MVC Web Application XCOPY Deployment? - asp.net-mvc

Question

I am new to MVC and want to migrate a Asp.net web application in MVC.
But i am stuck on how to deploy my web application on server IIS by copying all the source files on server (Xcopy deployment).
As in Asp.Net web application you can just create any new page and copy paste it on your webserver, it automatically gets compile and executed when browsed. Can this be done for MVC application??
I have even observed that when i host my MVC web application in IIS then any change in Views get reflected correctly without compiling the project , but i have to compile the project to make changes of controllers and models.

Answer 1

While you can add the App_Code directory to your asp.net MVC project by right-clicking on your project, as shown in the picture below, and put code in it that recompiles on the fly when it changes, in my opinion that's not a good solution. I will follow up the App_Code explanation with what I think you should do.
Clicking on the App_Code option will add that folder to your asp.net MVC project. Once you do that, you can add a class like the following to that folder:
public class TestClass
{
public string Description { get { return "Stuff"; } }
}
Then, in a view, you can create an instance of that class (which will be in the App_Code namespace by default, and reference the Description property like this:
#{
ViewBag.Title = "My View";
var test = new WebApplicationMVC.App_Code.TestClass();
}
<h2>#ViewBag.Title.</h2>
<h3>#ViewBag.Message</h3>
<h4>#test.Description</h4>
When you change the Description property's implementation, the site will recompile and use the new code. You could, for instance, change Description to return "More Stuff". In my opinion, recompiling like this on the fly is a bad solution. IIS handles site updates pretty well by overlapping the recycling anyway.
A better solution is to use the deployment wizard. The deployment wizard can deploy to your web server, Windows Azure, FTP, or local file system. And, the cool part about using the deployment wizard is that you won't end up uploading all of your source code to the server - it only copies what you need in order to run your site. To run the deployment wizard, right-click on your project and click the Publish option.
Once you are inside the deployment wizard, I recommend choosing Custom and then using the local file system option. Once you choose the local file system deployment option, you'll get the Settings tab where you can select Release or Debug (Release is recommended for production). Under "File Publish Options", I like to select the "Delete" option to remove all files from the deployment directory before copying new ones. Here is what the deployment wizard looks like:
This method of deployment does not allow you to deploy ad-hoc changes to controllers, models, etc; however, it is very clean and the proper way to deploy your site in my opinion.
You only need to copy from the deployment folder the files that you need to change. For example, if you just updated a view, you can copy just that view and the site will recompile that (as you've discovered). On the other hand, if you've changed something in a controller, copy the main assembly for your site, which is the dll, usually having the same name as your site, in the bin directory of the deployment folder.