASP.NET 2.0. You can create your own task for the requirement.
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms171452.aspx

I hope the information will be helpful.

Regards,

Yuan Ren [MSFT]
Microsoft Online Support

 

[Guest]

Thanks for the comment. I believe all these suggestions are pretty good when
you are deploying the solution. However, if you are going through the
iterative cycles of edit/compile/run, these solutions (I suspect) may not
work very well.

I was wondering if smart C# compiler can be designed that would parse the
code and not compile the code if not needed (even though the library is
referenced)!

Finally I stumbled across an article by Scott Guthrie, that explains how you
can make a directory hidden so that it does not show up in vs.net (and hence
does not compile). So I decided to go with that idea and compile less! even
though it is not an ideal solution for me.

 

[Yuan Ren[MSFT]]

Hi Jojo,

Thanks for your reply!

From your description, I think the problem is caused that all directories
are in the same project. This means that you have a single project for the
current application. Based on my experience, I think you can try to
separate the project to many parts. For example, the business objects layer
in one project and data access layer in another. So, if you have some
changed in the business objects layer, you just rebuild the business
project. I think this is an easy way to build a complex solution. Thanks
for your understanding!

Regards,

Yuan Ren [MSFT]
Microsoft Online Support

 

[Guest]

Hello Yuan,

That is not true. Let me explain our configuration a little bit:

We have separate projects as follows:

Solution
Project: BusinessLayer
Project: DBLayer
Project: Utils
Website:
Folder: App_Code
Folder: App_Themes
Folder: App1 (500+ files in many subfolders)
Folder: App2 (250+ files in many subfolders)
Folder: App3 (500+ files in many subfolders)
Folder: App4 (200+ files in many subfolders)
....{{ more applications in various folders... a total of 3000 files)
web.config

Note that each apps share the same web.config, so they are in the same
website. Also they depend on the other projects like BusinessLayer, DBLayer
etc.

In asp.net 1.1 we had separate projects (not website) for each App1, App2
etc. So when we were fixing bugs (say in App1), we just needed to compile
App1.

In asp.net 2.0, all the apps have to be in under the same web project (to
facilitate sharing of web.config, skins etc). Now when a developer changes a
small function in that dblayer that is related to app1 and does a build
website, the asp.net 2.0 compilier cannot figure out that folder app1 is only
dependent on this function so it compiles all the apps, a total of 3000 files
(it takes more than 2 and half minutes on my latop which is 3.4Ghz cpu and
has 1GB of RAM and 7200rpm drive).

I understand that if only the apps files change, the compilation is very
fast. however, in the development cycle, developers also change library
projects as well as apps.

I think this is a limitation, it would be nice if MS provided a folder
compile in addition to file compile and website compile for a vs.net 2005
website. Otherwise it would be good to know if some hack exists.

Some people on this thread has suggested I use msbuild for this. I do want
to stay in the development environment of vs.net 2005 and take advantage of
it. I understand msbuild is good for deployment options.

I hope I explained my problem well, I think all the advantages of 2.0
motivated us to migrate our program. This is however a big bottleneck that
needs addressing. Any other ideas/hack etc?

 

[Yuan Ren[MSFT]]

Hi JoJo,

Thanks for your reply!

I do understand your issue. As your appreciated idea, the issue is a
product limitation because the new compilation mode in ASP.NET 2.0. If you
publish the website, I think this will take more time to approach this.
However, I recommend you submit a feedback for the current issue. You can
do this by accessing the link below:
https://support.microsoft.com/common/survey.aspx?scid=sw;en;1214&showpage=1&
WS=mscom&url=http%3a%2f%2fwww.microsoft.com%2f

Thanks for your understanding!

Regards,

Yuan Ren [MSFT]
Microsoft Online Support
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