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ASPHostCentral.com :: How to Deploy an ASP.NET MVC Hosting Application

clock March 24, 2009 18:36 by author Administrator

If your hosting provider already has ASP.NET MVC 1.0 installed on the hosting server, deploying your MVC application is no different that deploying any ASP.NET Web application. However, if the hosting provider does not currently support ASP.NET MVC 1.0, you must upload the required MVC assemblies in the Bin folder of your deployed application.

After ASP.NET MVC is installed, the following assemblies are located in the global assembly cache (GAC) on your computer:

- System.Web.Mvc (the ASP.NET MVC assembly)
- System.Web.Routing (a .NET Framework assembly that is required by ASP.NET MVC)
- System.Web.Abstractions (a .NET Framework assembly that is required by ASP.NET MVC)

If your hosting provider has ASP.NET version 3.5 Server Pack 1 installed, you have to upload only the System.Web.Mvc assembly. If your hosting provider is using ASP.NET version 3.5 or an earlier version, you must deploy all the listed assemblies.

ASP.NET MVC runs in medium trust. Therefore, it should work with the medium-trust policies of most hosting providers. However, check with your hosting provider about trust policies.

We recommend that you use the Publish feature of Visual Studio to publish to a local folder and then upload the files to your hosting provider. You can then test exported files before you copy them to the hosting provider. If the hosting provider supports FTP, you can often skip this intermediate step and publish directly to the hoster's FTP server.


To deploy an ASP.NET MVC application

1. In Visual Studio, open the project that you want to deploy.
2. In Solution Explorer, expand the References node.
3. Select the following assemblies:
- System.Web.Mvc
- System.Web.Routing
- System.Web.Abstractions
4. In the Properties window, set Copy Local to True.
5. In Solution Explorer, right-click the project and click Publish.  The Publish Web dialog box is displayed.
6. In Target location (http:, ftp:, or disk path), browse to a local folder and click Open.
7. Select either Replace matching files with local copies or Delete all existing files prior to publish.
8. Under Copy, select one of the following, depending on your needs: Only files needed to run this application, All project files, or All files in the source project folder.
9. If your application contains files in the App_Data folder such as database files, select Include files from the App_Data folder.
10. Click Publish. All the files that are required in order to deploy the application are copied to the target folder.

 

11. Test your application by deploying the files to a staging server or virtual machine that does not have MVC installed. If you do not have access to a staging server or a virtual machine, you can uninstall MVC and then test the application locally.
12. Upload the application to the hosting provider.


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ASPHostCentral.com :: Hosting and Deployment of an ASP.NET MVC Application in IIS6 and IIS7

clock March 23, 2009 18:15 by author Administrator
When building any application, the chances are that the application will have to be deployed. This article describes how you can deploy and host an ASP.NET MVC application in an Internet Information Server (IIS6 and IIS7) platform.


Platforms that can be used

Theoretically, any web server capable of running ASP.NET web applications should be capable of running an ASP.NET MVC web application.

Supported platforms are Windows running any version of Internet Information Services (IIS), from version 5.1 on.Some people managed to get ASP.NET MVC web applications running on Mono, an open source implementation of the .NET framework, but this is not officially supported.

Building an ASP.NET MVC web application also means building URL routes. URL routing is a key part of the ASP.NET MVC framework and is, therefore, required to run on the IIS server. Depending on the version of IIS being used, additional configuration may be required in order to be able to take advantage of URL routing.

Any ASP.NET MVC web application will be able to run on the following versions of IIS: 
IIS version Windows version Remarks
IIS 7.0 (integrated mode) Windows Server 2008Windows Vista (except Home Basic) No special configuration required
IIS 7.0 (classic mode) Windows Server 2008Windows Vista (except Home Basic) Special configuration required to use URL routing 
IIS 6.0 Windows Server 2003 Special configuration required to use URL routing
IIS 5.1 Windows XP Professional Special configuration required to use URL routing
IIS 5.0 Windows 2000 Special configuration required to use URL routing


Differences between IIS 7.0 integrated and classic mode

IIS 7.0 has been developed to be a flexible and scalable platform for hosting dynamic web applications including Microsoft ASP and ASP.NET.

