MVC3 Web Application Will Not Publish - asp.net-mvc

Question

I am trying to learn MVC 3, so I am a noob. For now, I just want to make a basic site, that is an HTML page using jQuery and CSS. While I am using MVC, I don't really need a model, since there is not really any data being passed to the application. However, this is creating a problem for me, because I am getting a HTTP 403.14 Forbidden error when I try to publish this site. I think that there is something wrong with the way the application is structured that will not allow it to execute properly when I got to localhost:1081 web site. Here is all I have:
HomeController.cs
public class HomeController : Controller
{
//
// GET: /Home/
public ActionResult Index()
{
return View();
}
}
}
This just returns the view of Index.cshtml.
Index.cshtml:
#{ViewBag.Title = "My Web Site";} <h2>Web Site Title</h2>
All of my HTML code was put into _Layout.cshtml. jQuery and CSS are used. The site works fine when I do the debug option, but when I try to publish it gives me 403.14 forbidden. I have run the inline command aspnet_regiis -i and it seemed to work, but did not allow the project to run.
Global.asax:
public static void RegisterRoutes(RouteCollection routes)
{
routes.IgnoreRoute("{resource}.axd/{*pathInfo}");
routes.MapRoute(
"Default", // Route name
"{controller}/{action}/{id}", // URL with parameters
new { controller = "Home", action = "Index", id = UrlParameter.Optional } // Parameter defaults
);
}
If I move the code in _Layout to Index, it doesn't work. Is there a way I should be linking this to Index.cshtml?
Web.config:
<system.webServer>
<defaultDocument enabled="true">
<files>
<add value="_Layout.cshtml" />
</files>
</defaultDocument>
<validation validateIntegratedModeConfiguration="false"/>
<modules runAllManagedModulesForAllRequests="true"/>
I do not want directory browsing, and I have tried to play with this option as well. If I enable, it allows me to see the contents but does not render the page.
So two questions: 1.) Do I need to have a model, even though I am not passing any data to the application, just trying to render a site? 2.) Is my site set up / structured properly or what exactly am I doing wrong here?
Thanks,
Nick

Answer 1

No, you don't need a model.
First, don't use the default document. MVC overrides the default document handling and uses the route system.
Second, you don't want to try and use the Layout page as your document. Layout is like a master page, and is used to create a wrapper around your real document.
Third, saying "will not publish" means that you are having problems actually publishing the site via the publish mechanism. Your problem is not that you can't publish, because obviously it is doing so, but that your site isn't executing.
Fourth, 403.14 means it's trying to list the contents of directory, but this shouldn't happen if MVC is configured correctly because MVC's routing takes over. This means you have a problem somewhere in the asp.net pipeline.
Where are you publishing to? Did you configure IIS to setup a site at this location? Given that you are trying to access the site from a different port number, It would seem to me that you have not setup IIS to do this and are instead trying to use the same port that's used for debugging.
In order to publish a site, IIS must be configured to use that location.