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asp.net and Visual studio root directory question

Answer 1

A:

are you sure that the hosting settings are correct.

I have had similar issues in the past when gettig ncode to work in IIS instead of the dev servers.

John Nicholas 2010-04-30 15:39:20

Answer 2

+2 A:

../ is almost certainly wrong. That said, if you're having problems across environments the plain / is probably wrong as well. Try using a '~' operator to set an accurate application root.

This link should help you figure out what exactly is going on:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms178116.aspx

Joel Coehoorn 2010-04-30 15:40:01

The ~ operator only works when you have runat="server"

Nelson 2010-04-30 15:44:33

Nelson: that's why it's good to use server controls where you can. ;-)

Parvenu74 2010-04-30 15:46:26

I would argue you shouldn't use server controls unless you need to (or is convenient to). Otherwise you are using ASP.NET resources on what is otherwise static text.

Nelson 2010-04-30 15:50:24

Answer 3

+2 A:

The first way is going to search from the root path, the second goes up one directory first. My guess is on the first server your site was hosted at the root (www.example.com/), while on the second server it was hosted in a subdirectory (www.example.com/mysite/). In the second case, it would look at www.example.com/Styles instead of the intended www.example.com/mysite/Styles

Nelson 2010-04-30 15:43:18

You are right! Upon checking, the original server had the project hosted at the root. I set up the second, but put it in a separate folder (Ie. http://localhost/CPortal/).I think this is kind of scary having the reference to the styles dependent on where the project is created, do you have any suggestions? '~' is out since this is aspx markup, can't use Server reference.

Mark Kadlec 2010-04-30 17:14:14

Figures (I've been there)... ../Styles/ can work, but if you have a master page, the path is relative to the derived pages and often won't work. I believe all regular HTML tags can runat="server", even if they don't have properties. Try <link href="~/Styles/09/style.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" runat="server" />. I seem to recall ASP.NET choking on the CSS though...

Nelson 2010-04-30 18:10:27

You may be able to use inline code similar to <link href="<%= ... %>/Styles/09/style.css" /> It would probably be something like Request.ApplicationPath, but I would have to check.

Nelson 2010-04-30 18:14:56

Thanks Nelson, this definitely seems like an oversight from the asp.net team though, it would have been nice to have a cleaner way to access the Server side rel path though markup.

Mark Kadlec 2010-04-30 18:22:46

Did you try the runat="server" way with the tilde? Otherwise, there may be a better option that I'm not aware of.

Nelson 2010-04-30 18:26:17

I just stumbled across this. I haven't tried it, but it might help: http://quickduck.com/blog/2010/01/14/path-resolution-in-asp-net/

Nelson 2010-05-07 20:00:45

@Mark - I think I found the "definitive" answer, though I haven't tried it myself yet: http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2006/12/19/tip-trick-how-to-run-a-root-site-with-the-local-web-server-using-vs-2005-sp1.aspx Specifically `<head runat="server">`. This is old, however, so it may be superseded.

Nelson 2010-05-27 19:22:21

Answer 4

+1 A:

../ is just wrong.

/ is site root. If running on webdev, this will be the root of your app. when you move your app to IIS it will be the root of the IIS site, e.g. http://localhost, not the root of your app, http://localhost/yourApp.

As Joel says, using '~' can help aleviate this problem, but the '~' only works on tags that get processed by the page. It isn't going to help you for paths in css or js nor the link tag presented unless you add runat=server .. I think. And even that is not going to help you with static resources like html.

Getting this worked out to provide consistent behavior between your dev and prod environment can be challenging but once you get it you got it.

Sky Sanders 2010-04-30 15:49:37

You and Joel are right, but it just seems "hacky" to me to have the styles referenced (they are in a control ascx) and dependent on where on IIS they are deployed.Is there a better way?

Mark Kadlec 2010-04-30 17:16:24

@Mark - this is where embedding content and serving webresources comes into play. Believe me, I sympathize but have been coding libraries lately so have nothing on tap as example solution. It is not an impossible situation but aggravating nonetheless.

Sky Sanders 2010-04-30 17:21:28

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