version of website for different brands, resource files?

Question

Hi, I have a web application that I need to modify so that it can be rebranded for different customers. I did the same thing with the windows version of the app using resource files and a #define. I have been reading up on resource files for aspx/C# but it seems that they are limited to localization. I'd like to do something like put everything in resource files and then have the web config file act as the #define.

Answer 1

Depending on what you want to rebrand (colors, logo, etc.) you could do this using different CSS files.

Answer 2

You can certainly do what you are talking about with resource files. However, it might be easier to define what you need in a .settings file, because when you do that, the values can be overridden in your web.config file.

If you planned on using images/other binary resources in the resource file, .settings is not the perfect solution.

Hope that helps!

Answer 3

I've used Themes to change the 'branding' of a website based on what someone wants. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ykzx33wh.aspx.

You can create numerous themes, put them in the application and then you specify which theme is the default/active in the web.config.

Implementing Themes is something you should really do from the beginning but you can certainly retro fit an existing app, but level of effort will differ based on the complexity of the layout and content.

I'm not sure how much of the Themes (if any) can be embedded into the assembly/resource though.