How to re-use a web page in different web applications - asp.net

Question

I created two web solutions in ASP.NET 4.0, A and B. And I added a data entry web form (DataEntery.aspx) into Solution A, with third party user controls and form authentication.
I want to re-use the web page DataEntery.aspx into solution B. What is the best method for it?

Answer 1

You could create a third web application called Solution C that will hold user controls with shared functionality. Than add a reference to Solution C in Solution A and B.
Example: HOW TO: Share ASP.NET Pages and User Controls Between Applications by Using Visual Basic .NET

Answer 2

One of the way to do this is to add you DataEntry.aspx and code behind classes as Link to your projects. Also, you will need to add logic to copy DataEntry.aspx page from shared directory where it is located to directory it is added to project. You can do this by writing command lines command in PreBuild event of your projects or create CopyLinkedContentFiles.targets file with the following content:
<Project DefaultTargets="Build" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
<PropertyGroup>
<BuildDependsOn>
CopyLinkedContentFiles;
$(BuildDependsOn);
</BuildDependsOn>
</PropertyGroup>
<Target Name="CopyLinkedContentFiles">
<!-- Remove any old copies of the files -->
<Delete Condition=" '%(Content.Link)' != '' AND Exists('$(WebProjectOutputDir)\%(Content.Link)') "
Files="$(WebProjectOutputDir)\%(Content.Link)" />
<!-- Copy linked content files recursively to the project folder -->
<Copy Condition=" '%(Content.Link)' != '' " SourceFiles="%(Content.Identity)"
DestinationFiles="$(WebProjectOutputDir)\%(Content.Link)" />
</Target>
</Project>
And then include this target to your project which will reference to page added as link. You can do by adding the following lines to your web applications csproj files:
<Import Project="$(MSBuildProjectDirectory)\[RELATIVE PATH TO FILE]\CopyLinkedContentFiles.targets" />
This line should be added for example after this line in your csproj files:
<Import Project="$(MSBuildBinPath)\Microsoft.CSharp.targets" />

Answer 3

The best method is to create a dll that has your web pages.
You can reference this dll to get the code included in your project.
You can load resources embedded in a dll by using the VirtualFile class. Here is an example
public class SVirtualFile : VirtualFile
{
private string m_path;
public SVirtualFile(string virtualPath)
: base(virtualPath)
{
m_path = VirtualPathUtility.ToAppRelative(virtualPath);
}
public override System.IO.Stream Open()
{
var parts = m_path.Split('/');
var assemblyName = parts[1];
var resourceName = parts[2];
assemblyName = Path.Combine(HttpRuntime.BinDirectory, assemblyName);
var assembly = System.Reflection.Assembly.LoadFile(assemblyName + ".dll");
if (assembly != null)
{
return assembly.GetManifestResourceStream(resourceName);
}
return null;
}
}
You need to hook into the application life cycle and register a VirtualPathProvider so that asp.net knows you are serving virtual files.
public static class AppStart
{
public static void AppInitialize()
{
SVirtualPathProvider sampleProvider = new SVirtualPathProvider ();
HostingEnvironment.RegisterVirtualPathProvider(sampleProvider);
}
}
public class SVirtualPathProvider : VirtualPathProvider
{
public SVirtualPathProvider()
{
}
private bool IsEmbeddedResourcePath(string virtualPath)
{
var checkPath = VirtualPathUtility.ToAppRelative(virtualPath);
return checkPath.StartsWith("~/Succeed.Web/", StringComparison.InvariantCultureIgnoreCase);
}
public override bool FileExists(string virtualPath)
{
return IsEmbeddedResourcePath(virtualPath) || base.FileExists(virtualPath);
}
public override VirtualFile GetFile(string virtualPath)
{
if (IsEmbeddedResourcePath(virtualPath))
{
return new SVirtualFile(virtualPath);
}
else
{
return base.GetFile(virtualPath);
}
}
public override CacheDependency GetCacheDependency( string virtualPath, IEnumerable virtualPathDependencies, DateTime utcStart)
{
if (IsEmbeddedResourcePath(virtualPath))
{
return null;
}
else
{
return base.GetCacheDependency(virtualPath, virtualPathDependencies, utcStart);
}
}
}
Refer:
How to use virtual path providers to dynamically load and compile content from virtual paths