using RazorPDF in ASP.Net web forms(outside MVC) - asp.net

I m not pretty sure whether this is possible but can anyone let me know that how to use RazorPDF to generate PDF in conventional ASP.NET web application(without MVC).
I m able to create PdfResult type object in cs file but my problem is how do I display it in a browser. Also, i have my templates(cshtml) ready.

I have solved this problem by adding folder structure same as MVC to my existing ASP.net web application and by adding RazorPDF package component.
I have referred to this

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what is Extensions in asp.net mvc2?

can u pls tell me what is the use of Extension( folder)/ how to use it in asp.net mvc2 framework...(extension is under the project name, like controllers, models, views...)
i mean the \Extension directory....
It's an arbitrary folder, just like /Joe/.
It probably contains extension methods.
The extension folder is nothing that comes with a new ASP.NET MVC 2 project. We can only guess what that folder might contain without seeing the actual source code.

What makes an ASP.NET project an application vs library?

I am inheriting some ASP.NET code (I am an OS guy, not a web dev (yet ;-)). The solution has been re-factored and there are multiple projects (libraries and asp.net sites) in it. Aside from the libraries, there are two asp.net projects (called MAINSITE and SUBSITE). Only MAINSITE is being used as the official site (as an asp.net site), and MAINSITE has a depency on the code in the SUBSITE asp.net site, but doesn't use the site itself. I am trying to figure out how to clean this up and convert SUBSITE into a library.
My quick question is, whenever I debug the MAINSITE (set as default), it runs two asp.net processes: MAINSITE and SUBSITE. And so, at the very least, how can I avoid this? Is there a quick/temporary solution to this?
My detailed question is this:
What makes an asp.net site an asp.net site? For instance, in C the difference between an dll and exe could be defined (superficially anyway) as the presence of a main, and potential export information for the library (among other things, of course). If I were to convert an exe to dll I might:
1. remove the main code
2. make sure the public interface was correct (and exported correctly)
3. convert the makefile to build a dll rather than an exe.
Can someone point me to some similar steps for asp.net to .net lib?
Maybe:
1. get rid of index.aspx
2. get rid of web.config
3. any *.cs files to remove?
4. how do I change the properties?
5. any gotchas?
Thanks so much for your help.
Details: Visual Studio 2008/.NET 3.5
There are many, many components to make an application run as an ASP.Net application. However, in terms of your actual Web Application project, there's really not that much difference between it and generic library code except for the fact that much of your code relies on the existence of the HttpApplication runtime.
Any code that utilizes the System.Web (especially System.Web.UI) is going to be suspect in terms of having this dependency. For example, all the code in page or webcontrol event handlers (Init, Load, PreRender, etc.) relies on the fact that there is an HttpHandler (running inside an HttpApplication) raising these events. If you run the same WebControl out of a library that's not in an ASP.Net project, none of this will ever happen and the control will be useless. However, that exact same library would be quite functional if executed in the context of an ASP.Net process.
It really boils down to what process you're running the library in. In most cases, ASP.Net processes are spawned by IIS, although it is possible to host an ASP.Net process in other types of programs as well.
There isn't a simple 5-step process for converting a web project to a library unfortunately. But as a rule of thumb, webcontrols, .aspx and .ascx codebehind aren't going to convert.
For a more detailed look at what makes code into an ASP.Net program, see Rick Strahl's "A Low level look at ASP.Net".
If you go to "File" > "New" > "New Project..." and then click on the (assuming you're using C#) "Visual C#" in the list on the left, you're given the ability to create a "Class Library" project. You can extract all the relevant code to one of these and then reference in in your "MAINSITE".
You will need to reference it in the "References" section of your MAINSITE project and may need to import your library project using the import keyword.

How can I instantiate an asp.net codebehind class in a test harness?

I'm working on a web site written using asp.net WebForms. I'd like two wrap test cases around some of the more interesting subroutines. How can I instantiate the class that comes from the .aspx file in my test project so I can manipulate it under nUnit?
Edit: What I really want to do is test the utility methods and event methods that are in the code-behind. I don't want to post to the page and read the response. I want to unit test the Methods, not the Page.
UPDATE Make sure you have setup your project to be an ASP.NET web project, not an asp.net web site. You can then mark your page class with the appropriate NUnit attributes and test the output dll for your project with NUnit.
Here is a Microsoft article that explains unit testing in asp.net:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms404696(VS.80).aspx
You can instantiate it just like any other type:
YourPage page = new YourPage();
Now getting the lifecycle to run will be quite another matter.

How do I share user controls between web applications in ASP.NET?

