How to alter the scaffolding output folder? - asp.net-mvc

I can't seem to determine if the -Folder option was removed from the MvcScaffolding package for ASP.NET MVC. These two links indicate that it was used for altering the output folder for the items created by the scaffolds:
http://blog.stevensanderson.com/2011/01/13/mvcscaffolding-standard-usage/
How to change project and folder where MvcScaffolding generates controllers, views and repositories
I'm using the Package Manager Console in VS2010 for an MVC3 project. When I try to alter the output folder when scaffolding, say, a repository, there is no -Folder option in the list of options that appear when I enter "-" and press Tab. The options that sound closest to what I need are:
TemplateFolders
OverrideTemplateFolders
PipeOutput
But I can't find good documentation on what these really do either (I tried them but couldn't actually tell what they did). Am I missing something obvious? Thanks!

Related

following iterative and agile in asp.net MVC

ok, i know there are a lot of posts online that specify how to do iterations with MVC.
my question is slightly different. when i used to do iterations using WebForms, i was creating one thing only and finishing that one thing till the end which was including the deployment on production.
for example, i was creating a webpage and deploying it, then i create the second page and deploy it. so .dll files were added to my bin folder while the previous dlls remain untouched. at the other hand, when i was making a change latter on, there was this one file that needed to be replaced on production.
now here is the question, how can i acheive the same thing in mvc? beause it just doesn't deploy each page into an individual dll. each time that i add something i have to redeploy the application dll which is not really wise! i played around with deployment options in visual studio but no luck!
There is nothing preventing you from putting controllers and other code in separate assemblies and dropping them in an existing application. Like any ASP.NET based application an MVC application will automatically restart if you add or modify any file in the bin folder or modify web.config.
If you're using Razor you can use RazorGenerator to generate code for your views and compile them into the same assembly.
You may need to write some additional logic though to get routes, model binders etc. wired up correctly.
For a more structures approach to compose the application of separate modules, you may want to look into portable areas. This is an extension to ASP.NET MVC that allows you to package the entire module (including views, css, js etc.) into a single assembly.
First thing, you have to work on the title of the post, it does not match the content of the post.
In asp.net mvc u can choose to deploy only what changed. I.e. If you only changed the .cshtml file, then you can just replace it with the file in production. However if you change any controller class (C#/Vb code), then you will have to upload the web project dll file too so that this new changes are available in the production env

What are the steps for converting the view engine for an MVC project from .ASPX to Razor?

I've inherited an MVC3 project that has a large number of ASPX views that I would like to convert to Razor. This question => Aspx to Razor syntax converter? is similar to mine, and it helped me find a bunch of options for converting the views themselves, but I'm unclear on the steps I need to take in addition to converting the views.
The first known limitation of Telerik's razor-converter is "The tool only works with views and does not deal with the project structure and master pages". This tool claims to be able to convert master pages as well, but it doesn't look like anybody beyond the developer has ever used it.
I think these are the steps I need to take:
Use a utility to convert the views
Convert the master pages manually (how do I do this?)
Modify the project structure (what needs to be modified?)
Delete the ASPX files
Test the application (any specific gotchas I should look out for?)
Are these the right steps? Can you help me with my questions on steps 2 and 3?
I have only tried this on one solution and the actual conversion did a fairly good job. I downloaded the Telerik converter project, compiled it, and then converted my projects using these command lines:
aspx2razor C:\Development\MyProject\MyWebProject\*.ascx C:\Development\MyProject\MyWebProject -r
aspx2razor C:\Development\MyProject\MyWebProject\*.aspx C:\Development\MyProject\MyWebProject -r
aspx2razor C:\Development\MyProject\MyWebProject\*.master C:\Development\MyProject\MyWebProject -r
I only needed to go back to add an #include for a namespace here and there, and to add a few parenthesis to force the Razor view engine to recognize my inline code properly. This was also a fairly simple solution, so YMMV. But even if it converted 80-90% of your views successfully, it's that much less manual work which you would have to perform yourself. From here, you could also create a _ViewStart.cshtml file and make a few minor adjustments to take advantage of Razor-specific layout features. (Check out Scott Gu's post on it here: http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2010/10/22/asp-net-mvc-3-layouts.aspx)
The big issue I had was trying to reconcile the file changes with source control. Since the classic MVC view engine uses .aspx, .ascx, and .master extensions, I had to manually add the .cshtml files to my MVC web project and source control then remove the old versions. It wasn't difficult, just time-consuming.
In addition, you may need to add all of the necessary web.config entries to support the Razor view engine as well if your project was created using MVC 1 or 2. Projects created with MVC 3 should already have these entries in place, even if it was not originally created as a Razor site.

