installation help please?

[Hondy]

Hi

(noob) I need to get something working from some code I have and I need to know is it possible to do without some sort of source code?

I have a working server with a .NET application on it, is it possible to take the aspx files and all the dlls and get it to work?

I have created an application pool and copied the file, but I just get a

Parser Error Message: Could not load type 'somenames_in_here.Default'.

Any help to fix or can't it be done with some sort of source?

Thanks

 

[Hondy]

In addition to this help, if someone could give me a quick overview on developing an app so I can understand what happens that would be great.

Not being a programmer I don't have a clue about how the app is developed, for instance I would say it went something like this (complete guess)...

1. create an application in Visual Studio?
2. Compile into DLL's?
3. Copy to Web Server?
4. Register DLLs on web server?
5. Create ASPX files that use the DLLs?

Do you need to install anything on the web server?

As you can see, this is a completely blind guess to give you an idea of what I wanted to know to help me understand what a programmer actually does!

Thanks

 

[ca8msm]

The source code has most likely be compiled to a dll in the bin folder, so the short and simple answer in that case would be no you couldn't just copy the files.

If you copy the whole deployed application, then it should work but this is all just guesswork on our behalf as we don't know your setup.


-------------------------------------------------------

Mark,
[URL unfurl="true"]http://aspnetlibrary.com[/url]
[URL unfurl="true"]http://mdssolutions.co.uk[/url] - Delivering professional ASP.NET solutions
[URL unfurl="true"]http://weblogs.asp.net/marksmith[/url]

 

[Hondy]

thats correct, there is a BIN folder with lots of DLLs in.

Can you please explain what a deployed app is and how this gets from a programmers PC to the web server? I know these are probably really dumb questions but I have no idea on .NET apps. What happened to good old ASP?

If I think about an Exe file, you start off with a load of project files and it compiles into a .exe which can be ported around on a floppy disk etc -- is it not the same?

Thanks

 

[ca8msm]

Deployment can be done a number of ways.

The easiest and most often used in ASP.NET is by the Visual Studio "Publish Web Site" option which takes all the aspx pages, all their associated "code behind" pages and creates a dll out of the code pages in the bin folder. The aspx files and the bin folder (notice the code pages are now not needed as the code is in the dll) is then copied over to the web server by VS.

What happened to good old ASP?

It grew old


-------------------------------------------------------

Mark,
[URL unfurl="true"]http://aspnetlibrary.com[/url]
[URL unfurl="true"]http://mdssolutions.co.uk[/url] - Delivering professional ASP.NET solutions
[URL unfurl="true"]http://weblogs.asp.net/marksmith[/url]

 

[Hondy]

Ok, thanks Mark - so if all of the code is compiled into a DLL, and I have it and all of the ASPX files - then one piece of information is missing in my mind and that is what is Visual Studio doing that I can't do manually?

Thanks

 

[ca8msm]

Nothing. You should be able to copy a compiled site from one directory to another (if this was the method used to deploy the app).


-------------------------------------------------------

Mark,
[URL unfurl="true"]http://aspnetlibrary.com[/url]
[URL unfurl="true"]http://mdssolutions.co.uk[/url] - Delivering professional ASP.NET solutions
[URL unfurl="true"]http://weblogs.asp.net/marksmith[/url]

 

[Hondy]

and a compiled site might look like this?

c:\inetpub\

http://wwwroot\website\default.aspx

c:\inetpub\

http://wwwroot\website\bin\compiled_app.dll

c:\inetpub\

http://wwwroot\website\bin\other_functions.dll

And I don't have to register any DLLs or install any COM components or any of that kind of thing?

ok so what is the following likely to indicate?

Parser Error Message: Could not load type 'compiled_name_here.default'.

Source Error:
Line 1: <%@ Page Language="C#" AutoEventWireup="true" CodeBehind="Default.aspx.cs" Inherits="compiled_name_here.default" %>

Thanks

 

[ca8msm]

No, you shouldn't have to register any DLL's.

That error is usually an issue with the specified namespace. Is there a file named "Default.aspx.cs" that you can see?


-------------------------------------------------------

Mark,
[URL unfurl="true"]http://aspnetlibrary.com[/url]
[URL unfurl="true"]http://mdssolutions.co.uk[/url] - Delivering professional ASP.NET solutions
[URL unfurl="true"]http://weblogs.asp.net/marksmith[/url]

 

[Hondy]

no, i have been looking for that file and it doesn't exist but it doesn't seem to exist on the working server either?

 

[ca8msm]

That's OK, I wasn't expecting it to be there but I just wanted to check.

Do you know which version of the framework the application was developed in?


-------------------------------------------------------

Mark,
[URL unfurl="true"]http://aspnetlibrary.com[/url]
[URL unfurl="true"]http://mdssolutions.co.uk[/url] - Delivering professional ASP.NET solutions
[URL unfurl="true"]http://weblogs.asp.net/marksmith[/url]

 

[Hondy]

hey thanks for your help, i fixed the problem

I found a sneaky little install.bat file with a file path variable, it also does a "gacutil" on a couple of dlls and an installutil on it. Hey presto, my app works!

thanks Mark

 

[BobRodes]

With regard to registering dlls:

A .Net dll is a very different animal from a COM dll. .Net "compiles" into a low-level langauge called IL or intermediate language. .Net reads this file at runtime and compiles it "just in time", hence the term "just in time compiling" or JIT compiling. (You can further compile the dll into machine language, but it will no longer be a separate dll file...someone can correct me if I'm wrong about this.) Furthermore, the DLL has with it a "manifest" which is a list of all the required dependencies and such.

This means that you can have multiple versions of the same DLL on the same machine, which eliminates most of the "DLL hell" issues associated with COM.

 

[Hondy]

Thanks bob,so .NET is the equivalent of COM, I did wonder what this COM talk was about on the old apps!

 

[BobRodes]

<A .Net dll is a very different animal from a COM dll
<Thanks bob,so .NET is the equivalent of COM



Coming out of a profound trance, having used all the psychic powers I have at my disposal, I take it what you're saying is that .Net is to newer apps what COM is to older ones. That is sort of true; however again they have no more structural similarities than a free-standing garage has to a cement truck.

 

[Hondy]

yeh, thats what I meant, your psychic powers are commendable!

I never said they were the same, just equivalent in the same sense that Windows is similar to Linux (...i can hear lots of people choking on coffee right about now)- they both run applications that do word processing for example, a good analogy bearing in mind I have absolutely no idea what I'm talking about??

Cheers bob

</ducks>

 

[BobRodes]

Yes, well, Windows has more in common with Linux than it has with an anteater, so one might say that you have a point.