This question is a follow up to my question about sharing resources between web applications, because I have not yet found a good solution.
I have a web application with user controls and resources that are shared by three other web applications.
Solution
|
+-CommonControlsWebApp
| +- resources
| | +- images
| | +- scripts
| | +- stylesheets
| +- UserControls
|
+-WebApp1
|
+-WebApp2
|
+-WebApp3
This is what I know this far:
I can not compile CommonControlsWebApp into a single dll since I am creating user controls. This is only possible with custom server controls, where everything is in the code-behind file. So I need a way to share the ascx files between the four projects.
Copying the files from CommonControlsWebApp into the three other projects does not update their files in the solution explorer. I would have to 'add exting items' all in all three WebApps when a file is added or renamed in CommonControls.
Changing to the Web Site model would remedy this, but I am worried about the compile time for WebApp1-3 if I do this.
'Add as link' does not work for directories.
I could use Subversion to share the files between the projects, but i believe that this would require me to check the files in and out again all the time if I am developing a user control that I have to test through one of the WebApps.
Can it really be true that ASP.NET does not have a good solution for this? How are you guys organizing large web applications?
Edit: Thanks a lot for all the answers. I am going to copy my user controls with a build event for now, and then see if we have time to refactor them into server controls.
The way we do it at my present company is to make sure CommonControlsWebApp
is a WebApplication, not a web site. Then you use names for the folders that would help identify it as the common ones that are distinct from the individual web apps. (CommonUserControls instead of just UserControls)
In your other web apps, you create a virtual directory to the CommonUserControls, etc, and add a file based reference to the CommonControlsWebApp.dll
This requires you to use IIS for development (not casini), and Visual Studio won't believe that the controls really exist, but it will work at runtime, and you can build just fine with only warnings about blahblah.ascx or blahblah.master path invalid.
If you do use common master pages and Visual Studio 2008, you will need SP1 for 2008 and use a __fallback.master in the root of the individual web projects to go in to design mode.
However, I saw this on another thread, and I am going to look into doing more like this:
http://webproject.scottgu.com/CSharp/UserControls/UserControls.aspx
You could compile it into a dll
Turning an .ascx User Control into a Redistributable Custom Control
Brief Outline of the Steps
The basic steps to make this happen
are as follows:
Write your user control as you normally would, typically using the
Visual Studio designer.
Test it using a simple page before trying to deploy it.
Deploy the application to precompile it.
Grab the user control's assembly produced by the deployment step, and
you're essentially done: You have your
custom control.
Finally, use your custom control in other apps
Further info here http://www.nathanblevins.com/Articles/Compile-a-Web-User-Control-into-a-DLL-.Net-c-.aspx
In order to share controls between web apps, the only way I found was to either rewrite them into server controls or to use virtual directory to make the user controls actually in folder be in each project.
Unfortunately, asp.net doesn't really have a good solution for this. The same is true for sharing master pages.
You might consider using source control and sharing your controls at that level. We do this for a sizable user control library and it works quite well.
Using SourceGear Vault but you should be able to do this with any source control product.
Check this post for how to solve this issue.
The basic idea is to change your project to have a prebuild step to copy over the .ascx files to a subdirectory of the web application. Then just refer to those copies when using them. Of course you also need to reference the UserControls assembly as well.
One option is to try "Add existing" and in the dialog that appears, the OK button has a drop arrow next to it, change it to Add with a link.
If that doesn't work, rewrite your controls as Custom Controls.
It will take a little while, but will make it much more maintainable in the future.
hey this is not the best way to do things but i used to do this in my asp.net 1.1 days - you can try this - shift your user controls into a seperate project, and publish this project as a virtual directory under iis
as long as you are not using codebehind - your updates would be cool (only update shared user control folder)
if you do use codebehinds - redeploy the user control dlls into different projects
once you are done with this - map these user controls into all projects using their virtual paths
check these links - http://aspadvice.com/blogs/ssmith/archive/2006/10/05/Tip_3A00_-Share-User-Controls-Between-Applications-in-ASP.NET.aspx
AND
http://www.123aspx.com/redir.aspx?res=30887

Using a custom build provider in an ASP.NET Web Application

I'm trying to find a way to generate an enums class dynamically from lookup tables in a database and still have the convenience of a normal class (i.e. intellisense).
I've spent the past few hours trying to figure out how to get a custom BuildProvider to work inside an ASP.NET Web Application. The code works perfectly in a Web Site. I then found an article on MSDN that says
Adding a customized BuildProvider class to the Web.config file works in an ASP.NET Web site but does not work in an ASP.NET Web application project. In a Web application project, the code that is generated by the BuildProvider class cannot be included in the application. For more information, see Compiling Web Application Projects.
Does anyone know if it is possible to generate code dynamically and still be able to 'use' it at design time? Using a web site is not an option. I need to use a web project.
Thanks!!
what is the point of an enum class for a dynamic lookup table? your code references will always be static anyway...
if the initial population of the lookup table is static, make an enum for that and don't reference any other values in the code
If MSDN is saying you can't do it, I'd take another approach. Maybe write a small Console application that writes your Enums.cs file and run it through the "Pre-build event command line". Then, every time you build the web application, the Enums class gets recreated and should be accessible through Intellisense.
Haven't done this myself. Hope it helps.

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