Best way to share a data model and controls between multiple ASP.NET MVC 2 projects

Question

I am building a suite of applications, each its own MVC solution/project, between these applications I want to share the user auth / user util code (profiles, links to the different applications they can access).

I am using the entity framework for data access.

My question is what is the best way to share this code between the different applications?

If I create it as a library project then visual studio doesn't pick it up as a model and will cause me more work/grief.

I tried putting it into its own MVC project but two MVC projects inside one solution isn't ideal when you only want to share the data model.

Should I just share the entity model between the various projects, and have another UI project for the shared components?

Answer 1

Wouldn't you compile them into a library and simply reference the library in your applications or am I missing the point of the question?