Enable Parent Paths in Cassini / WebDev.WebServer

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Jed - 23 May 2006 20:45 GMT

Does anyone know if it is possible to enable parent paths in web browser that
ships with Visual Studio 2005?

I have a subweb application that needs resources from the root web
(StyleSheets, Xsl, etc) I can't test in VS because the built in webserver
does not allow browsing parent paths.

Any insight would be great!

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Walter Wang [MSFT] - 24 May 2006 08:58 GMT

Hi,

Thank you for post!

Cassini or WebDev.WebServer does have many limitation such as only supports
one virtual path. Visiting any other resources outside of its virtual path
will result an HTTP error 404. I think local IIS would be more appropriate
here.

Regards,
Walter Wang
Microsoft Online Community Support

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Jed - 24 May 2006 15:08 GMT

OK, That's what I thought. Unfortunately, local IIS won't work for me
either. I have several posts in these forums on my issues with that.
Ultimately, I should have installed a server OS on my dev machine so I could
run multiple root webs.

I have hardly any negative feedback for Microsoft, but this is one issue
that drives me nuts. All the documentation and practices revolve around
subwebs, but how often does that happen first? The first thing people want
to do is create their root web.

Let me illustrate.
The VS instructions read like this, "To create a new application on a remote
server enter the following url http://www.mydomain.com/project" ?!? Who does
that first? And if you try to do this http://www.mydomain.com you will
inevitably run into issues.

If I set up a virtual server and use VS2003 to create a root web and one
subweb project, VS2003 will create the projects and solutions fine. However,
the next time (or at some "random" point in the future) VS will suddenly say
it can't open the projects.

see: http://shrinkster.com/fcq

There are times I thought I had it working, and posted why I thought it
worked only to have it fail again.

VS2005 is better so I can't look back, but unfortunately I have to live with
code that was written long ago.

Sorry to vent, Walter. Thanks for the help.

> Hi,
>
[quoted text clipped - 15 lines]
>
> This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

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Walter Wang [MSFT] - 25 May 2006 16:50 GMT

Hi,

Thank you for update!

Regarding your original issue description, I was just wondering: did you
just want to reference to static resources in your website, such as
"/images/myphoto.jpg"? Maybe following article would be useful for you:

# Scottgu's Blog: How to Run a Root "/" site with the VS/VWD 2005 Local Web
Server
http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2005/11/21/431138.aspx

I think with this method, you can configure your subweb to run as root web,
and use junction points to create hardlinks for the static resources (like
you mentioned in your other post).

Also, Scott has another useful article regarding VS 2005 and IIS:

# Scottgu's Blog: Using IIS with VS 2005 and the new Web Project system
http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2005/08/23/423409.aspx

Hope this helps.

Regards,
Walter Wang
Microsoft Online Community Support

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that others may learn and benefit from your issue.
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Gerry Hickman - 30 May 2006 20:24 GMT

Hi Jed,

> I have hardly any negative feedback for Microsoft, but this is one issue
> that drives me nuts. All the documentation and practices revolve around
> subwebs, but how often does that happen first? The first thing people want
> to do is create their root web.

It depends what you mean by "root web"; VS2005 is a client application,
the "WebSites" folder can contain multiple WebSites and there's nothing
stopping you publishing them to the "root web" of a production server
that's been set up for you. If you have multiple devs, they can all run
with user rights, create their projects in the WebSites folder, test
them with Cassini, and publish each to the production server. It's a
good system and avoids a ton of issues that people used to run into with
local IIS.

However, it's pathetic that Cassini can't reference parent paths.

If you create a more advanced project, you should put shared classes in
a separate space, but with Cassini it won't work, and the hacks in
Scottgu's bloggs are way too clunky to bother with.

It was a classic case of Microsoft putting hand-holding convenience
above real-world project strategy. Most of the idea was sound, but it
was rushed to market and never tested properly (just like Vista).

> Let me illustrate.
> The VS instructions read like this, "To create a new application on a remote
> server enter the following url http://www.mydomain.com/project" ?!? Who does
> that first?

You _can_ do it that way, provided you have correctly configured
Frontpage Extensions set up for you on the server, but most people
don't, and anyway Microsoft made it almost impossible to do this because
they mixed and matched Frontpage Extensions with Sharepoint Services
which are not compatible (without hacks) and can't be targeted by
ASP.NET projects in VS2005! Another clueless Microsoft server strategy
that's going to become even worse when Office 2007 is released with it's
"new" extensions. In true tradition, you can be sure they'll make each
system incompatible with the other.

Signature

Gerry Hickman (London UK)

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