When looking at ASP.NET, IIS 6.0 was built using ISAPI modules, requiring low-level C++ API calls and a lot of processing overhead when transferring an HTTP request to ASP.NET. For example, authentication was performed twice: once in IIS and once in ASP.NET. IIS 7.0. This introduced a whole new integrated model, which allowed ASP.NET applications to plug into the web server directly and actually become a part of the web server executable.


With classic mode, an HTTP request would be executed as follows:



As you can see, things such as authentication are performed twice, only for ASP.NET requests. Protecting an image from being displayed using ASP.NET authentication would be impossible in the classic mode! Using integrated mode, any HTTP request can be processed using ASP.NET modules and handlers such as authentication, making ASP.NET a full member of the IIS request processing pipeline.



IIS 7.0 provides support both for this new integrated mode and for the classic IIS 6.0 mode. The first option allows you to configure IIS 7.0 from within your web.config (which is preconfigured for the ASP.NET MVC framework); the latter requires some server-side configuration. To check whether an application is running in integrated or classic mode, follow these steps:

1.      Launch the Internet Information Services Manager.
2.      In the Connections tree view, select an application.
3.      In the Actions window, click on the Basic Settings link to open the Edit Application dialog box.
4.      Verify the selected Application pool. If DefaultAppPool is selected, your application runs in an integrated mode and natively supports the ASP.NET MVC framework. If Classic .NET AppPool is selected, your application runs in the classic mode, and more configuration is required. 


Hosting an ASP.NET MVC web application

If you or your web hosting provider have access to your web server's settings, a wildcard script map can be created in order to have full routing support. A wildcard script map enables you to map each incoming request into the ASP.NET framework. Be aware that this option passes every request into the ASP.NET framework (even images and CSS files!) and may have performance implications.If you do not have access to the web server's settings, you can modify the route tableto use file extensions. Instead of looking look like this:

/Products/All

URLs would look like this:

/Products.aspx/All

This way, no configuration of the web server is required. It is, however, necessary to make some modifications to the application's route table.You do not have to configure anything if your IIS 7.0 server is operating in integrated mode.


Creating a wildcard script map in IIS 7.0 

Here is how you can enable a wildcard script map in Internet Information Services 7.0:
1.      Launch the Internet Information Services Manager.
2.      In the Connections tree-view, select an application.
3.      In the bottom toolbar, make sure that the Features view is selected.
4.      Double-click on the Handler Mappings shortcut.
5.      In the Actions window, click on the Add Wildcard Script Map button.
6.      Enter the path to the aspnet_isapi.dll file, which is usually located in: %windir%Microsoft.NETFrameworkv2.0.50727aspnet_isapi.dll.
7.      Enter the name ASP.NET MVC.
8.      Click on the OK button.

After doing this, any request for this specific web site will be executed by the ASP.NET engine


Creating a wildcard script map in IIS 6.0

Here is how you can enable a wildcard script map in Internet Information Services 6.0:

1.      Launch the Internet Information Services IIS Manager.
2.      Right-click on a web site and select Properties.
3.      Select the Home Directory tab.
4.      Near Application settings, click on the Configuration button.
5.      Select the Mappings tab.
6.      Near Wildcard application maps, click on the Insert button.
7.      Enter the path to the aspnet_isapi.dll file, which is usually located in %windir%Microsoft.NETFrameworkv2.0.50727aspnet_isapi.dll
8.      Uncheck the Verify that file exists checkbox.
9.      Click on the OK button.After following these steps, any request for this specific web site will be executed by the ASP.NET engine 


Modifying the route table to use file extensions

If you do not have access to your web server's settings and, therefore, cannot configure a wildcard script map, it is possible to modify the route table to use file extensions. Instead of looking like this:

