It is possible to do. A good tip sheet here:
http://forums.asp.net/1082874/ShowPost.aspx
It seems the same questions keep cropping up, hopefully my own notes might help
those who haven't the time to trawl through the old threads looking for information.
Most of the stuff included came from this forum, it may not be complete, entirely
accurate or best practise, but it works for me.
SETUP
1. Download and install the .NET Framework SDK (installs GACUTIL.EXE)
2. From the start menu select 'Start/Control Panel/System/Advanced/Environment
Variables', and add a new User Variable called 'PATH' with a value of
'C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v1.1.4322' (or wherever you've installed the .NET
Framework to)
3. Download Cassini Sample Web Server
(
http://asp.net/Projects/Cassini/Download/download.aspx)
4. Install Cassini, open a command window and navigate to the installation directory
(e.g. C:\Cassini)
5. Type 'build.bat'
6. Create directory 'C:\inetpub\wwwroot', share as 'wwwroot$' with permission for
network users to change files.
RUNNING CASSINI
1. Start Cassini ('CassiniWebServer.exe')
2. Set Application Directory: C:\inetpub\wwwroot
3. Set Server Port: 80
4. Set Virtual Root: /
CREATING NEW ASP.NET APPLICATIONS IN VISUAL STUDIO
1. In Visual Studio select 'File/New Project'
2. Select a Visual basic/C#/J# project type, and choose 'ASP.NET Web Application'
3. Set Location:
http://localhost/ApplicaionName
4. Ignore the two errors
Studio creates three folders:
a) C:\Documents and Settings\usernamel\My Documents\Visual Studio
Projects\ApplicationName (contains the .sln file)
b) C:\Documents and Settings\username\VSWebCache\MACHINENAME\ApplicationName (the web
projects cache)
c) C:\inetpub\wwwroot\ApplicationName (the actual project files)
DEBUGGING
1. In Project Properties/Configuration Properties/Debugging, set Debug Mode to
'Program', click Apply
2. Set Start Application to point to Cassini Web Server (e.g. 'C:\Proram
Files\Cassini\CassiniWebServer.exe')
3. Set Command Line Arguments to location of project and port to use (e.g.
'"c:\inetpub\wwwroot" 80')
4. Stop any existing running instance of Cassini (or set the port in Step7 above to
be '8080'), and run the project. No errors should be shown, but nor is the default
webform because it's no longer the startup object, Cassini is. How do I make the form
visible when running in Debug mode?!
The project can be started without debugging, but it doesn't appear to do anything?
Right-clicking on the WebForm1.aspx and selecting 'view in browser' gives an
authentication error, easily fixed by commenting out the authentication line in the
Web.config file. Similarly, the whole of the sessionState block needs to be commented
out.
The 'inherits' tag in Line1 of the Webform1.aspx code may also need to be removed.
This appears to be dynamic code though, it sometimes reverts back to trying to
inherit, and I'm unsure how to change it.
Feedback on my debugging questions would be appreciated, thanks.
