Distributing demo Asp.NET project
I have an Asp.NET project. It's intended to go on a web server. However, our web server isn't ready yet.
I can however run the program fine in Visual Studio. And I'd like to distribute the program to a few other users for them to try.
However, those other users may not have Visual Studio. (Probably don't have it.)
Is there a way I can distribute the program so it can be run without Visual Studio? (I realized there's no .exe file, and somehow there's a whole server somewhere I'm not clear on how Visual Studio does it.)
I'm going to research this. Was hoping someone might know, save me the trouble of researching all of this.
Basically, server we were going to deploy this on isn't ready (because everyone went home for Christmas early), and we'd still like to distribute demo copies of this small project for others to try on their own computers. Can that be done?
I can however run the program fine in Visual Studio. And I'd like to distribute the program to a few other users for them to try.
However, those other users may not have Visual Studio. (Probably don't have it.)
Is there a way I can distribute the program so it can be run without Visual Studio? (I realized there's no .exe file, and somehow there's a whole server somewhere I'm not clear on how Visual Studio does it.)
I'm going to research this. Was hoping someone might know, save me the trouble of researching all of this.
Basically, server we were going to deploy this on isn't ready (because everyone went home for Christmas early), and we'd still like to distribute demo copies of this small project for others to try on their own computers. Can that be done?
I strongly recommend to change your development strategy..
You need a TEST and QA server besides your PROD(uction) instances.
The QA must be an as identical clone of PROD as possible and it must normally be a shared server for reproducible results.
TEST must only provide the basic services and can be an instance pro test user.
So go to your admin team and let them setup a TEST server as VM. They can spin up the test server for each test user if necessary.
Depending on the type of ASP.NET deployment possible, consider using containers instead of VM's.
Or create a VM with Win 10 and a local IIS where you deploy it and let the users RDP into it.
Caveat: Letting users access your development system is a security issue. Especially as many development systems are not as tightly secured as they could be (mostly for convenience).
You need a TEST and QA server besides your PROD(uction) instances.
The QA must be an as identical clone of PROD as possible and it must normally be a shared server for reproducible results.
TEST must only provide the basic services and can be an instance pro test user.
So go to your admin team and let them setup a TEST server as VM. They can spin up the test server for each test user if necessary.
Depending on the type of ASP.NET deployment possible, consider using containers instead of VM's.
Or create a VM with Win 10 and a local IIS where you deploy it and let the users RDP into it.
Caveat: Letting users access your development system is a security issue. Especially as many development systems are not as tightly secured as they could be (mostly for convenience).
ASKER
Any way I can send the compiled code files to users and have them set up IIS Express, or something that can handle Asp.NET website, and display it in a local browser? (I don't know what they have installed on their computer. I'm trying to keep it simple for them.)
Any way I can send the compiled code files to users and have them set up IIS Express, or something that can handle Asp.NET website, and display it in a local browser?
That is practical only when your end user knows how to setup IIS and host your web app.
ASKER
I might need to teach them how to do that. (Or the other option is to get them Visual Studio)
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ASKER
(I ended up rewriting the whole thing in C# WPF to make it easily distributable. Next year we'll try to get the server up and running.)
IF yes, then you can simply let it host locally and then use some kind of dynamic DNS solutions, so that outsiders can access to your local web application that you hosted. In another word, it tends to turn your local development machine into a "public web server".
for some further details on dynamic DNS, you could see:
https://www.cloudflare.com/learning/dns/glossary/dynamic-dns/
https://www.noip.com/