/Products/All

URLs would look like this:

/Products.aspx/All

In the older versions of IIS, only certain requests are mapped to the ASP.NET framework. For example, only .aspx, .asmx, .ascx, and so on, are mapped to the ASP.NET framework. Extensions such as .htm, .jpg, .gif, and so on, are served directly by IIS without any ASP.NET processing being necessary. Because the .aspx extension is always mapped to the ASP.NET framework, it is an ideal candidate to trigger the routing engine
In the Global.asax file of the web application, modify the default route to look like this:

using System.Web.Mvc;
using System.Web.Routing;

namespace ModifiedRouteExample
{
    public class MvcApplication : System.Web.HttpApplication
    {
        public static void RegisterRoutes(RouteCollection routes)
        {
            routes.IgnoreRoute("{resource}.axd/{*pathInfo}");

            routes.MapRoute(
               "Default",                                      
             // Route name
              
               "{controller}.aspx/{action}/{id}",                    
            // URL with parameters
              
               new { controller = "Home", action = "Index", id = "" }
            // Parameter defaults
            );

        }

        protected void Application_Start()
        {
            RegisterRoutes(RouteTable.Routes);
        }
    }
}

The key difference between the standard route table and this modified route table is the .aspx extension:

routes.MapRoute(
    "Default",
    "{controller}.aspx/{action}/{id}",
    new { controller = "Home", action = "Index", id = "" }
);


All of the URLs in your application should now work with a pattern such as {controller}.aspx/{action}. If you are using hard-coded hyperlinks, make sure that you modify these links. Hyperlinks that are generated using the ActionLink() method of the HtmlHelper class should be updated automatically.

Summary

In this article, we have learned which hosting platforms can be used to host an ASP.NET MVC web application. We've also seen the differences between IIS 7.0 integrated mode and classic mode. We've learned how to create a wildcard script map in both IIS 7.0 and IIS 6.0. As an alternative to configuring the web server, we have learned how to modify the route table to support ASP.NET routing on some hosting environments.


Where to go for ASP.NET MVC Hosting?

You can host your website on the ASP.NET MVC Framework at ASPHostCentral.com and you can do it by just paying $4.99/month

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ASPHostCentral.com :: Using ASP.NET MVC Routing to route the 404 Error Pages

clock March 19, 2009 21:51 by author Administrator
This article describes a way to use ASP.NET Routing to avoid 404 Not Found errors when changing folder structure or folder names in a web site.

What to do with obsolete links to your web site?

Having a web site means spending some time and efforts promoting the site on the Internet, making sure search engines indexed all the pages, trying to get exposure through blogs or discussion boards.

And then you get new idea and really need to restructure your site "change some folder names, move some pages, etc. What will happen with all those third-party links to your site you were so proud of? Do you want to lose them?

Route old URLs to new site structure

With arrival of .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 we got an elegant way of solving this problem ASP.NET Routing. Initially it was a part of ASP.NET MVC Preview 2, and now it is a part of the Framework.

The idea is to add special "Routs" to the site having single goal of processing requests to pages which are no longer present on the site. In its simplistic form the processing can happen in a single ASPX page responsible for proper handling of requests. Here is the example.

These parts you'll need in the project:

WebFormRouteHandler created by Chris Cavanagh representing IRouteHandler implementation, Global.asax file registering your Routs, web.config file where you register the WebFormRouteHandler , and Default.aspx page responsible for actual request processing.

