GUI developer working on asp.net app w/o VS.NET

[epigram]

I've got a couple of developers working on an asp.net app using Visual
Studio .NET 2003. I've got a graphics person that needs to be able to work
on the aspx pages. This person is using Dreamweaver (if that makes any
difference). The source files for the app are kept in SourceSafe. I want
the graphics person to be able to pull the app out of SS and work on aspx
pages. He can get the files on his system, but if he tries to navigate to a
page (via http/a browser) I get errors that a class can't be loaded,
located, etc. I suspect the problem is, since he doesn't have VS, the cs
files aren't being compiled into a DLL in a bin directory as VS does
automatically for you.

So, the question really is, how can my graphics person pull the source files
out of SS and ultimately run the site? I thought that IIS (via the ASP.NET
engine) would compile them automatically for you, but that doesn't appear to
be happening. Does he have to manually (i.e. via the command line) compile
the app? Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[Web Team @ Borough of Poole]

Assuming you are using code-behind for your code (best practice) e.g.
index.aspx code is in index.aspx.vb then you shouldn't have to do any
recompilation if you are only changing an ASPX file.

 

[Kevin Spencer]

This is one of those scenarios that calls out for external CSS style sheets.
You have a team that is divided into a presentation person or department,
perhaps a developer or department working on UI elements, form fields and so
on, and perhaps a developer or department working on business logic
programming.

In any case, here's how we solved it, for what it's worth:

The UI developer develops custom Controls that are encapsulated in divs. The
Control has a CSS Style property, and no formatting, inline attributes or
other styles. Only the div has a CSS class name and an ID. The child
controls in the div have IDs. These Controls are developed with the graphics
developer's consultation. The graphics developer then develops CSS classes
to handle the layout, formatting, and style for the Controls, using an
external Style Sheet. This enables the graphics developer to work completely
independently of the UI developer, without either of them touching what the
other does. The CSS does the actual formatting and layout work. In addition,
it enables the graphics developer to change the entire look of the web
application in a very short period of time.

One other advantage of this is, if well-designed, these Controls can be
re-used throughout the application, and even in other applications, without
modifications to the Controls themselves.

--
HTH,

Kevin Spencer
Microsoft MVP
..Net Developer
Everybody picks their nose,
But some people are better at hiding it.