Need help with asp .net

I've used Cassini with Visual Studio (2002) on XP Home so yes, it is possible. I had to jump through a few hoops to get it to work though but it was quite easy. I think the key thing was the physical location of files had to match the virtual path exactly. And I also had to share the website folder.

e.g.

http://localhost/website1 must map to C:\inetpub\wwwroot\website1

If it doesn't VS couldn't open the web project.

If I remember correctly, I also got it running with Apache as well, but it was a long time ago and my memory is crap.

If you can't get it to work, I suggest using WebMatrix from ASP.NET. IDE that ships with whatever Casini developed into (WebMatrix Web Server probably)

So - yes it is possible but I can't remember the exact steps.



EDIT: typos

[edited by - PaulCunningham on January 21, 2004 9:54:33 AM]

Visual Studio doesn''t require IIS 5+, you can use Casini.

Also, you can use IIS on XP Home too. However it''s not supposed to be run on it and requires some registry hacks and files from the Windows 2k CD to do this. There are numerous sites that detail the steps but it''s a highly suspect procedure.

I would proceed by using Web Matrix. It is available for free from the ASP.NET web site.

Cassini is great if you're interested in exploring how the web server does what it does but it offers little more than added complexity if you're not interested. (Correction: there are apparently plenty of MSI installers available for Cassini.) Of course I'm not sure that Web Matrix's web server will work outside of Web Matrix as I've never tried, so it may be required to use Cassini.

If you are interested in pursuing Cassini, Apache, or alternative web servers that support ASP.NET then you might check out the CodeProject article at http://www.codeproject.com/aspnet/cassini_apache_101.asp. It explains how you can use Apache as a pass through agent for Cassini for ASP.NET.

The Mono project also has a working ASP.NET implementation. More information is available at http://www.go-mono.com/asp-net.html. Basically they have working web forms and web services; the object model looks to be fairly complete for someone who is just learning. The Mono project does not require IIS or even Windows, either. On a side note I haven't done any complex work on Mono so I don't know what the straight compatibility rate is - that might be a factor for you. (I'd imagine it's nearly 100%.)

DotGNU, another open source implementation of the .NET Framework, doesn't have support yet for the System.Web.* namespaces.

Covalent's Enterprise Ready Server includes Apache 2.0 with full ASP.NET support. Unfortunately as near as I can tell that support costs you a licensing fee; I've been unable to find it outside of Covalent.

One of the things I would become frustrated with would be the inability to work with the .NET Framework 1.1. ASP.NET received several improvements with 1.1. Visual Studio 2002 will be unable to process any of those improvements, restricting you to 1.0 development only. If you do want to work with the .NET Framework 1.1 pick up SharpDevelop. It is a full featured IDE for C# development.

Unfortunately SharpDevelop does not support ASP.NET projects as of yet. It does support the production of web services, and you could hand code the ASP.NET applications. I tend to find the graphical designer in Visual Studio .NET to be a great aid to quickly prototyping a system's look and feel though, without a great deal of thought going into the engine behind it. SharpDevelop does support Windows Forms applications and even has support for DirectX9 if you're doing game development.

You may also choose to host your application elsewhere. Brinkster hosts ASP.NET solutions for free, although it does have restrictions. See http://www.brinkster.com/GeneraldotNETFAQs.asp. DiscountASP.NET is a host I use for testing and evaluating ASP.NET controls. Their cost is $10.00 a month but they provide access to nearly every feature you'll need.

If you host elsewhere you'll have no problems producing your solution inside Visual Studio .NET. That's the cleanest way to proceed but costs cash. The other solutions are workarounds and can be troublesome, but are mostly free.

Good luck!

Brian

[edited by - Talonius on January 21, 2004 10:27:37 AM]

Thanks for the info guys

I found this about iis

(1) locate and edit the file C:\WINDOWS\INF\SYSOC.INF

(2) locate a section called [Components]

(3) find a line like this:
iis=iis.dll,OcEntry,iis.inf,hide,7

(4) change it to this (the iis cab in the i386 xp home folder looks to be nothing) iis=iis2.dll,OcEntry,iis2.inf,,7

(some sort of ms caching thing keeps sticking back iis.dll when I try to nuke it. quickly renaming and making hidden dir called iis.dll seems to thwart, but not worth it, so iis2.dll is good enough)

(5) I grabbed the iis.dl_ and iis.in_ from win2k advanced server cd.

I would guess similar techniques would work from W98, FP, etc. Use "EXPAND IIS.DL_ IIS2.DLL" from a command prompt Same for IIS2.INF, place IIS2.INF in C:\WINDOWS\INF and IIS2.DLL in C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\SETUP

(6) Now when I did "add windows programs" from the control panel''s add new programs, I had IIS options and I could even check em off. yippee - could not check em off from my xppro cd ((

I just went with the defaulted ones though (all i needed was iis web server)

(7) It will prompt you for files. Get em from MS XP Home CDs, Adv Server CDs, C:\WINNT\SYSTEM32\INETSRV, C:\WINDOWS\I386, etc. (It will tell you the file it needs, you just need to have a searcher going, probably the CDs will have all you need)

(8) You can get to your IIS from Control Panel''s Administrative Programs. I stuck in an index.html file and reconfigure IIS to work like this.
No go ((
I right clicked on my inetpub folder and did something with shared folders.
No go ((
I looked at the event viewer and saw the error of my ways. Go to IIS and goto Directory Security tab and click Edit button and Browse for the user setup on my laptop.

(9) Yippee, hello world from http://localhost


But it doesn''t seem legal or trustworthy, plus i dont have the win 2003 server cd.

Anyway, I have got the cassini server running but am having loads of trouble getting it to work with vs .net. If anyone figures out a way that would be cool
Thanks again

Just to offer a slightly different angle, don't use web projects at all. The designer is garbage as far as producing quality HTML. Here's what I do.

1. Set up a site or virtual directory. In your case you'd probably want to use cassini as you don't have IIS available (easily anyways)


2. Start up a library project in your favorite .NET language


3. Set the debug/build options to build to your site's /bin directory


4. Fire up Macromedia Dreamweaver MX and use it's designer to generate quality XHTML markup.

It's all about strengths ... VS.NET is a great code editor, DW is a great HTML editor. Sure there's a bit more hand coding going on this way as you'll have to wire up your codebehind pages manually, but if you plan on doing asp.net professionaly, you'll be better of knowing how to do all that stuff anyways.

If this is just for a hobby site, use webmatrix :-P

Joel Martinez
http://www.codecube.net/

[edited by - joelmartinez on January 21, 2004 10:32:12 AM]