Is there a way to get rid of aspx placeholder files in a ASP.NET web deployment project?

Question

I'm using a web deployment project in order to precompile my ASP.NET 3.5 web project. It creates a single extra DLL for the code in aspx and ascx files. And, for every aspx file there is a placeholder aspx file (empty) which needs to be copied to the server.

I'd like to simplify the deployment process. Is there a way (configuring the IIS site and adding some sort of http handlers etc.) to get rid of these aspx placeholders?

Also, I'd like to know if there is a way to get rid of the .compiled files in the bin folder. It would make the deployment process smoother.

Thanks!

Answer 1

IF it is possible, then it will require, at the least, the mapping in IIS of all possible requests to the asp.net engine. Not very difficult. Then, a HttpHandler should be possible to intercept all incoming requests. That handler should then be able to dynamically load compiled page classes and render them. You'd basically have a single engine DLL that serves page content.

But as you might have noticed from all the should's, it's not a simple thing to accomplish, and I doubt that it's really worth the trouble. What exactly is wrong with these placeholder files being present?