Noob ASP.NET MVC Question

Question

This is a very basic question. I feel kind of silly asking about it but I'm kind of stuck and hopefully some here can save me some time. So I open VS2008 go to file new ASP.NET MVC Web Application and click ok. I choose to create the test project. I hit F5 to debug my new MVC project. Then I choose to modify the Web.Config file to enable debugging. It goes to http://localhost:57323/ where I get a page load error.

Firefox can't establish a connection to the server at localhost:57323.

Is there something special I need to do for vista? Or is there something I need to do with IIS.

Thanks for helping a noob.

6/30/2009 Update

Ok, I think I might have to re-install VS2008. The ASP.NET Development Server does open up with the port. I think I've tried everything that has been suggested. I've marked Default.aspx as the start page. I've tried to open it in FireFox/ie 8/ and chrome. I tried uninstalling/reinstalling asp.net MVC that didn't work. I tried telneting in with putty to localhost and port 55992 as telnet doesn't appear to be part of Vista. Just trying to create a web project doesn't appear to work. So I really think it might be visual studio. Oh well, it's just a little frustrating but sometimes it's part of the deal.

Answer 1

Its not IIS, VS2008 uses an integrated web hosting container. When your site loads you should see it in your taskbar, it looks like a web page with a gear on it. When you hover over it it should say, "ASP.NET Development Server - Port X". First thing you can do is make sure that loads up, and if it does we can go from there.

Answer 2

When you run an ASP.NET site from within visual studio 2008, it should start up a small, integrated ASP.NET web server for you. Its called the ASP.NET Development Server, and you should get an icon in your system tray when you debug. Your site isn't actually hosted in IIS unless you configure the project to do so, and deploy the site there yourself. If you do not see this integrated web server start up, then it is possible that your VS2008 install did not complete successfully, or that you have your project configured to host in IIS.

Answer 3

Like these guys said a web server starts up when you start debugging through Visual Studio. In your case I think you should right-click on the file named Default.aspx and select Set as Startup Page, and then start debugging.

Answer 4

Hit F5, wait for the error in firefox. The go to a command window and "TELNET localhost 57323". Your screen will go black, then type "GET /", hit enter (you won't see any keystrokes). This simulates the connection firefox should be doing. You should see the HTML output of your app - if not, then something is wrong with firefox (maybe configured to use a proxy?), try it in IE. If it doesn't work - as people have already said: there's a problem with ASP.NET Development Server.