Let's take a look at Global.asax.

    void Application_Start(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        // runs on application startup
        RegisterMyRoutes(System.Web.Routing.RouteTable.Routes);
    }    private void RegisterMyRoutes(System.Web.Routing.RouteCollection routes)
    {

        // reference IRouteHandler implementation (example created by Chris Cavanagh)
        // see http://chriscavanagh.wordpress.com/2008/03/11/aspnet-routing-goodbye-url-rewriting/
        var startPageRouteHandler = new WebFormRouteHandler("~/default.aspx"); 

        // exclude .axd to handle web services and AJAX without checking all routs
        // see http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.web.routing.stoproutinghandler.aspx
        routes.Add(new System.Web.Routing.Route("{resource}.axd/{*pathInfo}", new System.Web.Routing.StopRoutingHandler()));
       routes.Add(new System.Web.Routing.Route("{service}.asmx/{*path}", new System.Web.Routing.StopRoutingHandler()));
        
         // mapping:
        // extracts folder name and page name as items in HttpContext.Items
        routes.Add(new System.Web.Routing.Route("{folderName}/", startPageRouteHandler));
        routes.Add(new System.Web.Routing.Route("{folderName}/{pageName}", startPageRouteHandler
);
    }

Here we defined single route handler - default.aspx, as well as routing rules.

Rule #1:

routes.Add(new System.Web.Routing.Route("{folderName}/", startPageRouteHandler));

states that all requests to a URL with structure "http://mysite.com/something" will be processed by the default.aspx page if there was no actual "something" found on the site. For example, there is a RealPage.aspx page present on the site, so requests to http://mysite.com/RealPage.aspx will be processed by that page.

But if client requests RealPage2.aspx, that request will be processed by the default.aspx page according to the rule #1. Note that client will not be redirected to default.aspx, it will be just web server running code in default.aspx in response to the request. For the client the response will come from the RealPage2.aspx.

You can add as many routes as you want, for example rule #2:

routes.Add(new System.Web.Routing.Route("{folderName}/{pageName}", startPageRouteHandler));

stating that all requests to a URL with structure "http://mysite.com/somefolder/somethingelse" will be processed by the default.aspx page if there was no actual "somefolder/somethingelse" found on the site.

The code behind default.aspx shows how to extract those parts of the request. As you can see they will be placed in the HttpContext.Items collection.

        lblFolder.Text = Context.Items["folderName"] as string;
        lblPage.Text = Context.Items["pageName"] as string;

How it works in real life

Here is a real life web site actually using this technique - Digitsy Global Store. Besides handling obsolete URLs the ASP.NET Routing is being used to handle multiple languages on the site, switching CultureInfo on the fly:

   protected void Page_PreInit(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        CultureInfo lang = new CultureInfo(getCurrentLanguage());
        Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentCulture = lang;
        Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentUICulture = lang;
    }
    private static string getCurrentLanguage()
    {
        string lang = HttpContext.Current.Items["language"] as string;
        switch (lang)
        {
            case "france":
                return "fr-FR";
            case "canada":
                return "en-CA";
            case "germany":
                return "de-DE";
            case "japan":
                return "ja-JP";
            case "uk":
                return "en-GB";
            case "russia":
                return "ru-RU";
            default:
                return "en-US";
        }
    }

As you see, the default language is English, United States: "en-US". In internal links the site uses structure http://{sitename}/{language}/¦other things¦

So if you try http://digitsy.com/us/ you'll get US version, trying http://digitsy.com/japan/ will bring you Japanese one, and if you try http://digitsy.com/whatever " you'll not get 404 error, you'll get US version again.

ASP.NET Routing made restructuring of the site really easy. The folder structure "{language}/{index}/category/{categoryID}" was recently replaced by "{language}/{index}/shopping/{categoryID}". There supposed to be no "category" folder in the site structure anymore. But because of both routs pointing to the same handling page both folders "category" and "shopping" return valid responses.

Trying http://digitsy.com/us/Electronics/shopping/541966  will use the rule:

routes.Add(new System.Web.Routing.Route("{language}/{index}/shopping/{categoryID}", categoryRouteHandler));

while trying http://digitsy.com/us/Electronics/category/541966  will use:

routes.Add(new System.Web.Routing.Route("{language}/{index}/category/{categoryID}", categoryRouteHandler));

and both will resolve to the same route handling page.


Where to go for ASP.NET MVC Hosting?

You can host your website on the ASP.NET MVC Framework at ASPHostCentral.com and you can do it by just paying $4.99/month 

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