How to seperate MVC project to several smaller MVC projects

I have an MVC 3 app that has some core functionality (most important is autorisation) but mainly serves as a portal to different areas or modules. I want to organize thit to different modules that with minor changes also can be deployed as their own website.
The project consists of a Forum, Blog engine, Messaging between users + 4-5 upcoming modules.
I looked at ScottGu's blog about MVC 2 and found something that seemed perfect:
Depending og what the customer need I want to only give them the exact modules they can use. It is also easier from a maintainence view to be able to work and update referencd assemblies in each project and just do a full update for the customers that have that spesific module on their server.
But in MVC 3 there is no apparent way to use Areas this way, do you know how?
Status
I will try to add MVCContrib Portable areas to my existing solution and convert my areas ower and will post back the results. If it works I will mark it as the accepted solution.
MVCContrib has portable areas.
http://mvccontrib.codeplex.com/wikipage?title=Creating%20a%20Portable%20Area&referringTitle=Documentation
This is possible in MVC3:
From:
http://bob.archer.net/content/aspnet-mvc3-areas-separate-projects
Right click on the shell project and "Add Area...". Type in the area name. This will create an Areas folder with your area in it. (This is not 100% needed but you do need the "Areas" folder and you can steal the XXXXAreaRegistration class for your application.)
Create a new MVC3 empty project in your solution to match your area. Move the XXXXAreaRegistration.cs file from the shell mvc project to the new project and adjust the namespace as applicable. (Or you can manually create an area registration class, it's a pretty simple class. Just use the Add area template generated one as an example.)
Edit the routes in the AreaRegistration folder as needed.
Delete the folder under the areas folder that the template wizard added.
Modify the web.config of the new project and take out the connection strings and the authentication, membership, profile, rolemanger sections. You will not need to deploy this web.config but the razor intellisense doesn't work without it during dev time.
Delete the global.asax file from the area's project or you will get extra default routes.
Create a virtual directory in the "Areas" folder of the shell project with the name of your area as the alias and point it to your "area" project. You will need to use IIS or IIS Express for this. I use IIS. For IIS Express you can use the appcmd.exe in the IIS Express folder or you can edit the applciationhost.config file.

Code generation: Custom controller templates

To start off, I'm using Asp.Net MVC 4, and I've modified my solution to contain the CodeTemplates folder by following this tutorial. (I think my issue might be MVC related?)
I've replaced the code in the Ajax grid template with a with my own JQgrid-template, which was fine for getting my project started. But I'm having trouble creating completely new controller templates (well the having them show up in the create new controller menu)
any ideas?
Update
I've taken a few stabs at using the scaffolding feature, but it's not exactly what i had in mind (although it does work like expected. I watched a video by steve sanderson on the topic that was quite informative), any way to get my custom views/controllers inside the add controller gui?
As far as my understanding of your problem goes, you cannot manage two controllers within one .ps1 file, which corresponds to your "AddController" directory.
You have to use the Package Manager and issue a command like
Scaffold CustomScaffolder <choose-name>
This will generate another subfolder below CodeTemplates with the name . From there, you open and edit t4 files like you did with your existing one.
More info here

Changing ASP.NET MVC default folder structure

Is it possible to change around the folder organization to the following and still have MVC work.
P1
Controllers
Models
Views
P2
Controllers
Models
Views
etc..
This looks a lot like the new feature area's which is available in MVC 2 though it is currently in preview and will be release with VS 2010.
If you want to do it yourself without using areas then check out this article on view engines
as said before, the Areas feature is what you are looking for.
If you are using vs2010, then although you have MVC2, you don't have the tools for creating the areas - these are only available on vs 2008, when you install the MVC2 rc
to make it happen follow the instructions at the following link: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee671793%28VS.100%29.aspx
as you can see the menu options are missing so:
download the example project from there.
build the directory structure at your solution according to the example
change the AreaRegistration.cs to match your area name
add AreaRegistration.RegisterAllAreas(); at the RegisterRoutes function at the global.asax, right after the IgnoreRoute
NOTE: the namespaces shuold contain .Areas.
for More explanations search at stackoverflow for asp-net-mvc-2-beta-single-project-area-registration-getting-http-404 (since this is the first time i post an answer - SO doesn't let me append more then 1 link, go fugure..)
Hope this helps
Should be doable, I think the default folder structure is just a suggestion. I've seen before in some documentation that larger projects would likely be split up differently, possibly even among multiple assemblies.
The only thing I would think would cause some trouble would be the views. Since controller actions are mapped to them only by file name. I know there's some way to change them, but I have not had to do so yet.
You can create your own viewengine to solve the paths. That sounds like a very strange idea, but the ViewEngine class is actually responsible for 2 things: locating a view and rendering a view to the httpresponse. The thing you have to change is the locating part, you can just inherit the default aspxviewengine and change the view locating part.

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